Cellphone tower in my backyard or not?

[sidecar bob]

As the owner & occupier of a industrial/ commercial property in Tauranga, a cell network approached me yesterday with a proposal to install a cell tower at the rear of my premisis.
The annual rent they have offered me for what is essentialy not much more than one car park size of land is lucrative to say the very least.
My concern is the potential health risk to the occupants of my property, which a member of my staff was not backward in informing me of.
Are there any, or is it a load of crap?
Cheers,
Steve.

[R6_kid]

It might hurt your eyes, but the money burning a hole in your pocket will probably distract you from the pain.

[Edbear]

Actual technical data suggests that any health risk is about the same as carrying a cellphone around and no-one seems to be up in arms about that. It's another case of fantasy v.reality. It's not like having a power pylon in your backyard which is a very defininte health risk.

Trouble is, the knockers are so vocal that people generally have no idea what the truth of the matter is. You're fightning an uphill battle to get people to reason on the actual facts these days. The towers are not that pretty, but you may have to do some real PR work with your staff and neighbours over the safety of it.

[Mully]

Talk to a real estate agent about what it'll do to the value of the property if you ever want to sell it. The offer might not be as generous as it appears. Plus what happens if they want access to it after hours (dunno if you have gates or not)

It's like artificial sweetners - there is apparently no evidence of increased danger to anyone. It's up to you to research and make your own decision.

[mashman]

ooooo the bad bad microwaves... sterility was mulled over a while ago, as was brain frying, but not sure whether anything was actually confirmed. If there's a possibility that the workforce are worried about it, ask them.

[slofox]

As others have said. The evidence is flaky but there are enough technophobes out there to make life unpleasant. Your staff may well kick up a shindy about it...

[sidecar bob]

Talk to a real estate agent about what it'll do to the value of the property if you ever want to sell it. The offer might not be as generous as it appears. Plus what happens if they want access to it after hours (dunno if you have gates or not)

It's like artificial sweetners - there is apparently no evidence of increased danger to anyone. It's up to you to research and make your own decision.

There is a relocation & re development clause & i can boot them out given the correct length of notice.
The property is highly unlikely to go on the market in under 15 years so not a huge issue there.

[p.dath]

There is a relocation & re development clause & i can boot them out given the correct length of notice.
The property is highly unlikely to go on the market in under 15 years so not a huge issue there.

If it was me I'd probably take the cash ...

But why don't you pitch your employees concern to the Telco in question. I bet they have some rehearsed answers you could offer back to your employee.

[scissorhands]

Health risks portrayed by the media usually end up in confusion and a war of unbalanced opposing sides usually ensues.

Health risks are real. Many of us could easily live to 120years old if we lived in an ideal enviroment....

Cell towers are just another one to add to the very long list, which begins with clean air, highly mineralized water and a reason to live

[Tank]

My concern is the potential health risk to the occupants of my property, which a member of my staff was not backward in informing me of.
Are there any, or is it a load of crap?


Use some of the first months rent to buy him a tin foil hat
http://www.jessicadunton.com/blog/TinfoilHat.jpg

If you dont take it - they will probally just see the company next door. The guy is still going to be only X mtrs from the tower and you will be able to look over the fence and see the tower and think of all the $$$$ you are missing out on.

[scissorhands]

Use some of the first months rent to buy him a tin foil hat
http://www.jessicadunton.com/blog/TinfoilHat.jpg

If you dont take it - they will probally just see the company next door. The guy is still going to be only X mtrs from the tower and you will be able to look over the fence and see the tower and think of all the $$$$ you are missing out on.

Yup, then you will have the lower value property without the option to remove......bugger

[Str8 Jacket]

There is a relocation & re development clause & i can boot them out given the correct length of notice.
The property is highly unlikely to go on the market in under 15 years so not a huge issue there.

Ensure that you check that you do not have to pay a fee of some sort should you give them notice. Surely they will have a minimum period of occupation on their agreement too?

[imdying]

See if you can get a billboard on the tower too, then you can sell the space on that to one of the billboard companies for even more dosh :D

[twotyred]

i would not have one in my backyard and I have installed them and work on cell sites regularly,the radiation issues near antenae are real(depending on how power settings are configured,they vary in strength quite a bit)

[JimO]

ooooo the bad bad microwaves... sterility was mulled over a while ago, as was brain frying, but not sure whether anything was actually confirmed. If there's a possibility that the workforce are worried about it, ask them.

he is a sidechair monkey so his brain is probabaly already fried, and sterility isnt so bad

[Autech]

I too work on cell sites on a daily basis but disagree on the radiation issue. If you're willing to hold a cell phone up to your ear, then you should have no issue with having one in your back yard.

The only real downside I would say would be the visual impact + stigma attached to these sites affecting the property value, so ask a valuer what they think. Also find out what type of site it is, some are very inconspicuous and may not be very noticable at all

[Donor]

Actual technical data suggests that any health risk is about the same as carrying a cellphone around and no-one seems to be up in arms about that. It's another case of fantasy v.reality. It's not like having a power pylon in your backyard which is a very defininte health risk.


I too work on cell sites on a daily basis but disagree on the radiation issue. If you're willing to hold a cell phone up to your ear, then you should have no issue with having one in your back yard.

Yesh, but let us consider the slight difference here - several ten minute phone calls in a day, versus constant exposure over however many hours long the work day is. Even if the RF radiation is at very low limits, it's still present and MAY be a health hazard over a long enough period of time.

Which is pretty much the same as having a power pylon in your back yard, which as my learned friend has already said is a bad thing.

RF is a bitch, like many here I have worked with it and even been cooked by it (microwave sucks!) so yeah, there's my 2.3 cents...

[steve_t]

I'm told that you can ask to go to a cell site with a geiger counter/radiation meter and a gauss meter (measures magnetic flux) and they can show you that the effect of the tower is quite low. I was told (not sure of reliability of source) that they were in Mt Eden and at the base of the cell tower, there was more radiation coming from the Sky Tower than the cell tower. Again, I'm not sure how accurate the information is but I'd say asking them to show you measurements of radiation and magnetic flux in relation to distance from the tower is a good start :niceone:

[bogan]

I too work on cell sites on a daily basis but disagree on the radiation issue. If you're willing to hold a cell phone up to your ear, then you should have no issue with having one in your back yard.

The only real downside I would say would be the visual impact + stigma attached to these sites affecting the property value, so ask a valuer what they think. Also find out what type of site it is, some are very inconspicuous and may not be very noticable at all

dont think its quite that simple, Ill use power tools computer etc, but I aint willing to live under transmission lines. The tech is too recent to have any hard evidence, so youll have to make up your own mind. But as someone said, if you turn them down it might go up only a few m away in a neighbours property anyway!

[Tank]

Get it in and get the $$$

work from home.

Best of both worlds.

[sidecar bob]

Wow, Damn near the whole bloody entire staff of the network showed up again this arvo, with town planners & all & sundry in tow. Took damn near five minutes to be introduced to them all.
The official line is that it is no more harmful than three cellphones sitting atop a 20 metre pole (bit hard to swallow)
Tank, thats some sound thinking there, i might hit the network up for a roll of foil, that should sort the matter out.

[nodrog]

do it bro! then sack the whinging worker and employ me, i dont mind going sterile, infact you will be doing me (and the human race) a favour.

[Pixie]

As others have said. The evidence is flaky but there are enough technophobes out there to make life unpleasant. Your staff may well kick up a shindy about it...

All out there organizing anti cell tower protests by text,no doubt.

I read recently anti cell types are the biggest purchasers of cell jamming equipment.
They buy these to stop the evil microwave destroying their health.
unfortunately, they don't realise cell jammers are microwave transmitters,more powerful than the cell phones they are jamming.
Stupid,ignorant,hippies.

[Pixie]

Yesh, but let us consider the slight difference here - several ten minute phone calls in a day, versus constant exposure over however many hours long the work day is. Even if the RF radiation is at very low limits, it's still present and MAY be a health hazard over a long enough period of time.

Which is pretty much the same as having a power pylon in your back yard, which as my learned friend has already said is a bad thing.

RF is a bitch, like many here I have worked with it and even been cooked by it (microwave sucks!) so yeah, there's my 2.3 cents...

You obviously don't realise that a cell phone on standby polls the nearest cell regularly as long as it is switched on.Especially if the coverage is marginal.

[Pixie]

Wow, Damn near the whole bloody entire staff of the network showed up again this arvo, with town planners & all & sundry in tow. Took damn near five minutes to be introduced to them all.
The official line is that it is no more harmful than three cellphones sitting atop a 20 metre pole (bit hard to swallow)
Tank, thats some sound thinking there, i might hit the network up for a roll of foil, that should sort the matter out.
Like Bart....

[Pixie]

Health risks are real. Many of us could easily live to 120years old if we lived in an ideal enviroment....



It would just seem like 120 years

[Donor]

You obviously don't realise that a cell phone on standby polls the nearest cell regularly as long as it is switched on.Especially if the coverage is marginal.

Yes... I realise that, however the phone is in my pocket when not in use and not pressed against my melon, and sterility is the least of my concerns :)

[Elysium]

My concern is the potential health risk to the occupants of my property, which a member of my staff was not backward in informing me of.
Are there any, or is it a load of crap?
Cheers,
Steve.
If said people bitch about the health effects from cell phone towers, then they should throw their cell phones out.

[Dave Lobster]

If said people bitch about the health effects from cell phone towers, then they should throw their cell phones out.

And get the UHF TV that's pumped into their house switched off.

[Elysium]

And get the UHF TV that's pumped into their house switched off.

Exactly. Bring out the tin foil!

[Dave Lobster]

Exactly. Bring out the tin foil!

I've met clowns that did that. And put all sorts of metal shit round their daughter's bedroom window to stop the death rays coming in. Best way to get all the 'radiation' to stay in. They were convinced that the antennas on the tower 300m away was giving their daughter leukemia. So convinced that they were in the local paper every other week gobbing off about it. Right up until the point someone told the paper that the girl's grandfather had died of it - in the 1960s. Thirty years before the tower was there. Wankers.

[bogan]

oh i dunno, this mans tin hat seems to be doing the trick!

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[Hitcher]

Are there any, or is it a load of crap?


Familiarise yourself and your staff with the inverse squared law.

[ManDownUnder]

My uninformed opinion says "don't do it" but then my uninformed opinion isn't subject to the profits from it either...

[quickbuck]

I say, DO IT!

As said, it will get put up anyway, and may be right next door!

A mate of mine turned down the big Digital company about 7 years ago, because his wife was afraid of 6 legged sheep.
As it happens, the tower went up on the neighbouring property.

Not only he missed out on the profits, they also missed out on 2 extra leg roasts per head (Na, jokes).

The radiation may well be a real thing, but FFS, I have spent the last 17 years working on stuff made from Mag Thorium... Should see the bloody Gigometer go off at that stuff...
Oh, and we always have stuffed radio reception in the workshop....

I believe Cell Towers are the least of our worries (Well mine anyway). Jet Fuel has more to answer for....

What I'm saying Steve, many things we touch in like (especially the fun stuff) is harmful.
You will die of worry if you sat down to work it all out......

Might as well get them to put that tower up.

[Fatt Max]

Blimey, this debate had been raging on round my way for a couple of years. 2 Degrees Mobile have been putting towers up all over the joint but there is mazzive local opposition. According to the data I have seen, NZ allows a high emmission rate than anywhere else and studies have shown that these can be harmful.

The other argument is that no-one wants one of these things outside their house and REINZ have stated that they will drop the value of your house.

A lot of the protest has been aimed at the council who are pushing ahead with these towers and being accused of corporate greed and not listening to the voice of the community, which is scumbag councils at the best of time.

There is a lot of research and data to ease your mind regarding potential health risks, property values may be harder to evaluate.

My opinion, I oppose the way they have been put up around my local area. The community has strongly protested but the corporate $ appears to be worth more to the councillors than the will of the people who put them there.

My $0.02 worth

[Dave Lobster]

According to the data I have seen, NZ allows a high emmission rate than anywhere else


No it doesn't. All cell sites have to be ICNIRP compliant.


studies have shown that these can be harmful.


Not scientific studies. And none of them credible. Generally written in crayon. Studies existing solely for the purpose of continuing to fund themselves.

[Dave Lobster]

Pebcak :(

8910

[sidecar bob]

Thanks for all the useful advice & discussion, i have learned more about it on here than through the individuals involved.
Dave L, thankyou for agreeing to allow me to consult with you throught the process as per the P.M, greatly appreciated.

[Pixie]

Yes... I realise that, however the phone is in my pocket when not in use and not pressed against my melon, and sterility is the least of my concerns :)

Ever tried getting a blowjob with a tumour on your nob?

[Usarka]

Actual technical data suggests that any health risk is about the same as carrying a cellphone around and no-one seems to be up in arms about that. It's another case of fantasy v.reality. It's not like having a power pylon in your backyard which is a very defininte health risk.

Trouble is, the knockers are so vocal that people generally have no idea what the truth of the matter is. You're fightning an uphill battle to get people to reason on the actual facts these days. The towers are not that pretty, but you may have to do some real PR work with your staff and neighbours over the safety of it.

30 years ago the power pylon "knockers" were seen as the tin-foil hat wearers.


And also consider the hireability of new staff.......

[Edbear]

30 years ago the power pylon "knockers" were seen as the tin-foil hat wearers.


And also consider the hireability of new staff.......

We've come a long way in thirty years as regards knowledge of radiation. Personally I agree with you to an extent, but nevertheless, I still carry a cellphone, use a wireless internet connection, a microwave oven and eat packaged foods. I wouldn't live in a house under or close to a power pylon but would near a cellphone tower.

I do agree SB will need to do some good PR work.

[sidecar bob]

The staff member that was displaying signs of disquiet yesterday seems to be a lot happier about it today. maybe a family member has influenced their thinking.
one less thing to worry about.

[centaurus]

As the owner & occupier of a industrial/ commercial property in Tauranga, a cell network approached me yesterday with a proposal to install a cell tower at the rear of my premisis.
The annual rent they have offered me for what is essentialy not much more than one car park size of land is lucrative to say the very least.
My concern is the potential health risk to the occupants of my property, which a member of my staff was not backward in informing me of.
Are there any, or is it a load of crap?
Cheers,
Steve.

You've just opened a big can or worms with this question. The fact of the matter is that this issue has been on debate for quite a while now and neither side has brought enough arguments to win. It hasn't been scientifically proven and tested that these things are bad for health but then nobody could prove that they are indeed perfectly safe either.

This means you can't tell whether this will do you any harm or not. However the one thing that will definitely do you harm (on the psichological level) will be going against your beliefs. You need to ask youself: "do I believe these things are dangerous?".

If the answer is even slightly YES, do not do it. Your subconscious will torment you for years making probably more damage than the radiation would. You will always feel secretly guilty for putting you, your family and your employees at risk and no ammount of money is worth that.

If the answer is NO, then go for it and don't mind anybody telling you otherwise. Not doing it will leave you always regretting for throwing away so much money.

[scrivy]

one less thing to worry about.

I'd be more worried about what all that porn on your work computer is doing to your eyes.......

Not to mention ya ol fella....... :shutup:

[Slyer]

What about power pylons? We have one of the medium sized ones in our back yard at the flat.

[cmoore]

DON"T DO IT....they are bad evil things that should be banned altogether

[Autech]

DON"T DO IT....they are bad evil things that should be banned altogether

Yes, we all shall go back to living in caves.

[Edbear]

What about power pylons? We have one of the medium sized ones in our back yard at the flat.

At night time, take a flourescent tube outside and hold it up under the pylon... Might work...

The problem is that electricity is harmful, these cell sites are very innocuous by comparison.

[mashman]

We had a small electricity sub-station (6ft by 6ft box) next to our house and before we bought it we checked with the locaql council and electricity company. Anyway our safety concerns were put to rest as the electromagnetism from the box was only measurable 2 feet from the box. Not sure if that was under a full load mind you... I read somewhere a long time ago (hence can't find the story) of a man in the US who wound copper around his garage and fed his home free power from the pylon that was "close" to his house... Perhaps you'll get to listen in on other peoples conversations and get paid for it too...

[Pixie]

What a load of cock in this thread.Considering that you all live in houses full of small leaky mains transformers in virtually every apppliance you own.You probably enjoy a good night's sleep bathed in the feild from your clock radio.

[Edbear]

What a load of cock in this thread.Considering that you all live in houses full of small leaky mains transformers in virtually every apppliance you own.You probably enjoy a good night's sleep bathed in the feild from your clock radio.

You're not wrong and I made a similar point in a previous post. But I still wouldn't live under a power pylon as the EMR from those is somewhat greater than the average clock radio... I wouldn't have an issue with the cellphone tower, except the asthetics, amd I guess I could be paid to look the other way...:)

[bogan]

What a load of cock in this thread.Considering that you all live in houses full of small leaky mains transformers in virtually every apppliance you own.You probably enjoy a good night's sleep bathed in the feild from your clock radio.

Is it purely the field strength though, or does the carrier frequency of the signals come into play?

[Madmax]

Live line work at 110kv is cool
its a reel buzz,
Your at the same potental
and on the line,(its like a tingling feeling)
good fun

[Dave Lobster]

does the carrier frequency of the signals come into play?

No, it doesn't.

[Usarka]

Don't do it. The less cell phone calls i can receive the better.

Fuckers.



Edit: Ban the tv towers too!!!!!!

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[sidecar bob]

You're not wrong and I made a similar point in a previous post. But I still wouldn't live under a power pylon as the EMR from those is somewhat greater than the average clock radio... I wouldn't have an issue with the cellphone tower, except the asthetics, amd I guess I could be paid to look the other way...:)

The cool part is that it could barely be described as a pretty neighbourhood at the mo (Industrial A zoning) And for anyone visiting my property, they will need to go three quatrers of the way to the rear of the property before it is visible. Most of my clients dont go further than the front quater of the property anyway.

[JimO]

The cool part is that it could barely be described as a pretty neighbourhood at the mo (Industrial A zoning) And for anyone visiting my property, they will need to go three quatrers of the way to the rear of the property before it is visible. Most of my clients dont go further than the front quater of the property anyway.

is that because of all the dead bmw's blocking the way ; -)

[quickbuck]

..... use a wireless internet connection..... And many of these are on Notebooks, in which people still use on their LAP! (as i am now.... )

[Edbear]

And many of these are on Notebooks, in which people still use on their LAP! (as i am now.... )

LOL!!! Yup! Guilty!

[steve_t]

And many of these are on Notebooks, in which people still use on their LAP! (as i am now.... )

You need a faraday cage hat for your nuts :laugh:

[scrivy]

they will need to go three quatrers of the way to the rear.....

What is it with you and the back passage...... :crazy: