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General discussion

If you MUST use a cell mobile GSM phone . . .

Jan 21, 2015 12:41PM PST

If you absolutely must use a mobile phone each day and for extended periods of time (like me, for example), it may pay off in the long run to minimize radiation exposure.

There may be some truth in various studies showing increased cancer risk after 10 years of heavy phone usage. One could reason that:
- "if it's not found in nature than we are not adapted to it". While the sun is micro-waving us constantly, it is not modulating that radiation. Some say the damage is caused not by the quantity of energy absorbed by the body (SAR) but by the rapid modulation for data transmission that , phisically, is rotating molecules in exposed cells creating friction and heat.
- "we can trust the mobile industri to pay a significant ammount to protect it's interests" . Hide or downplay health risks.
- this GSM technology is young and side effects have not yet been proved to be harmfull or at least minor (beneficial to the body they sure are not).

From the Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health) the recomandations for that would be:
- minimize phone usage and switch to sms where applicable
- use headsets and keep the phone away from body
- don't use in cars or shielded or poor signal areas

Does anyone know of ways to minimize GSM exposure and their effectiveness? Such as:
- corded headset, sure (bluetooth is another form of modulated microwave radioation)
- keep the mobile vertical (if the phones are designed to be used at one's ear, almost vertical, one could assume the antennas will not receive well when phone is horizontal and, as a result, increased power is feeded into the antenna)
- one could make a vertical belt or biefcase phone holder and coat the body side of that holder with a metallic film, thus preventng some energy from being absorbed by your body but almost certain making the phone increase power to antenna as 50% of incomming signals just dissapeared. Also keep phone with antenna (backside) away from your body. This one is too technical for me.

An ideea for the gsm industry: limit by software the maximum power delivered to antenna. Let's say limit to 65% of maximum. Is some cases connection will be lost until that spot has been passed by.The phone may beep to alert us we can not receive or send calls. The user may choose to ignore the impediment, or increase the percentage, or turn off this function and have the phone dinamically size antenna output to maintain connection (the phone does that every second). The phones are designed to work seamlessly for the user so they are not "concerned" with how much energy they radiate. The idea is that is should be our choice, as it is our health.

Please excuse my the pseudo-technical mumbo-jumbo and feel free to combat or expand on these subjects or any others related to them. It can only help.

Discussion is locked

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(NT) So what are you doing about WiFi and other EMI sources?
Jan 21, 2015 11:53PM PST
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on WiFi and other EMI sources
Jan 22, 2015 11:56AM PST

Mr. Proffitt, it is a good question and I know of no "good answer" to it.
From what I've read, it's a question of how far the source is from your body (roughly, imagine a sphere with the radius being the distance, center being the phone; your body absorbs energy proportional with your shadow projected on that sphere surface).
I could not influence how other people or companies emit microwaves, only what is in my immediate vecinity. There will always be a background modulated microwave radiation. I hope it is small. Does anyone have numbers on this or a sensible enough RFmeter?

If you hold the source near your head (mobile, bluetooth) you "get" some 40% of emitted power from your device.
If you hold it at reading distance (mobile with headset, tablet, laptop with WiFi), - you "get" some 15%
From each source in your vecinity (your neighbours WiFi and mobiles, your own WiFi, the very powerfull GSM antennas) you'll "get" variable ammounts, let's say maximum 1% of each emission power but they stack up (number of sources, power of sources)

Here is another ideea I've just sprouted: wall emulsion paints with a high metal content could shield you at home (sleep, living area), but a room would have to be unshielded, where you keep your phone and so on and have cabled data lines into your house. There are emulsion paints with silver content against bathroom fungi so it is at least possible. How effective it would be, that is another question.

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on CPUs
Jan 22, 2015 12:19PM PST

..also, consider the CPU's in your phone , laptop, tablet. They consume some 10 to 100 W of power, mostly heat but they operate at high frequencies (not microwave "high", they work at a base frequency with various multipliers but that base frecueny also has harmonics progressively smaller at 2 times, 3 times and so on and that could get into microwave range.

So, you work / entertain yourself next to your PC, how much of the radiation you get is heat and how much modulated microwave? No ideea! Again, technical, radiowaves professor level comments are needed.

The rule of thumb would look like this:
- how much time do you expose yourself
- at what frequency does it operate
- how far is it from you
- do you really need it?
But what would be the most likely souces in everyday life?

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Maybe I am crazy.....
Jan 22, 2015 12:32PM PST

.....but I don't live my life in fear about my electronic devices. Too many things are far more dangerous to worry about. Shocked

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it's not FEAR it's CALCULATED RISK
Jan 22, 2015 12:48PM PST

This type of damage is insidious, you don't see it but that does not mean it isn't there. Plus it's a very usefull technology.

If at 45 you hit a brain cancer and die at 47 instead of a normal urban lifespan of 70?
When you get older, you'll get my point.

The point of this post is try and find out the dangers from this quarter.

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commercial = good ?
Jan 22, 2015 12:59PM PST

.. more to the point, we are living in a commercial society, free to obtain money whatever way isn't labelled illegal at that point.

Historically, for a bad thing to get illegal, a lot of suffering must first occur.

In this case, this new technology is rampant. In about 20 years statistics will be certain. Until then, concerned citizenry is the way to push for precise and public analysis of the dangers (if any or relevant) from our everyday devices.