RNZN Communicators Association

The following was received from John Bullock who is living in Lyttelton.

The “main street” in the Port of Lyttelton where I live, is cordoned off. An old pub here, the “Empire Hotel” the façade facing the roadside is about to fall on to the footpath and road. I had a drive around this Sunday morning, the roads are ok, and the amazing thing was, many old buildings made of bricks and mortar appear to have no damage at all. Says a lot about today’s building standards. Some those buildings are over 100 years old! A few of the business area such as old buildings with verandas over the footpath have been cordoned off as well. We have only one supermarket here, but “charges like a wounded bull”, it had many of its shelved products over the floor, and has a structural problem at the rear. So if we have to purchase the essentials, we have to travel thru the Lyttelton tunnel to a Countdown at Ferrymead, about 10 minutes’ drive from where I live in Lyttelton. The tunnel was closed initially, but after safety checks they have reopened it. That was quite an experience driving thru the 1.8Km tunnel, hoping there was no tremor whilst driving thru it. Water has been on since the initial earthquake, but some unknown reason this morning, Monday, it has been turned off. We have to boil from tap for 3 minutes to make it safe. Power has been restored, thank goodness; telephone, internet, airport and those things are ok. A lot of people have only cordless phones these days. Well they do not work when the power is off. It pays to have an “el cheapo” normal phone that is hard wired into the fone socket. It is powered from the DC `voltage from the exchange. Fortunately, we have battery-powered transistors to keep up-to-date with all the necessaries in such times. The funny thing was, not having power we were getting phone calls from all over the world from friends and relatives, before we actually heard from people within NZ. They were all getting live video streams of the disaster. It seemed funny around there, because all the residences appear to be ok and appear visibly “normal” on the exterior, yet in wider Christchurch area the scenario is quite different.

We have been getting tremors about every half hour, but not of the same level as the original quake, thank Christ. Most of which are between 3 and 5 on the Richter scale. I had to go thru the Lyttelton tunnel (1.8Km) to the supermarket yesterday Sunday, that was closed immediately after the original 7.1 quake. I was praying (I am not religious by the way) the tremors stay way while I negotiating the tunnel. The speed limit thru the tunnel is 50. I do not think I was looking at my speedo, just the light at the end of the tunnel. Christchurch CBD has copped a lot; especially some of older and historical buildings might or will have to be demolished. The Christchurch CBD will remain closed today Monday, and schools closed as well. The night the earthquake hit I was dining with some friends in an old part of the CBD in Christchurch. Well that got hit pretty badly. Restaurants have been advised to cook with bottled water. Fontera have been trucking in by tanker water for all the centres that are catering for people who had to leave their dwellings.

As to be expected by everybody, is the unknown, when is it all is going to stop. I can tell you, you cannot sleep at night, only because of these on-going regular tremors reminding you something is amiss!

We have a large Sony tube TV in one of the bedrooms. It is so heavy you need two fellas to lift it, and then you struggle some. Well that went airborne on to the floor. Fortunately, it goes, and no marks or visible damage. The higher in this 3-level house the more stuff was flung around, so with that in mind, I spend most of my time at ground level for obvious reasons.

Exterior of this house seems to be fine, but a few hair-line cracks in the wall plaster board indoors. A few broken glass thingies in the pantry, etc. Taken photos to make a claim. So it will be interesting to see what happens with that. The house is a pole-house, and weather boarded. I think that is the only way to go if you live in an earthquake zone, i.e. pole house wood exterior and steel roofing, not tiles. The tremors seemed to have sub-sided somewhat, the time between each tremor is further apart, but now we got the varying winds, with few more creaks and moans …. can’t win! You do not know for a few seconds whether it is the wind or another tremor.

Have a look at this link to see recent quakes/tremors and the epicentre on the maps associated with each tremor. At this point in time, since midnight, to give you an example we have had nine tremors/earthquakes. The epicentre varies, but all in the same area around Darfield. Even has I am typing this, just had another tremor, 3.8, SW of Christchurch.

In summary, the whole situation gives you an unusual feeling in your gutz, it is the not knowing what is going to happen next, whether to dive for cover, or run for safety after each tremor. We are very lucky it has not rained, it is just the strong winds we are getting from time to time that keeps you alert. Strong winds do make the house creak, and then you ask yourself, “Is it the wind or just another tremor”?

John

Thanks John for the update and keep safe.

Abbreviated Report into the Possible Health Effects
of ELF and RF Radiation in the RNZN

What prompted this research:

1965 Visit to VLF transmitter site, Navcommsta Honolulu, and seeing a circle of dead birds around the transmitting mast.

1970 Arcing from a whip aerial on HMNZS Taranaki going well over the red safety line.

1973 Mururoa.

1984 Radio Frequency Managers Course – learned of the dangers of RF hazards.

The number of radio technicians who had worked on the Type 12 frigates gunnery radar who had cancer.

The number of communicators who had passed away before the age of 60 and my own health problems.

2000 Visit to Dunedin by HMNZS Canterbury.

Facts that have contributed to the research:

1990 Suppression of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s report “Evaluation of the Potential Carcinogenicity of Electromagnetic Fields”. A US Air Force paper on the EPA report stated: “If published, the EPA report will contribute to public anxiety and have serious impacts on capabilities and costs of air force programs.” The EPA report also mentions that it proposed to classify ELF fields as a probable (Class 2A) human carcinogen and RF/MW fields as a possible (Class 2B) human carcinogen.

1998 The ELF fields were re-categorised to possible (Class 2B) human carcinogen by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

1998 NZS 2772 (Intermediate) RF Fields Maximum Exposure Levels possibly in use in the RNZN.

1999 ASNZS 2772 Part 1 1999 – RF Fields Part 1 – Maximum exposure levels – 3kHz to 300GHz is available for purchase from Standards NZ. At about this time, it is thought that NZBR2924 (RF Hazards in the RNZN) was published changing the safe distances required for HF aerials. In the past the RNZN had used BR222 and BR2924 as the authority for imposing safe distances. The new safe distances are approximately two and half times greater than previous.

1999 East Timor – HMNZS Te Kaha communicators were unable to raise HMNZS Canterbury by visual means. Unbeknown to Te Kaha, Canterbury’s Flag Deck was not manned because of implementation of ASNZS2771/NZBR2924. As a result, OSH had decreed that Canterbury’s Flag Deck was off limits when the MCO was manned with the Flag Deck being deemed a possible carcinogenic area.

2000 HMNZS Canterbury visits Dunedin and the Flag Deck found to be off limits due to being a possible carcinogenic area.

2001 The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a WHO sub-group, also classified ELF fields as a possible (Class 2B) human carcinogen.

2009 HMNZS Hawea visits Dunedin and on Bridge wing ladder leading to radar and radio aerials, there is a sign which states “Warning Possible Carcinogenic Area.”

2010 On HMNZ Ships, carcinogenic warning replaced with new RF Hazards signs.

2010 Vatican Radio – Italian courts have been investigating for 10 years whether an abnormally high number of deaths from cancer among families living near the aerials just north of the Italian capital can be attributed to electromagnetic radiation.

The 300-page report, ordered by the courts and carried out by Italy’s most prestigious cancer research hospital, now concludes that there is a connection between radiation and the cancer incidents.

What does all this mean? It means that possibly, many communicators and radio technicians, who served in the RNZN, may well have certain health problems, or have passed away as a result of, exposure to ELF and/or Radio Frequency Radiation.

ELF Radiation is an invisible field of energy that is created from electronic equipment and appliances. This is produced in the ELF (Extra Low Frequency) range by AC at 50 or 60 hz. ELF fields are commonly found in Wireless Offices, Main Communications Offices, Naval Communications Centres, Naval Radio Stations, Electronic Warfare Offices, etc. Typical equipment powered by AC mains are receivers, transmitters (switched on but not actually transmitting), amplifiers, cryptographic equipment, radar and radio DF receivers, teleprinters and associated equipment, analysers, etc.

Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR) is normally associated with the radiation of transmissions leaving the aerial, and in certain conditions, may include open wire feeders/transmission lines. Onboard ships these are your Communications aerials, all radars and jammers. At Navcommsta Waiouru, the main danger was the open wire feeders in the transmitter hall.

EMR Spectrum Principles:

The electromagnetic spectrum has a very wide range of frequencies. Understanding how these various frequencies interact with human bodies is very important for appreciating how these signals and fields can cause biological effects when tissues or whole bodies are exposed. Biophysics is a very important scientific discipline for understanding how the natural body electromagnetic and biological systems work and how external signals from ELF fields and RF radiation enter into and interact with the body systems and cells. The basic physics principles involved are resonance interaction and absorbance, and energy conversion and conservation. The failure to understand these principles leads to errors in the setting of standards and the inappropriate interpretation of epidemiological results.

An EM radiating wave is a combination of an oscillating electric field and magnetic field at right angles to each other. When propagating radiation enters air, fluid or tissue the radiation velocity decreases in proportion to the density and the frequency, a parameter called a refraction index. An example of this is a rainbow. The white sunlight passing through water droplets of the rain and the shorter wavelength (violet and blue), and bending more than the longer wavelength (lower frequency) red and yellow. This puts violet and blue on the inside of the primary rainbow with yellow and red on the outside.

When propagating RF radiation penetrates a body it slows down, reducing the wavelength but not altering the frequency which is at right angles to the propagation direction.

Next we have resonance, which is a process used by both the transmitter and the receiving aerials. Their size is related to the wavelength of the transmitted signal. Both the transmitter and receiver aerials have a length that has a natural oscillation frequency that proportionately matches the frequency of the transmitted signal. Transmitting aerials are used to convert oscillating electric currents and voltage generated by the transmitter circuit into electromagnetic fields radiating through space. In the absence of material boundaries that reflect or scatter the waves, the fields propagate in the form of spherical waves, whose amplitude varies inversely with the distance from the aerial.

All gobbledegook to me! Ok, what this breaks down to is the physical size of the human body and the frequency in use and it has been observed that both biological effects and epidemiological effects appear to be the same or very similar from ELF and RF exposure. For example, a child is more prone to radiation than an adult at frequencies in the UHF range because the smaller body is more resonant at the shorter wavelengths and acts like a natural aerial.

How come some people have been affected and others haven’t? Various factors contribute to this:
1.   Bigger people are less prone to radiation because of the density of tissue (fat, skin, etc).
2.   Communicators most affected are those who have served during the time of electromagnetic teleprinters. These are known to radiate very badly and received signals in the clear have been picked up externally of the ship by a specially equipped vehicle on the wharf.
3.   WWII ships still in operation during the advent of EM teleprinters. CW operation uses on/off keying and the operator is less likely to be affected by any RF coming back into the office. The older ships had transmitters in the WT office and the aerial was matched at the transmitter and the signal fed by open wire feeder through a trunking system to the aerial. This was very inefficient and only 25% of the power was actually radiated off the aerial. If aerials and insulators weren’t cleaned regularly, then a mismatch could occur during tuning, resulting in reflected power coming back down the line. This was particularly bad during teleprinter transmissions which was a continuous keying of the transmitter.
4.   Leander class frigate Flag Decks. Radiation from whip and broadband aerials, plus the 965 radar sweeping the foremast and reflecting downward.

What ships/shore establishments may have caused health problems from ELF and RF radiation?
1.   RF radiation – Loch class, Lachlan, Endeavour I and II, Bathurst class, Monowai, Tui (ex-USN), Leander class and Navcommsta Waiouru transmitter hall. Apparently RNZN personnel had been operating and working within areas at the time thought to be outside of the danger zones.
2.   ELF radiation – All ships, shore radio stations and communications centres.

What health problems are possibly linked to ELF and RF radiation?

1.   Neurological – Alzheimer’s Disease, depression, memory loss, sleep disturbances, headaches, brain tumours and cancer.
2.   Heart – Heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, high blood pressure, altered heart rhythms and a rise in bad cholesterol.
3.   Reproductive system – breast cancer (men and women), prostate cancer, testicular cancer, infertility and low sperm count.
4.   Leukaemia and other blood cancers, lymphoma and melanoma.

What health problems are probably linked to ELF and RF radiation?

1.   Cancers of the lung and oesophagus normally associated with smoking. However, considering the young age of some of the deceased communicators it may be that the cancers were triggered by radiation.

2.   Cancers of the kidney, colon and bowel. Multiple myeloma.

Should anyone act on this report? NO – this is only an abbreviated report. The main report contains a few hundred pages. It will be sent to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. It is hoped that the report will be sanctioned and the above illnesses will be included in the Presumptive Lists for War Disability Pensions. In most cases, it has come too late.

Jim Dell
WORS, RNZN, Retired
US Diploma Radio Frequency Management
Aust. Certificate Biomedical Technology

Acknowlegements:

1. Dr Neil Cherry, ONZM
2. Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO Australia)
3. BBC World News