On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 21:20:32 -0800, "Richard Crowley"
wrote:


It's at the point where OSHA has
now made guidelines for RF exposure, in the absence of any actual physical
data. snip

Now THAT I agree with, it's been long overdue, and the assertion that
there's "no physical data" is corporate hogwash. Having worked
microwave for years, and knowing other fellow microwave techs who
wound up with cataracts by age 40, as well as leukemia and various
cancers, I know for a fact that non-ionizing radiation IS dangerous,
no doubt about it.

Case in point: For years since 1950, AT&T Long Lines maintained 4 and
11 GHz transmitters at the top of the Empire State in NYC. Western
Electric always used flanged rigid copper waveguide with absorptive
gaskets, but radio sites in the entire Bell System were notoriously
leaky. A communication tech who had the Empire State job for ages had
a desk directly under the elbows for the waveguide runs coming in off
the roof. One day, he simply keeled over dead. Autopsy showed he was
literally cooked from the inside out. He had been experiencing
fatigue, unexplained fevers, cataract problems for years and other
maladies, but his doctors were unsure of the causes. Once he was
opened up, the cause was pretty obvious. Remember, this was before
the advent of the RadaRange, and most people were clueless about the
effects of MW radiation.

AT&T tried desperately to keep this hushed up, but the rumor mill in
the Bell System at the time was better than most of their
transcontinental carrier systems. A Narda was used to "sniff" the
Empire State radio room, and horrendous leakage was found right in the
area where he spent most of his time during his shift. The widow was
paid off handsomely to avoid a suit, and a spate of waveguide
inspections started nationwide. Crappy installation, misaligned
flanges, missing gaskets, cracked solder and other maladies showed up
nationwide, including in the office were I worked. Once many of these
were fixed, of course, transmitter powers had to be decreased in many
locations; the receiving end was simply running out of AGC due to
higher power from the transmit end!

Another case: A technician in Los Angeles had a roll-around rack of
various KS-spec H-P test gear arranged as an MLA in the radio room
there. This set was always kept "hot," since the line-up time from
cold was considerable. The unterminated 50 ohm output from the MW
generator in the test set was within a few feet of this guy's desk for
years. Result: Loss of sight in one eye, serious cataracts with iris
damage in the other. One day, a 50 ohm N-connector dummy load
appeared on the output connector, with a missive, "Generator MUST be
terminated at all times." 'Nuff said there!

It's a documented fact that AT&T tried very hard for years to keep
OSHA from issuing RF radiation standards, fearing a spate of suits
after the Empire State caper. When proof came that the Soviets had
set standards less than HALF of accepted US standards for
environmental exposure, the suits came and went anyway, but many
peoples' lives were ruined before that time. I know I have health
problems from MW exposure, but fortunately, they're pretty minor.
Since I quit working in MW locations, my cataracts quit growing, but
I'll need surgery anyway pretty soon. Proof enough for me!

EMR claims have largely been debunked as a non-issue, but don't tell
me about "harmless" non-ionizing radiation from microwave. Been
there, SEEN that. Why do you think AT&T junked their massive MW
network during the analog-to-digital conversion in the '90s? It sure
as hell wasn't for cost savings of operation. A plan was in effect to
convert all 4 GHz TD-type radio routes from 1200-to-1800 channel
analog to 90 MB/s PCM back in those days, but suddenly, word came down
from Noo Joisey that microwave was out...no explanation given. Tells
volumes right there.

You want to look down an open hot waveguide? Be my guest. Then,
years later when your functionally blind, you can remember you heard
it here first.

dB