TETRA: Say no to an unsafe technologyfind out more information about TETRA

What you have said about your health

 

Related pages: Health links; see the Mast Sanity health survey and the Mast Victims website.

Really unpleasant problems in my local village. Headaches, fitful sleep, depression in ears, depression anxiety, icthing clammy skin. It feels like one is in a microwave. I have contacted council and nobody wants to know. We have three of these bloody monstrosities with two miles of the village surounding us. When they are at full power the air literally vibrates. I have asked around and people just shrug their shoulders saying there is nothing they can do.

G L-T, Englefield Green

I live 50 metres away from a Tetra macrocell mast. Operator name O2 (but no mobile reception whatsoever) frequency range 400 MHz, height 15,7 metres. I moved to this area (unaware of the mast) 6 years ago and have suffered over the years unexplained symptoms – headache, nausea, dizziness, sinus problems, lack of energy, waking up during the night especially around 4am. What makes me think the mast might be the problem is that when I am away I am full of energy, sleep like a baby and never experience the other symptoms.

JG, Ettrickbridge

I recently purchased a BT Synergy 4500 digital cordless phone and have had to return it to Comet – after first plugging it in I felt unwell – headache and what I can only describe as a general fuzziness. What on earth is going on?

CT, Titchfield

For some of the reasons, see our DECT page and this useful DECT and WiFi page.

My local police force have moved to digital radio and I only found this out because I have had a sore head occasionaly for the past few months which has been extreme. Since last Saturday I have had a constant headache since then, and my doctor reckons it could be due to this change with police radio. I thought he was putting me off but then I had a friend who told me that could be the case and put me onto this web site. My head is constantly sore and I wake during the night with a sore head due to the pain killers not wearing off. My head ache is at the front of the head but also right up from the top of my neck at the back all the way to the front.

Where can I complain and will they stop using this method of communication because one person takes a headache?

Please use my comments as you wish if they can help me and others that would be great but I believe as I did not know about the police changing to this new system until after my headaches started it is more than coincidence.

I have had no changes in my life and my life is very relaxed. The headaches are not getting worse they are just constant.

Please help me to complain.

GJ, Coatbridge

Since our local police force (Buxton, Derbyshire) started using the new Tetra system myself and my family noticed immediate ill symptoms. Sleeplesness and ringing in the ears was my main problem, with my wife and child it has been mainly headaches.

We know a girl who works in the offices at the police station who has also been suffering headaches and nosebleeds, I’m not sure how Tetra can cause nosebleeds [ed.: visit our health links on nitric oxide] but she is sure Tetra is to blame and I agree with her. You see, she never suffered from them before and now, since a few weeks after Tetra started being used, she has not stopped having them on a regular basis.

I am not an educated person, and don’t know the ins and outs of radio waves etc., but this annoys me even more, if a general person on the street can see the ill effects all around him then why can’t the people who are supposed to be checking these things see them, or can they but money or political pressure clouds their vision?

From reading this site, unfortunately it seems like the authorities have spent their money and are not willing to change their decisions, even though they must know Tetra is a dangerous system to inflict on police officers and the general public alike.

I cannot understand how people can ignore the facts, i.e. the reports outlining the dangers, the complaints, the fact similar technology has been used as a weapon, having to ‘gag’ police officers!

Tetra may finally be withdrawn by force when there are so many ill police officers around that they have no choice! Things usually go like that ... what happened to prevention better than the cure eh?

TS, Buxton

[A friend of mine] has had a visit from a police officer, as the house next door had been kicked in. He made her face burn with his TETRA handset, and had to switch it off. A nurse who was visiting at the time witnessed this and spoke to me on the phone to tell me what she had seen. [My friend] has asked for the police report about this. She was a radar operator who took ill while staying at the last house at the runway at Leuchers [Scottish RAF base] and nearly died.

When she goes near a TETRA mast her blood pressure goes up to over 220 from a normal reading. She has a medical implant.

Just think of the effect on someone with a pacemaker in the same situation.

CG, Fife

I am a very concerned mother of a 13 yr old severly disabled child who suffers from severe epilepsy and has learning difficulties.

A TETRA mast was erected near her school and started undergoing testing last week. Since Friday she has had many many more seizures than normal as she usually has 1-2 per month and the last three days has been having 1-2 per hour!!

We really need all the help that we can get to have this mast removed from the police station near the school. I have removed my child from school as of today and another child with similar problems has also been removed from school.

Please help if you can. I am going to see the police inspector tomorrow to beg him to please reconsider and to stop putting our children at risk.

JP, Milford Haven

We have been obliged to withdraw our son, JD, from P____ school, Haverfordwest, Pembs, on the basis that it is no longer safe to send him in.

On Wednesday 11th May, J had had a good day at school and we took him to Tesco where he likes to have a sandwich in the cafe and a chat with people.

Upon arrival there, J became literally off-colour. His skin turned a blue colour, his head went down and he tapped his chest to indicate that he was unwell. He said he didn’t want to eat his sandwiches and we thought he might be about to fit.

We left Tesco and were surprised but relieved to see an immediate improvement in him.

Back at home, we couldn’t establish with him what the problem had been. It was only later that we heard that this TETRA mast on the police station had been tested on that day.

We feel if J can be affected in this way at Tesco by the mast, then he may similarly suffer at school nearby. We will be able to send him back to school if this TETRA mast is moved far enough away from his school.

Any info on who best to contact would be appreciated.

RD, Neyland

If America has been using ELF in their non-lethal weapons programme ... how come O2 Airwave and Tetra can freely irradiate our communities with it?

How will Tetra improve policing in this country if it makes the police so ill they are unable to work effectively?

How come the British Army in Iraq is using Tetrapol ... is it because they didn’t want to irradiate Iraquis with ELF knowing how it may effect people, or is it because they didn’t want to be carrying handsets that nuked their brains and spark ... or is it because Tetrapol is vastly cheaper and faster to set up?

How in the world will emergency services manage to avoid causing explosions when their handsets spark around the oxygen they must so often work around, carry and use?

How many people will be forced to leave this country if the rollout of Tetra is continued?

If I find a way to reflect the radiation directly back at the mast ... can I disable Tetra?

RG, Haverfordwest

[Ed.: Interference from TETRA is legal. Interference with TETRA is not. Interference with human bodies by using TETRA is legal, interference with TETRA masts is not. Just remember, it is the political will of the UK at present that masts are far more important than people’s opinion, sensitivities, well-being and health.]

In late September 2004, I started to notice a change in the way I felt. The best way to describe it would be the sense that I was somehow removed from my usual self.

Moving into October, there were changes in me such as an increase in anxiety and through that, a distinct lack of patience. I also began to get mild headaches.

November and December saw the headaches become more frequent to the point which they are now at present – virtually everyday – though are relatively mild. I also found myself waking up through the night, perhaps three or four times when I was usually lucky enough to enjoy good sleeps most nights.

In January 2005, I fainted for the first time in several years and began to experience the odd night where I never slept atall. On the nights I do sleep, I continue to wake up for no particular reason, three or four times. I went to the doctor not long after this, but he could find nothing physically wrong with me.

Towards the end of January, I picked up an eye infection and had to return to the doctor to receive treatment though the infection is proving a little resistant as I still have it now. I also became aware that my concentration was being affected also and that my back is often itchy.

It wasn’t until mid-February, that we received a newsletter about the TETRA mast, which has been sited approximately just one mile from our village. In fact, it had been switched on in September 2004 and when I read about the symptoms and how around another 20+ people in our village shared them since that time, it seemed like more than just a coincidence.

Because of the timing and health issues which match, I strongly believe that TETRA is the cause of how I and many others in the village now feel.

I currently work as a chef, but find the stress now much harder to bear since all this began and in fact, today, have an interview for a less stressful job, which also means a cut in wages.

If the authorities are unwilling to terminate TETRA then why can’t they set a probationary period of perhaps a month where, TETRA is disengaged to see if those suffering just now, improve?

Something has to be done about this and as quickly as possible and I will gladly lend my support to such a campaign.

Yours sincerely,

DG

Do you know a study researching the biological effects with, and without, the use of a cage of Faraday in the vicinity of a transmitter?

MH, Amsterdam

Marc,

I think the clearest indication of this lies with people who simply screen themselves from masts. The nearest to a Faraday cage people get is the silver mesh nets that go over beds, and those who suffer electrical hypersensitivity enough to resort to them, report that they work very well.

As for research into what people report as adverse physiological effects from masts, there is virtually none. Papers by Santini, Navarro, Oberfeld; the cases of Naila and Skundra and many others, observe the effects but do not attempt to mitigate the source. "Live experiments" with phone masts are generally regarded as unethical since it is tantamount to asking one population to experience radiation whilst another does not, where the hypothesis is that risk may exist. There is UK research about to start in which subjects in a EM-shielded laboratory (Faraday cage) are provoked with GSM-like signals and 3G (UMTS)-like signals to see how they respond in double-blind trials. However, this is the wrong way round, since there is no indication that the laboratory conditions resemble the actual conditions people live under.

Since shielding works, it would appear that a Faraday cage in a home would not prove anything further. Those who wish to disbelieve the biological effects would simply say it is the psychological reassurance of protection that removes the symptoms.

Having experienced a worsening of migraines, headaches, sleep, sickness – all of which do not respond to any kind of medication, I was recently put in touch with this campaign who showed me site maps of where the masts were and the signals in relation to where I live. Three transmission lines converge at the top of my road. Our block of houses lies directly between two masts.

I just thought my usual migraines were increasing in intensity and frequency, and didn’t understand why my ability to even get up the stairs on some mornings when they were bad seemed so difficult. Also, why am I waking up every night between 3 and 3.30 am? My sleep is disturbed and unfulfilling. My concentration is shot to pieces and I am constantly tired. Mind you, coping with a 24/7 headache/migraine and trying to hold down 2 jobs, I thought it was just me.

My doctor thinks I’m a nut case and just increases my dosage of daily pills and I think I’m losing the plot.

This could be the answer I have been searching for, and although it will not improve my physical health, it has certainly given me back my sanity.

I am going to do a mini survey along our street and see if anyone experiences any of these things and will report back if of interest.

AL, Shoreham

I’m deeply concerned about Tetra radiation and transmission methods. As someone who has been involved in radio (on an amateur level) as a hobbyist for years (I’m 51 btw) it seems as if this technology is being rushed out without regards to reports from other E.U. states who have trialled this technology and rejected it because of possible health problems. There are also issues with regards to TV and DAB interference near to the pulsed radiation from these masts (over 2 to 3 km proximity).

I have some issues with the power, frequency and pulse rates of these transmitters, also with their siting close to or within urban developments.

A definitive study is surely required before further deployment of this system.

RP, Worthing

Re Ian Sharp's fine piece on Tetra / lightbulb -

All the cellular systems have constant broadcast channel signal, which is a major problem. Especially with the late unlamented Dolphin. Their traffic channels came on as demand required. Is the Airwave difference perhaps more accurately the matter of constant traffic channel transmission? Up here in Fife and Tayside the Airwave sites are only being set up, so all I can receive is the broadcast channels - some sites having 4 (eg Dundee) and no traffic channel activity.

Further point at tail of piece - the living being inc. humans - are adapted to elf rf signals - it's taken millions of years for us to adapt to them. They are the reason for our particular elf brain wave rhythms and it has been demonstrated that our circadian rhythms hinge on them as well. It's just that the signal levels are minute. - (Schumann resonances) Clumsy tetra and other elf microwave can only and does disrupt what is our vital natural link to the earth, governing our well being. (refs. available)

Excellent website!

AJ, Fife and Tayside

I’ve been reading through your published correspondence on Tetra with the various authorities, and write in strong support of all you say. My wife and I had the misfortune to have a (thankfully temporary) Tetra base station at only 50 metres from our house last autumn, and the experience was horrific. Blinding headaches, sleeplessness, giddiness etc. ... symptoms precisely as you report in your well-written correspondence. Luckily our mast didn’t have planning permission, and was eventually relocated. I do wish you well in your endeavours ... this Tetra system is a disgrace to democracy, a profoundly dangerous technology that must be abandoned forthwith. Please keep up the good work ... your Tetrawatch site is a superb source of information ... this battle just has to be won for the sake of future generations.

It really is that important!

Kind regards, Mike
Isle of Wight

Moved to Bognor Regis 6 weeks ago as wanted better air quality for my son who has very bad eczema. Very worried now as mast in park seems to be giving me major problems with health. Had two nose bleeds, for no reason just started bleeding. Had headaches for weeks now but told everthing seems to be ok from doc, taking way too many pills to stop the headaches. Seriously thinking about moving away from Bognor to make sure son/daughter don't get effected.

Yes did check land seraches before moving and looked at goverment web sites re Mast, but the web sites made me believe there was no problem, now look at me.

PS, Aldwick

[Note: this appears to be due to a 3G mast. See Dutch study.]

My partner and I live in Findon Valley. We have a friend with family close to the Woodside Rd Tetra mast (Worthing).

In conversation I told him about our loss of ITV reception - he told me that I was living just underneath the active Tetra mast at Honeysuckle Lane (I had no idea that it was even there) - and that the Woodside Rd area had suffered the same loss of ITV reception when their local mast was 'on'.

I am fully conversant (as a long-time 'dabbler') in most things to do with radio / electronics. I had been baffled about my TV reception loss. I am quite certain that the Tetra mast above our home is the cause. I have checked all other possibilities.

If we have been suffering problems I am quite sure that other residents have - we just don't talk to one another in Findon!! (That probably goes for most of Worthing - so the problem is almost certainly being felt widely - but not discussed.)

TV reception loss is a nuisance - the health problems being experienced wholesale around Woodside Road are a very serious matter indeed.

T, Worthing

For the past six months my partner and I have been experiencing some odd side effects, most of which I am convinced are related to the tetra masts after speaking to my father (who is proactive anti tetra). We have been waking up at approximately 5am every day regardless of how exhausted we are! I have been suffering headaches which are not normal and nausea. All of these symptoms are unusual and so I felt I ought to let you know. good luck!

HJ, Worthing

These Tetra masts, once installed nationwide, would cause more widespread harm to humans, animals and wildlife and possibly our environment.

Come to Bognor Regis and talk to people now that the Tetra mast is off. It is the only one in the country to be running for 21 weeks and then turned off.

We cannot give you scientific proof but you can listen to those who suffered in Bognor and are now recovered, and make up your own mind. This might be the only place where you will begin to realise what is about to happen.

Because all birds except gulls and pigeons and some wildlife deserted Bognor when the mast was turned on, and have now all returned, we fear for Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve with a mast about to be turned on at Church Norton. This Nature Reserve is a haven for rare birds and renowned world wide...

SL, Aldwick

I have visited many Tetra sites in Hampshire, Sussex and Isle of Wight and seen related health effects in certain sensitive individuals even though the signal levels are many thousands of times below the ICNIRP so called ‘safe’ level. I suppose we all know that using a heating effect safety level in the context of pulsed microwave signals is meaningless, but it does make a nonsense of the latest Government funded survey which is confirming that these base stations are ICNIRP compliant.

BIG DEAL!

RB, Isle of Wight

My family and myself have for the last few months been experiencing headaches, pain/hotness to the face, itching forearms, sleeplessness, irritability, dots in front of eyes and generally not feeling well. We've recently recognised experiencing these feelings in coordination with the bad TV interference and made the connection to the Tetra mast at Woodside Rd, less than 1 km away. We are deeply concerned and would like to voice these concerns to the relevent authorities (for what it's worth!) and to the local residents. Have you any ideas as to the most effective way of making the residents aware of what's happening? It's great to have found your site but I'm worried that not enough people in Worthing appear to know what's going on. We here shall be writing, faxing and e-mailing the 'people in power' and anything else we can do. Looking forward to hearing from our fellow sufferers.

SG, Worthing

I am writing to you with regard to the TETRA mast campaign. I must explain that I and my family live in the South Wales area of Pontypridd, but we are regular visitors to Bognor Regis, spending holidays, weekends etc., as we always find that the lovely sea air greatly benefits our health, so much so, that my husband and I decided to move in the near future to the Bognor area. However, on our last visit, which was for a few days at the beginning of March, we didn't experience the usual feel-good factor, in fact both my husband and myself felt quite depressed, with the two of us suffering from constant headaches and tiredness. At the time we put it down to the bad weather, as there were gale force winds blowing at the time. While we were out shopping in the town during this period, we decided to buy a copy of the Bognor Regis Observer, and it was then that we read that the Tetra mast had ben turned on a few weeks earlier. After reading the article, we began to question whether it was the bad weather causing us to feel unwell, or was it the Tetra mast?

JH, Pontypridd

My TV reception has worsened, before it was just ITV but now all channels are snowy and I can't use the teletext. I thought it was due to the warm weather but what you have said makes sense. I too have been having terrible headaches for the last few days again put that down to PMT! Just couldn't get to sleep last night.

This probably sounds very odd but one of my dogs has started scratching more. He started scratching when the mast was turned on, then started losing facial hair. Has been investigated but they cannot find a cause for his itching, has even been treated for fox mange. I mentioned the mast to the vet who said he may be sensitive to the pulsed microwaves as dogs are very sensitive to EMFs. Did the mast get turned up on Thursday evening [ed.: yes!], as that's when my dogs started getting irritable and restless?

It's a pity politicians can't admit the same senstivities in humans.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, it is such a shame we cannot take a walk in the local park without suffering ill effects.

CF, Worthing

> Does Mr Blair have no consideration for his own children? Perhaps if he had to live directly under one of these masts and watch his two year old boy screaming in terror at non exsistent images, or sweating so much you have to change the sheets at night. Watching a rash spread across his whole body, crying when I change his nappy because his skin is so sore and dry, and knowing their is nothing you can do because no medcine seems to help (and who wants to drug thir child all the time anyway). Then watching with fear as your 7 month old daughter starts getting the same rash. A feeling of constant dehydration, disturbed nights and dodgy phone lines. Maybe just maybe then he would pull the plug on this horrfic experiment.

ZB, Worthing

Just returned from two weeks in the Yorkshire Dales. First day away, headaches diminished and no nausea, and (glory be!) a full night's sleep. By the second day feeling great, and normal full sleep patterns returned. Returned to St Elmo Road, Worthing on 30th March - within 24 hours, headaches returned, sleepless nights are back, and increased body temperatures causing night sweats.

I see from the Worthing Herald that O2 are considering Worthing mast re-location - great for us if it happens, but what about the poor folk who will inherit it ?

Ofcom being remarkably quiet, despite several phone calls. Video equipment still not workable, ordinary video playback impossible and terrestrial ITV still unobtainable. Filter fitted for TV, but ITV not viewable through video and therefore unrecordable. Not as important as health issues, but still a bloody nuisance.

JM, Worthing

Dear sir/madam

I am just writing to say that i am very worried about the mast

I am jayne , aged 11 , and im from bognor i live about 500 yards away from the tetra mast and my family have been fealling a bit down

my mum and dad brother and sister have all been exsperinsing headaches and tiredness and we all have to get up really early in the morning and i have to go to chichester hi school for girls and i have heard that these tetra poles can make u really ill and i live really close to one and i have seen that there is ANOTHER tetra pole at the police station at Chichester. IM SROUNDED BY THEM !!!!and i don't want to get ill!!!IM CONCIDERING MOVING SCHOOLS BECAUSE OF THIS

what was the point of this thing going up ??? its only made hell brake loose

IT HAD NO PLANING PERMISSION you need that don't u because people can DISSAPROVE if they don't like it.

im very upset about this cos like im scaerd I'll get some deseases that i don't want .

ur sincerly

jayne

I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). In the last two weeks my symptoms have worsened mainly insomnia and brain "fog". At first I thought I was having a relapse but my usual sleep medication has not worked. Around the same time my TV reception for ITV simply dissapeared, I thought this was caused by the wind moving the arial. I then read a report in the Worthing Herald and it has all become clear. CFS affects the brain, notably lack of melatonin and enviromental factors can exacerbate problems. I live directly south of Woodside road on the south side of the railway line. I believe this mast is interfering with my health and will be researching this further.

CF, Worthing

The government are always going on about children and the future. If they are going to ruin the world now with these masts, what kind of future is that going to be for children, children don't want cancer death and illness, they want a better world than some adults have created for us!!!!!!

AP, Shoreham-by-Sea

My girlfriend and I attended the meeting on Thursday 4/3/04 and were shocked at the health implications of the mast.We were un-aware that it had been switched on and now I know why I'm getting bad headaches.

We felt so strongly about these issues that I have spoken to our direct neighbours who have not attended about the seriousness and they are un-aware of the health risks.

After telling them they are asking what can be done.

Can the next leaflet drop be more of a shock tactic outlining health risks as I feel this will get more people behind the campaign? The neighbours just thought it was a general mast!

MT, Worthing

I haven't slept more than 2 hours at a time for ten days now. I have headaches all the time. But it's like nobody believes us. What can we do? I can't go on like this!

AD, Worthing

Another sleepless night - waking every two to three hours, and problems with headaches on waking.

JM, Worthing

 Do you need to speak anonymously? That’s fine. We are especially interested to hear from policemen and women who are not allowed to talk publicly about TETRA or their concerns. What do you think? And what about your union?

 

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