ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades health & high voltage

kiwi,
I had the chance to do some "research" of my own yesterday.
I took a Micro-Tesla meter with me and stood under some lines around the district.
(Ok, so I was bored, but it made for interesting readings and some really strange looks from passing motorists)
All of these tests were taken directly below the lines (ie: in the centre of the two 3-wire circuits on each side of the pylon)
with the meter held at eye level (1.79m):

• 220kV circuit- Boundary Road: 0.37 uT
• 110kV circuit- Laghmor Road: 0.52 uT
• 500kVDC circuit- Cairnbrae: 1.16 uT
• 66kV (1 circuit)- Pendarves: 0.08 uT
• 22kV (1 circuit)- Tinwald: 0.021 uT
• 11kV (1 circuit)- Boundary Road: 0.002 uT
• 400V- In Town : Too low to measure.

I might add, that these tests were done with a TELARC calibrated meter.
Which raises the question about the meter used in the original documentary, was it in fact accurately calibrated?.

Trumpy:

Very interesting readings. Anyone else notice that the HVDC line has the highest reading? (By a factor of at least two times the AC circuits...)

And the 110kV was the highest of the AC lines (more heavily loaded, perhaps?)

I would not lose any sleep being near the AC lines for sure, not in regards to the EM fields. I'd be much more concerned about the lightshow during an earthquake! (Been through a few, that evil arcing sound always scares me more than the shaking.)

Trumpy:

There's a campaign in Germany against powerline internet access as it potentially interferes with shortwave radio.



no e-smog in my home!

Djk,
E-smog,
Now I am impressed, I've never heard it called that before.
BTW guys, TELARC is a Testing Laboratory here, it has nothing to do with the ISO 9001 Accreditation system touted around the world.
Mxslick,
Yes, there is a bit within the readings, but on the other side of the coin, never has it been stated on any programme that I've ever seen, that the meter used was calibrated to any standard at all.
Which in my own opinion, makes the readings meaningless.
Makes you wonder if the "consultant" didn't buy the meter from a cheap dodgy $5 market place, or the $2 shop.
One other thing, is the fact that, would a reporter actually question the readings, if it sounded good to those watching?.
There is real science and there is the media's take on science.
Don't forget, it's all about ratings these days, not facts. GRRR

I've just remembered one other little incident which was on a TV documentary a few years ago.

A family living with HV lines running near the back of their property were concerned about the EM fields (I can't remember the voltage levels, but must have been 132kV or above).

Field strength readings around the house didn't show anything out of the ordinary, except when they reached the head of one of the kid's beds when the strength shot up.

It turned out that the meter was located right on the opposite side of the wall.

Pauluk:
http://www.offshore-radio.de/JelleBoonstra/luxembourg.htm

This is a good site about RTL Radio Luxembourg.

I worked and lived in Luxembourg City for a while, and a few times we went up to the town of Echternach in the North of the country, not far from the German border. In fact, that's where I bought the nice old SABA radio I sent in the pictures about.

The road from the capital to Echternach goes past a really amazing set of masts. They include the old RL 208 AM ones, but I don't know if they are still there or not, as this is seven or eight years ago. There are no houses nearby, so power theft is probably not an issue -- it is mostly very atractive woodland out there, and it rather hilly with the masts near the top of the hills.

The web page also shows the rather odd and forbidding-looking RTL tower, which is in the middle of a park in the centre of Luxembourg City, very close to Sq. Winston Churchill and very near the bank where I worked at that time. It is surrounded with a dense thicket of pine trees, which are full of crows. The rest of the park has woodpeckers, which are facinating, but also lots of laurel bushes, which cause bad hayfever, so I didn't like going there much.

My Father used to listen to 208 because of the jazz (he is a musician) and said its pinnacle was in the 1950s/1960s.

I'm not sure what those transmitters are doing now, but not all of them are closed.

j

Thanks Jooles -- Interesting pictures.

Completely off-topic, but I notice in one of the photos of a control desk that they have the BBC-type of PPM. I'd always thought that was a peculiarly British type of level meter.

Nice work Trumpy. Nothing beats doing your own research. Your meter is callibrated by a TELARC accredited laboratory, and I'd assume the meter on the NZ made documentary was callibrated also. "Cheap hardware-store" gaussmeters don't exist do they ?

Your higher reading under the HVDC line is interesting. Maybe the house in the documentary I saw is under an HVDC line.

I also saw a NZ made news article this week that showed the gaussmeter measuring up to 40 micro-teslas next to a microwave oven with a bad door-seal. The program then went on to prove that microwave cooking destroyed much more nutrients in food than boiling or steaming.

This now means that the microwave could be more of a health risk than the hv lines over our heads ! ? ! ?

Hell I just don't know what to be scared of now !

By the way the program I just mentioned also advised against under-bench microwave ovens where they could be positioned next to your reproductive organs whilst you are cooking.

Perhaps my recently patented "Lead Apron" will be in stores sooner than I anticipated !

kiwi,
I've only ever had the one scare with Cancer and that was having a Melanoma cut out of my back about 6-7 years ago.
Mind you, that was more to do with baking in the sun down at Orari Gorge Station as a young fella, nothing to do with EMF's.
You can buy one these days for $4.93 at XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX.
Just like you can get an expert to tell you what you want to hear, if you pay them enough.
Kiwi,
I'd doubt that mate, the South Island>North Island Link is the only DC part of the National Grid here at least as far as I'm aware.
It only runs from Benmore to Haywards Bay at the Southern tip of the North Island.
And even then it's kept right out of the way of people.

{Message edited to remove company name}




[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 07-03-2005).]