I REFER to the letter of Ursula Calderone (The Courier, 29/12), suggesting that responsible medical bodies have classified "smart" power meters as possible carcinogens (cancer causing).
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There are areas of concern regarding the meters which the average person may be unaware.
A letter I received from Powercor (8/12/12), states that each meter uses two transmitters, one in the 900 MHz region, with a radiated power of one Watt, a second in the 2.4 GHz region, radiating 200 milliwatts.
The first question is, where are the antennae for these two transmitters? 900 Mhz has a wavelength of around 32<2009>centimetres, so would require around eight centimetres of antenna for optimum radiation. For 2.4 GHZ, the optimum antenna length is around three centimetres. How much of the radiated energy travels along the house wiring is unclear, but that radiation spreads throughout the house is beyond question.
These meters are mostly housed in metal boxes, and radio waves will not pass through a sheet of metal, but rather will be reflected back, bouncing off any metal objects it strikes within the dwelling. The metal walls, roof and floor of your microwave oven do not absorb energy, they simply reflect it to the food you place in the oven.
I challenge Powercor, or any other supplier, to give a full explanation of why no steps have been taken to protect people from this source of radiation. The risk may be tiny, but commonsense says that everything possible should be done to reduce whatever risk there is.
ARTHUR COMER
(ex lecturer in Radio at RMIT)
Sebastopol
