Is there a regulation for safe distances from mobile phone masts?

There is a one located on our building about 30m from my desk with only a normal single glazed window in between us.

Colleagues complaining of migranes since moving in here although they dont bother me.

Just thought there may be a STW expert on these masts whoc could advise. Ive read that engineers working on them do so with the power turned off for their safety yet i sit next to one 40hrs a week.

Antenna emissions are governed by ETSI specs in the UK. The distance from a mast to a building is most likely covered by local planning laws. Network providers don’t tend to turn off a link for maintenance as the value of the data going through it is too high.

with only a normal single glazed window in between us.

get them to fit double gazing. you’ll be fine…

Ive read that engineers working on them do so with the power turned off for their safety yet i sit next to one 40hrs a week.

I’d imagine that it depends on the type of maintenance. If they are working with the electrics or the is a risk of electrocution then yeah the power will likely be switched off but that’s nothing to do with the mobile signal itself. No link has ever been found between mobile phone mast and physical symtoms so you’re not at any risk. If the people complaining of migraines can continue to sit at their desk and work and don’t have to go home to darkened room then in my non-medical opinion they don’t have a migraine, they have a headache.

No link has ever been found between mobile phone mast and physical symtoms so you’re not at any risk.

Well, pedantically speaking, no risk has ever been proven…

Hi

Try this

http://www.mobilemastinfo.com/

Lots of information and links to other relevant websites and all the EU regulatory standards.

hope that helps

Well, pedantically speaking, no risk has ever been proven…

True but as it has actually be studied and looked for, it amounts to the same thing.

The transmitters are quite directional, so unless it is pointed directly at your window it is probably aimed to pass over the roof of your office. I work in close proximity to them sometimes and you just need to stay a certain distance in all directions for leakage from the transmitter, and not go in its line of sight.

I did have a moment of concern when I was working on the roof of a hospital high rise block, I was taking a moment to gaze at the view when I noticed there was another hospital building a few streets away and far below me, and it has a microwave dish pointing straight at me. I turned and a short distance away on the lift building, there was a dish pointed straight at the back of my head. I guess their IT link between the buildings was down for a couple of minutes whilst it irradiated my brain. Wouldn’t normally happen, a mobile phone installation would be designed so that you couldn’t easily wander in front of the transmitters.

There is a one located on our building about 30m from my desk with only a normal single glazed window in between us.

Is there a link between these 2 statements – they seem unconnected

Colleagues complaining of migranes since moving in here although they dont bother me.

To be clear is it the colleagues or the migranes that don’t bother you?

Most people complain about change and the placebo effect of a magic death ray phonemast outside the window would be enough to get most going.

The field strength follows an square law, ie double the distance and the power drops by a factor or 4. So the mobile phone next to your head whilst you make a phone call causes a lot more power to enter your head than the mast 30m away – even though the mast is much higher power. On the flip side, you don’t use a phone that often whereas the Base Station on the mast will be busy a lot more (how much depends on where it is and the demographics for that cell). Personally I wouldn’t worry about it (I design mobile networks and quite often visit sites).

Tin foil hat needed me thinks.

I remember some programme doing a piece on the effects of mobile phone masts. They moved a portable mast onto the car park in front of a college, and after a couple of days students started complaining of headaches, difficulty concentrating and sleeping, skin irritation, the works.
The mast wasn’t operational at that point. They then said it was down for maintenance, and the complaints stopped, so they switched it on and left it for a while, no complaints.
They then said it was on, and guess what? Everyone started complaining about it.
I believe the word is psychosomatic… 😀

Haven’t worked near them for a while but some filling station price pylons have antennas built in.
If I was working on the pylon it had to be switched off remotely from their tech department before any work was carried out.
This was around ten years ago though so not sure how they work nowadays.

They fitted one right on the corner of the kids park in my town which incidentally is no more than 50 yds from the school! Loads of hoo haa, petitions, letters to the local rag etc, it still went up and was switched on!!! Money talks in these cases I’m sure!!

I have over seen an installation at my building, we went through a number of checks here were my findings:

The antenna is uni directional its emmisions are like the fabric of an umbrella, you could be right underneath the mast and only get a weak signal. The masts need to be very low powered so they don’t interfere with each other.
The output from a transmitter is quite low at around 20-30W compared with a TV mast at 50KW+
The mobile mast is 1/45th of EU exposure guidelines the TV transmitter is 1/20th and the hoover in your house is 1/5!

Health Protection Agency:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/Radiation/UnderstandingRadiation/UnderstandingRadiationTopics/ElectromagneticFields/MobilePhones/info_BaseStations/