Masts in next doors garden

DGJsaver

Morning Everyone

I thought this might be a good place to ask, bearing in mind the broad knowledge base of people on here...

We live next door to a retired couple, the man is, to say the least, unapproachable, coupled with the fact I am not sure if my worry borders on the ridiculous, so a fairly anonymous forum such as MSE seemed a good place to start!

We live in a bungalow , adjoined to our neighbours bungalow , in his garden he has 3 masts up , with what I can only think is CB radio type aerials attached , our bungalow is a dorma , and there`s isn’t , and the top of the aerials are in line , and quite close to the dorma bedroom (where one of our kids sleep) , I used to , many moons ago , do roof work and I remember you had to be very careful around those mast things you see on roofs , you had to duck under them so you didn’t get bouts of radiation etc , my worry is , my child is getting this every day via these aerials on masts , but it seems to ridiculous to mention out loud!

I have attached a couple of photos, so that what I am asking doesn’t seem too difficult to picture....

Any advise welcome, anything to stop me having to ask someone in the real world (for now!)

Thanks! [URL="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/img0807du.jpg/]"][/URL]

Mankysteve

There's no risk from raditon from thoses types of mast. There the usally media rubbish every now and again, but no studies besides a few discredited ones have shown links between rd transmissions and cancer/n radiation problem.

DGJsaver

Thanks Steve , that actually makes me worry more though , because for every one person who says the above , i bet theres one to say there is a link , and with THREE of them in his garden , i dont feel very good right now....

System

They are actually HF aerials. With that set-up then it's a good bet that he is a member of RSGB and will have them set up to provide the correct or better safety distances.

http://www.rsgb.org/emc/docs/pdf/leaflets/emc-leaflet-13.pdf gives info for a horizontal dipole safety distances. Your neighbour has a vertical so the safety distances due to the different beam pattern is probably less as there is more radiation to free air, especially as he also has ground plane elements.

I am sure that if there was any possible hazard the the brown stuff would have hit the fan when he was installing them.

DGJsaver

Ok , thanks !!!!!! ,so in reality , i am right to be concerned , as i dont know what the distances should be , and i dont know how to accuratly decipher the information in your link....and i also dont know , without starting a dispute off , if he does have permission etc

Blackpool_Saver

I would imagine he is a knowledgeable radio amateur, he wont want the exposure himself and will have made sure it's at an acceptable distance. Another thing to think about is that radio amateurs spend most time listening and not transmitting, there is only RF energy emitted when you are transmitting through an antenna.

DGJsaver

But BS , you can see from the pictures i uplaoded that his mast nearest our bedroom is never 15 meters away (one of the things i deciphered from the link)...i might have to visit the CAB as i cant make head nor tail of where to see this info on the ofcom site

14Westfield

tin foil hats . . .

ormus

cb radio is only 4 watts output.
even radio ham equipment is typically only about 100 watts or so.
stop worrying.

System

DGJsaver wrote: »

Ok , thanks !!!!!! ,so in reality , i am right to be concerned , as i dont know what the distances should be , and i dont know how to accuratly decipher the information in your link....and i also dont know , without starting a dispute off , if he does have permission etc

No, you have it the wrong way around. With a horizontal dipole the largest safe distance for 400W is 30 feet.

As an amateur he won't be using above 400W if he even uses that. he is mre probably using a 10 or 20W transmitter. Being vertically polarised the effect at aerial ground level will be less so the safe distance will probably be in the 6 feet max. Anything outside that distance is safe.

System

You really need to talk to your neighbour. He will have all the information to hand to give you a definitive answer. CAB like us can only guess (probably more inaccurately because they probably don't have a scooby about amateur radio)
As the leaflet that I pointed to says he will have done all the calculations and sited his aerials appropriately. The probability of 'rogue' radio hams who ignore the rules and guidlines, especially on RF safety are very few and very far between