High Voltage Power Lines and Magnetic Radiation

It seems that birds use the static magnetic field of the earth to navigate when flying south for the winter. I suppose birds below the equator fly north for winter but moving magnetic field may disturb their peace.

There is both magnetic and electric radiation from the power lines. The magnetic field is fairly weak but you may be able to hold up a fluorescent lamp under the lines and make it light up due to the electric field. As to how harmful this may be, there is a lot of inconclusive data that is yet to be analyzed.

It may actually depend on the physical makeup of an individual person as to how sensitive they will be. Nicoli Tesla wanted to transmit AC power without electric lines but he found that he mostly ended up with lightning generators rather than some form of conductor guided power distribution.

Also remember that the field strength is in alignment with the wires and that it falls off as 1/(radius*radius) or the inverse of the square of the distance between the wire and some object. And the ability of that field to penetrate organic matter is going to be a function of frequency. You may able to buy a field strength meter but it won't likely give much of a reading when the source frequency is 60 Hz.

I can tell you that at very high voltages the birds won't land on the wires because the electromagnetic field ruffles their feathers. And I have heard that fish avoid the water directly under power lines but they may actually feel the electricity. Sharks can detect electric fields as low as 1/1,000,000 of a volt. Humans don't generally feel anything, but that doesn't mean that energy is not being absorbed.

If you are worried about it you can buy rolls of metal screen and have that installed and grounded under your shingles or in your attic. That will stop any electrical radiation, but it may increase your chance of a lightning strike. Good luck with your decision.

You can get meters for this among the stuff offered at www.lessemf.com. A gauss meter is probably what you want to measure 60 or 120 hz line noise. Although it's possible significant harmonics are generated as well, in higher bands. RSM people in my area say that line noise is often picked up at 40 Mhz (go figure, in the ISM band. I suppose those ISM people must give em a lot of complaints about the interference...).

It would be a good idea to get the meter(s) before they install the lines. Get something with an audio or headphone output, then you can take a line out and record the data. Check out the signal being produced by appliances in your home or other stuff in the environment, so you know what's in the 'normal' condition. Then when the power lines are put in, you can record the new data and compare the difference in a spectrum analyzer. If the lines end up causing you RFI problems, you'll be better off with time-date-stamped recordings as documentation.

Afaik, transmission lines themselves are not as bad as the substations for emissions. The worst thing about transmission lines (other than the eyesore and possible RFI) is that the vegetation underneath is chemically killed periodically to keep them clear (I think that's a routine practice in many if not most places). You'll want to find out about that, when and on what rotation it's done, and what chem they are using. On the basic assumption that the stuff is a poison and probably leaves residues, I consider it a law never to eat anything that grows in the kill area near a power line.

I'll check lessemf.com out. Thanks. They have already installed the polls and wires at my place but this is a 100 mile long system and they don't plan on turning the power on until late 2010. I would like to monitor the RFI and emissions before they turn it on and then after. I have RMP on record saying I would not notice any difference. I am going to prove it to myself. I don't believe anything they tell me. Once they got the go ahead they doubled the size from what they told us they were going to put in and told us there would be only one line. Now that they have the corridor they are planning on putting 4 more 500 KV lines in. This is all because California is to stupid to build their own power plants and insist the rest of the west provide the power they need.

You think that California is too stupid to build their own plants. Not so. I suspect that they buy from you folks so that they can say that they don't use coal to generate electricity IN California. Would I be correct to assume that your plants use coal ?

Steve

Yep you are right. I was in a hurry and on a roll and used the wrong term. I thought about it this morning when I got up. Stupid was the wrong term. And yes part of the power is produced from coal but the majority is from Hydroelectric. I also believe about 15 percent comes from wind in Wyoming.

I don't know the gaussmeters they carry, but I got great bang for my buck with the Sniffit probe they offer 1 Mhz to 1 Ghz. This is a really inexpensive and useful device. It comes with banana plugs for use with a standard DMM, and (except where DMM overwhelmed with signal) can be used to pinpoint small or exact sources of emissions in the broad band. For a couple bucks, I also made an adapter: banana plug in to audio out. A small preamp is needed to get a good level for recording, and lessemf has one for $15 or so, powered by 9V, that worked just fine as a receiver for ambient RF in the band 1 Mhz to 1 Ghz, including FM radio, which, at known transmission power, provides a benchmark for signal strength and (if there's a known station that keeps archives) objective proof of the time and date of the recording.

I did try the cheap gauss pickup that they have - interesting, having a listen to that stuff and finding out what's actually coming off the wires and appliances (especially the stuff with big capacitors that just keep on giving, even after the power goes out). But the range and sensitivity of the pickup isn't defined, so you don't get any real data. I must admit, I got FM radio reception on that one too... Great education tool, for signal recognition. Or wierd audio projects.. ( hum hum )

As long as you don't have a pacemaker fitted. It will definitely affect that device..

Go out at night and stand under them with a fluorescent light bulb. Ambient energy is supposed to make them glow.

I suppose you could use several of these to do some decorating. Try a net search for fluorescent light bulbs and power lines and you find several artist filling fields with the bulbs.

If you end up illuminating the field you will have visual proof of their misinformation.

Now on to figure if this is really bad for your health.

Dear Blacksmith,

I am positive that high voltage power lines (less than 1 Km. away) do cause cancer, as I recall a research paper published from U.K. some very long ago. This was based on study of cows that were grazing below and in close Proximity to the lines. A relative of mine living at a distance of 30 metres from the powerline tower, for the past 5 years had recently undergone an operation to remove tumours on the spine. Better be safe than sorry!

A group of Engineering students (doing their final year project work under my guidance) reported that their POWER lab was located less than a hundred metres from a High tension power line tower carrying 6 or 7 lines. A simple test using a coil of copper wire connected to the terminals of a multimeter showed a reading of 15 mV to 30 mV as they approached the lines. Our own dry skin gives off 15 mV on a dry day.Obviously, an enhancement of ambient voltage due to radiation from power lines is bound to disturb the physiology and the effects are likely to vary substantially from person to person.A generalisation may not be possible unless a concerted research effort is put in with human volunteers staying for prolonged periods in close proximity to the power lines.

Please ask the power utility company to provide field data on a sufficient number of residential colonies in close proximity to their power lines and the incidence or absence of cancer in the group under study stretched over at least a span of 5-10 years.

Regards

D.Ramakrishna Naidu

An EMF meter will do the work.

Check this site for information: http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/

The electric field varies with the voltage while the magnetic field varies with the current. A 500 kV line will have lower current flow than a lower voltage line with the same load hence a lower magnetic field. The EMF drops off quickly as you move away from the source.

No health study that I am aware of has found any link between EMF and health conditions. Some studies are inconclusive and others definitely did not find any link. Does the link exist? No one knows, as it has not been found to exist beyond a reasonable doubt.

The utility can and should vary the line design to minimize the EMF. They can change the pole design, change phase placement, roll the phases occasionally, etc. The addition of more lines may actually lower the EMF as one line cancels the EMF of the other if designed properly. Has the utility published standards for EMF levels at the edge of the rights of way?

After you purchase the gauss meter (be sure it stays calibrated) take measurements all around your property on different days over many months. Take measurements near any distribution lines as well - overhead or underground. Also measure inside your house. You may be surprised to find that the EMF produced by your internal wiring and appliances is higher than what the utility line produces. Digital clocks and fish tank heaters are prime suspects.

It is a complex topic with more to be discovered I am sure.

I have lived within 100 feet of a HV transmission line for 12 years now. I looked into these "studies" that claimed a link to increased cancer rates etc. before buying this house, they are all now known to be inconclusive at best but most likely there is no correlation, yet the media hyperbole continues with this stuff. Here is my direct experience;

Nobody, I mean NOBODY in my entire area has been known to come down with cancer, brain tumors or the like, and many of them have lived here since this housing tract was built in 1971. Hundreds and hundreds of children were raised here, including my own, not one report of childhood leukemia (there was a neighborhood survey done about 5 years ago by a Real Estate company).

I occasionally get some weird effects on my clock radio (my bedroom is closest to the lines) where the volume changes a lot as we move through the room.

I have wireless internet access, it is unaffected (by the way, THAT system is probably bathing me in far more EMI than the power lines!).

Birds, including raptors, provide me with a never ending array of interesting spectacles as they hang out on the lines either socializing or looking for prey. I don't see any of them complaining about "ruffled feathers".

There is a creek flowing parallel to the lines, directly underneath. It is FULL of fish, crayfish, frogs, toads, ducks, all manner of wildlife. Their biggest threats seem to be raptors, raccoons and coyotes, not EM / RF.

My conclusion, the entire issue is over blown, most likely started by someone who did not like the aesthetics of having power lines in their view but couldn't get them stopped for that reason. Being an EE, I find it somewhat interesting. I also get amusement at listening to the crackle around the insulators on foggy days.

In addition, I have lived in two other houses, NEITHER of which was anywhere near power lines. In BOTH circumstances, I had neighbors who got giant brain tumors, one the size of a tennis ball, the other the size of a grapefruit. So from my own personal experience, evidence would show that NOT living near power lines seems to cause brain tumors. Of course that's ridiculous, but the point is, data means nothing if it cannot be corroborated by scientific testing. The REAL scientific testing of populations living near HV transmission lines shows NO provable correlation to any increase in detrimental health effects.

http://gc.energy.gov/NEPA/nepa_documents/docs/deis/eis0344/AppxB1_1Magnetic.pdf

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/magnetic-fields

My nanotesla (at powerline frequency) instrument,35 years old, uses two 741 op amps and came from a teaching hospital where it checked EEG ECG etc locations.It was built in-house for their biophysics department,I bought it at auction some 10 years ago.

If you want to replicate it I will email circuit, photos and coil data.

The output is100 mV per microtesla to scope or AC meter.

I would closely monitor are record any measurements you can

Monitor for interference also, Like interference to Radio. The AM radio and shortwave bands. Make recordings of BOTH, showing the amount (if any) interference you are getting. NOW before power up.

Then do it again after powerup.

And it all depends on the quality of the install. But you can tell the FCC if they make any noise, and depending how bad it is, the FCC fines them til they fix it, and sometimes it can be huge fines.

As some one suggested in this thread, you could also consider a simple EMI/RFI shield by putting up light weight chicken mesh all along the fencing of your property upto a height of about 5 metres and suitably ground the mesh at intervals of 5 metres. This should substantially trap and conduct away the radiation energy, leaving your home and living areas safe from the long term effects of the proximity to the Hi-voltage transmission lines.

Breeding grounds are of concern because the rapidly dividing stem cells in embryos are particularly vulnerable to mutation, and the embryos do not yet have any self-defense and repair mechanisms (the immune system develops very late in gestation). That's also why doctors are very reluctant to do x-rays or MRI's on pregnant women. Once an organism is fully formed, the body is very resilient and can absorb significantly more radiation without serious damage.

There are 2 types of fields produced by transmission lines, magnetic and static electric. The magnetic field depends on the amount of current, and the electric field depends on the voltage. If you are truly concerned you should investigate both fields. However, you should be aware that both fields drop by the square of the distance from the line. At 20 feet from the line, the field in 25% of what it was within at 10 feet. At 50 feet, it's down to 4%. For more information, I suggest reviewing this study done for a transmission line in Canada. The graphs in the appendix show that the electric and magnetic fields drop below the limits within 20 meters of the line. Your house is over 60 meters away, so you probably get more radiation from your computer screen than from the transmission line.

If you still want to do your own measurements, you will need a Gauss meter for the magnetic field, and an AC field meter for the electric field. Regulations vary from location to location, but most jurisdictions have limits of 0.15 to 0.2 milligauss (magnetic) and 1-3 KV/meter (electric) at the edge of the transmission right-of-way. There are literally hundreds of vendors for these meters, but the cheaper ones have a tolerance of ‡20% or more (kind of like a wild guess). Here is one vendor fairly close to you who sells both types of meters.

Thanks for the info. Speaking of embryos, my daughter in law is pregnant but will deliver a few months before the power line is turned on. It is my son that is all up in arms over this. This line was originally supposed to go over USFS property but the Sierra club and the Wilderness Alliance stopped it, so Rocky Mountain Power took the easy route with Eminent Domain in their back pocket and went in front of the house through private land.

If this were done to me, I'd be building my own transformer to get power off the magnetic field coming from the lines. Run from 1 phase only to throw the phases off balance. Then sell any excess back to the utility.

Or you could rub their noses in it with a transformer arrangement using a bunch of lights as a load in plain sight.

Friends,

I appreciate this thread's tone. Nobody has mentioned the question: Is this an AC or DC transmission line? Although AC is much more common, DC is becoming more attractive for longer distances and interties between systems. If it is DC, there is no varying magnetic field and therefore will be no induction, etc.

--JMM

It's AC