Last week I read an article in the West Highland Free Press expressing concerns over the health risks posed by the spread of the TETRA microwave communications system, due to go live in Skye and Lochalsh within the next few days.

On Monday 27th January I attended a public meeting at Kyleakin Primary School, only a few hundred metres from a TETRA mast sited at the end of Old Kyle Farm Road. Around seventy people attended and were told by Andy Brown of the Northern Constabulary that the information he has been given indicates that mmO2’s Airwave system (TETRA to you and me) poses no threat to his police officers or the public.  He told us that the new system provides the police force with secure communications with 99% geographic coverage, which is a vast improvement over previous systems.  Already in operation throughout much of the UK, the system is initially available to the police force only, but will be rolled out to fire and ambulance services over time.

So, what is TETRA?  A quick Google search shows that TETRA stands for “TErrestrial Trunked RAdio” and is a microwave carrier system that, in Airwave’s case, uses the
frequency 17.6Hz, putting it in the same range as certain electrical brain rhythms and close to the frequency range (15-20Hz) at which a flashing light can provoke fits in people with photoepilepsy.  As Mike Russell’s WHFP article states, “the health controversy centres on two aspects of the system - the alleged pulsing of the microwave signals from Airwave police handsets and base stations, and the fact that base station transmitters are on full power 24/7. Ordinary mobile phone masts, by contrast, respond to demand, adjusting their power output accordingly”.

As more and more of these masts become operational, communities across the UK are reporting a range of health problems from nosebleeds, headaches, sleep disruption, and impairment of short-term memory to cancers of the breast, prostate, bladder and lung.  Protest groups are proliferating and in some cases, communities have campaigned successfully to have masts moved away from populated areas.

If you have concerns about TETRA, or you have information to share with the rest of us, please share your thoughts with us here.

If you want to do more reading about TETRA and the potential health risks, here are some sites to get you started:

TetraWatch!
Trower Report on planningsanity.co.uk
NO 2 Tetra Scotland
Murder And Mind Control In The UK on rense.com

Why has none of the communities complaining of TETRA symptoms been investigated? What do the local constabulary have to say about using this kit? Will they lose their jobs if they speak out? Not much of a choice there…
Any answers?

The mobile companies control all the research in the UK — cos they pay for it! If you look at research on the continent it tells a very different story. Why is our health being jeopardised by tetra?

Who’s for making a noise about this?

Anyone?

I am a recently-retired police officer now living on Skye.

My former force was in the process of switching over to TETRA when I retired.

TETRA provides vastly superior reception for the emergency services. It will save police officers’ lives.

The county in which I served for 30 years was virtually flat, yet still it had large radio “black spots” from which officers could not transmit. Inconvenient at best; life-threatening at worst.

Health concerns about TETRA are - in my non-techie opinion - hysteria. The media loves a public health scare; the public respond by “developing symptoms”!

The same people who complain of headaches while near a mast will happily drive Highland roads, steering with their elbows at 60mph, while talking on a mobile phone and smoking a cigarette!

Has there been a peer-reviewed, double-blind study proving that TETRA causes ill health? If so, I’m not aware of it.

To quote http://www.rense.com as your backup is not really helpful. It’s an American conspiracy website. Some of its other articles include:

“Zionists made deal with the Devil”

“2005 Mexico UFO fleet seen by thousands.”

Etc…

maximus otter

Maximus otter overlooks a couple of key facts: many of the communities reporting tetra effects did not know there was a mast switched on nearby.

Perhaps it is “hysteria” or some sort of psychosomatic reaction — that can can never be entirely ruled out. But why has none of the affected communities been investigated to find out? That sounds a bit fishy to me.

Also — people can choose to drive with their elbows and smoke fags at 60mph, or whatever — some communities have no choice about living near a tetra mast.

No-one doubts that the system is better at communicating than the old VHF set up. But at what cost to users and public alike?

”...current evidence suggests that it is unlikely that the special features of the signals from TETRA mobile terminals and repeaters pose a hazard to health.”

Documents of the NRPB: Volume 12, No. 2
Possible Health Effects from Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA): Report of an Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation

http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/documents_of_nrpb/abstracts/absd12-2.htm

“...expert bodies and most respected scientists working in this field agree that there is no evidence which points to adverse health effects from radio frequency emissions operating within the limits set by international safety guidelines.”

http://www.tetrahealth.info/TIG_responses.htm

“Concerns about potential biological effects of pulsed RF at or around 16Hz arose from some unreplicated research on calcium efflux from dead chick brain dating back to the 1970s. Several attempts have been made to replicate these studies, with no demonstrable effect...”

http://www.tetrahealth.info/TIG_responses.htm

(TIG = The TETRA Industry Group (TIG) consists of organisations who are suppliers or users of TETRA-based technology - including Motorola, O2 Airwave, Sepura, London Underground Limited...)

maximus otter

Same nrpb document says “now evidence to suggest that rf below official limts can have biological effects”

Calcium efflux experiments HAVE been replicated. Recent MoD versions of this experiment — the results of which are trumpeted by the industry — used a tetra source for 20 MINUTE BURSTS ONLY! Try living next to one on full power 24/7! Long term exposure? No conclusion on that for years until home office research on USERS (not public) is complete.

I repeat: NO RESEARCH PLANNED OR UNDERTAKEN ON ANY COMMUNMITY CLAIMING TETRA SYMPTOMS!!

Why not?

Remember thalidomide, BSE, asbestos, tobacco. Hmmm, what did big business have to say about the safety of THAT little lot?

A link to the site with the allegations about “20-minute bursts” would be useful.

Although spending the rest of my life in front of my PC researching TETRA is not an appealing prospect, I did find some amusing “evidence”:

“...you can read on the internet that Tetra can cause cancer and all sorts of health problems.” “

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3499587.stm

“...after the second FM radio transmitter was added to the existing two AM transmitters on the neighbouring radio tower, two quiet bulls brought in to service her heifers, in a paddock 150 metres away from the tower, became so vicious within three weeks that they had to send them home...”

“One male dog, who lived approximately two kilometres from the antenna within a month of the second FM transmitting became so aggressive it ate his smaller friend.”

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/news503.asp

So even Radio 1 can cause insanity and cannibalism! (I have suspected that for some time...)

I think that the basis of your opposition to TETRA is clarified in your last paragraph about that ol’ debbil “big business.”

maximus otter

Dear Mr Otter,

Here is the calcium link.

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/technology-equipment/tetra-terrestrial-radio/tetra5.html?version=1

Seek and ye shall find.

I agree about the rense.com link — that kind of schizoid nonsense doesn’t help anyone.

Personally, I think we should use carrier pigeons to communicate, although what with bird flu on the go.....

If you think about background radiation and cosmic rays and so forth, you realise the we as a species evolved alongside those influences over many millions of years. But microwave technology has only been around in its current profusion for 20 or so years, and no-one really knows what effect THAT is having on us. Microwaves DO break down DNA, that much is known.

Enjoy your ready meal!

keyhole - 09 March 2006 10:48 AM

...what with bird flu on the go.....

A bear a lion and a chicken sitting talking about who is the hardest:

The Bear says “When I growl the whole forest trembles”

The Lion Says “When I roar the whole jungle shakes with fear”

The Chicken Says “All I have to do is cough and the whole ****ing world
s**s itself”

oh crikey I can hardly gt a word in edgeways eh? well dont suppose the lowest form of wit will get me anywhere so hey ho ...........if only I were more like mr. tony blair and ask for a spot of guidance in the old Tetra debate.

Well, it’s gone midnight and I’ve been exhausted since this afternoon.  In bed by 10pm, bit of a read, put out the light… still awake at midnight, but screaming for sleep.  Headache.  Again. 

I have also noticed there are times when I feel quite short tempered and I have always been a laid-back, easy going person.  My skin is dry.  My brain can’t seem to retain information for very long and I am finding it increasingly frustrating to try and study.  I’m in my 50s but have always been ‘sharp witted’.  Been going for job interviews but the fog in my brain has affected me to the point where I can’t remember half the stuff I read up on the companies concerned so I’d at least give them the impression I’d done some homework on them.  I had - I just can’t remember it.

Why the foggy brain? The headaches? The dry skin? The tetchniness? The sleeplessness? The feeling of exhaustion in the mornings even if I do manage to get a full night’s sleep?

Could these symptoms be the result of the Tetra mast which has been installed just metres from our house? 

I’m far too busy to be worrying about my health.  These symptoms started around March when, I understand, the mast was first enabled.  I attended the meeting at Kyleakin Primary School, was most concerned when learning of the possible side-effects of living so close to the mast, but life got busy and I forgot about it - I was so unaware that I didn’t even know about the second meeting when JF Munro attended - so I hope nobody will insult what’s left of my intelligence by suggesting it’s all in my imagination and a direct result of autosuggestion!

Someone hand me a chainsaw and I’ll be first up that hill to cut the thing down. *yawns* I’m off to bed to pray for sleep.

Skyedame - 06 June 2006 11:52 PM

Headache. I have also noticed there are times when I feel quite short tempered and I have always been a laid-back, easy going person.  My skin is dry.  My brain can’t seem to retain information for very long and I am finding it increasingly frustrating to try and study.  I’m in my 50s. Why the foggy brain? The headaches? The dry skin? The tetchniness? The sleeplessness? The feeling of exhaustion in the mornings even if I do manage to get a full night’s sleep?

Could these symptoms be the result of the Tetra mast which has been installed just metres from our house?

Or - without being indelicate - could there be another reason for these symptoms in a woman in her 50s?

“The drop in levels of the female hormone oestrogen that occurs at the menopause may also directly affect the functioning of the brain. Research has shown that oestrogen helps to maintain verbal memory and plays an important part in learning new things. Fluency of thoughts and articulation are also sensitive to oestrogen. When levels drop, these brain functions may deteriorate.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_the_doctor/menopausebrainpower.shtml

“Dry or itchy skin. As we age, our skin becomes thinner and without oestrogen our skin finds it difficult to retain moisture.

Tiredness and lethargy. Lack of sleep due to night sweats can cause you to feel exhausted during the day.

Aches and pains. Low levels of oestrogen can lead to an increase in aches and pains. These can range from joint and muscular pains to backaches or headaches.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/womens_health/body_menopause2.shtml#physical_symptoms

Blaming a Tetra mast may be a case of post hoc ergo propter hoc.

maximus otter

maximus otter - 07 June 2006 07:52 AM

Or - without being indelicate - could there be another reason for these symptoms in a woman in her 50s?

I think you’ll have to try harder to avoid being “indelicate”.  To dismiss the possibility that Skyedame’s symptoms are Tetra-related without knowing anything about her particular circumstances is quite arrogant and insulting.  Whether hysteria or not, thousands of people have very real concerns about the possible dangers posed by pulsing communications systems and the growing volume of reports and studies (the ones not sponsored by O2, the emergency services or government) do seem to indicate that something is amiss.  What happened to the precautionary principle?

O2 were extremely arrogant at the meeting in Kyleakin earlier this year and simply kept repeating that Tetra emissions fall within permitted levels. However, UK guidelines appear to be some of the most lenient in the world and certainly do nothing to allay the fears of an increasingly concerned public.

For those of you whose minds are still open to further investigation of the health issues surrounding Tetra masts this site is useful: http://www.tetrawatch.net/main/news.php.

commentator - 10 June 2006 10:20 PM

To dismiss the possibility that Skyedame’s symptoms are Tetra-related without knowing anything about her particular circumstances is quite arrogant and insulting.

My comments were neither arrogant nor insulting.

Every symptom that Skyedame describes can be adequately accounted for by the menopause, a change which every woman on the planet undergoes. Occam’s Razor is still valid today.

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.” If it’s claimed that Tetra masts cause these disparate and strange symptoms, let’s see extraordinary proof.

Until that proof is provided by scientific, indisputable, peer-reviewed independent research, I maintain that Tetra is a vital tool for the emergency services.

maximus otter

I don’t think that there is a real threat ... but precaution should be taken.

still confused with this discussing