I wish more care was taken to inform your readers of the facts about radio transmission, mobile phones and Tetra.
Your article on Tetra radio masts being installed for the Sussex emergency services was muddled (The Argus, October 24).
Two examples:
Third paragraph: The Tetra mast at Findon "is just one of 87 needed for Sussex Police's new £2 million system which relies on mobile phone technology instead of radio frequencies".
This is nonsense. Mobile phones utilise radio frequencies to send and receive voice and data to and from the handsets and respective base stations. Tetra is a similar system on a different waveband (akin to tuning a car radio dial to a different station) to mobile phone systems.
Second paragraph, third column: "... the body was 'exquisitely sensitive' to low frequency microwave radiation."
Again, this is nonsense. Microwaves are by their essence very HIGH frequency.
The "pulses" that are of concern to Dr Gerald Hyland are because the Tetra radio transmitter will transmit a pulse of microwave energy (usually meaning a radio signal greater than 1Ghz in frequency) 17.6 times a second, which is 17.6 hertz.
Please try harder to present the facts in a way to which your readership can make an informed judgement about the pros and cons of communications masts.
-Matthew Wilson, Saltdean
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