Hi all.
I’d be interested to hear some points of view regarding this new 5G and the concerns regarding the alleged dangers of emf affecting everyone badly.
Is it real or bunkum?

I'm guessing it's about as dangerous as standing next to a microwave oven.

With every generation of mobile phones, certain groups of people with nothing better to do with their time have been saying that EMF from mobile phones and mobile base stations is deadly and we'll all get cancer from it.

However, there is not a single case where proof has been substantial enough to demonstrate that either is deadly to us. The old, "this bloke died of brain cancer so the mobile phone did it", simply isn't enough.

I've been using mobile phones almost since they came out. First with the car phones and transportables and then later the handhelds. None have ever affected my health in any way. I also have hearing loss in the right ear, which means I have to use any phone always with the left ear. One would think this would concentrate any blast of radiation I receive in one part of the body, yet I am still as fit as a horse.

If I was to campaign for a restriction on phone use it would be applied to young children - it may be that EMF from a phone MIGHT cause harm to a person whilst their body is still developing, but then again I do not know for sure. There is far more going on in the wireless world than mobile phones. There are TV towers - although the RF output of these have declined dramatically with the introduction of digital television - AM, FM, short wave and digital radio, CB, marine, commercial, amateur and government two-way radio networks and repeater stations, DAS mobile networks in rail & road tunnels and many commercial buildings where blackspots cause issues, electrical power lines and even wireless microphones, telephone headsets and garage door openers. Then there is the myriad of microwave links between two terrestrial locations or a terrestrial location and the thousands of satellites that are in space.

No matter which corner of the world we are in, we cannot escape man-made radio waves. And none of it will stop just because someone out there thinks we are in danger from it.

I think the biggest danger is getting another "Pig in a Poke". In the entire time since it went digital, I have never had a decent signal & naturally there are more drop outs than a High School.

It may work in the city,however I have a new "Blue Tick" Phone (Being a Farm, that suggests running it through the dip to kill them) it is locked like the previous one, to 3G as 4G (forth go.... still no good) signal is hopeless. My 3G modem worked of a Collinear antenna and when in the workshop /studio, that antenna plugs into the phone.

As for EMR. I would strongly suggest that you do not put it in your top shirt pocket. I am convinced from my personal observations that it causes heart issues.

I did comment on the American forum on an observation that in certain positions in a valve radios there were resistors running under loaded that failed in specific positions, yet the same type & probably batch resistor "sailing with the wind" in the "B" rail survive. I have also commented that some rubber insulation appears to be attacked biologically, but the same wire in the RF sections is not damaged.

This may indicate that the Bugs are Microwaved in the RF (Short Wave Diathermy) and it is attacking something in the resistors composition?

There are many articles on the NET that relate to LED lights being very bad for your health too , At one point I did convert the complete house to LED lights and over time I found my eye sight getting bad fast . I also found it up set my sleep patterns , So then I decided to look into LED lights and I found many medical and scientific type people on the net giving warnings against using LED lighting . I then decided to throw out all the LED lights and go back to the good old fashion light Bulb .... That was 6 months ago , I no longer have sleep problems and I no longer need glasses to read ! I put my glasses in the bin ! So I can only agree with what they said regarding Led lights .
As for Radio waves being dangerous, I dont care ! I just wish I could get good Reception here !

5G can be harmful, see information from Barrie Trowers on youtube about the affects of microwave radiation.
I don't use anything wireless at home, everything is hard cabled.
Has a lot to do with the frequencies used.

That last comment fits in with my observation, that even the fact that some of our musical notes have been changed in frequency in the last few hundred years is significant. One often wonders also about the use of switch mode.

In the main LED's are a DC device. I at times wonder at the environmental cost of making switch mode regulators with all of those components and the machinery etc making them. The mains here has an upper limit so really with a bit of clever design and the ability to withstand 260VDC input. It should be no more complex that a rectifier and a series of them. In reality an incandescent globe is 100% recyclable when made of just glass & metal & a whole lot simpler to make.

I would reiterate that I have sent back, via point of sale two LED floodlights for killing radios with the amount of RFI they were throwing out and the NBN box is no better & should be part of a forced recall. However, as the Royal Commission & Senate have noted, we cannot expect ACCC to do anything, as they have directly accused them of being asleep at the wheel.

Here and in America the regulators have lost the plot & should be abolished as a saving to the taxpayer, as very little complies with any RFI regulations that may have existed in the past.

LED's are a DC device

Yep, and I can see the day coming when there will be a rectified DC supply on the meter board to power the light circuits. Problem is, they'll go for switch mode to avoid the large transformer.

I can't see DC coming for the simple reason that the current fleet of light switches cannot handle it. They'd all have to be replaced with mechanisms with spark quenchers in them or they'd all catch fire when loads are turned off. Some of the old round switches with porcelain bases and brass covers had spark quenchers and could handle AC or DC.

If the voltage was brought from 240V down to 12V, then DC could be an option with existing switches but the wiring would have to be 2.5mm² as a minimum.

"Problem is, they'll go for switch mode to avoid the large transformer."

Mechanical switch mode power supplies work satisfactorily right inside a radio, so it can be done if its done properly like a desktop computer power supply. Trouble is it is something else to go wrong and will inevitably increase lighting costs. It would have to be an exchangeable device that the homeowner can plug out and plug in a replacement.

"If the voltage was brought from 240V down to 12V, then DC could be an option with existing switches but the wiring would have to be 2.5mm2 as a minimum."

Would 24 or 32 volt be possible?

We ran 32V on the manual control panels to slave all of the class 1 Zone 1 motors. (Chemical: explosive atmosphere)

We are using 12V in a lot of things already the lights in the Range Hood are 12VAC and fed by a transformer & I have small transformers here that are lighting. So it is possible to cut out a massive amount of material waste by using lights from a regulated DC supply. The lamp on the service bench Is 12VAC Halogen & destroying itself, but has a two tap transformer for High & Low.

Reliability may not be an issue, as most of it now is rubbish anyway. Electronic ballasts etc in particular. I have had one LED bulb explode & trip the RCD & breakers. Three flourescent types have destroyed electronic ballasts between 2013 when the house was built and 2017. And around 6 CFL & LED types. Yet there are Ballast types 4ft & 8ft from the sixties & 80's still going.

Interesting is the nobbled bug light. Its UV tubes were quite unreliable & not cheap. Most of the older CFL's lasted around 10,000 hrs (its on a timer) newer less & LED a few Months so are not now used.

Warranty on any of this is a sick joke.

If the voltage was brought from 240V down to 12V

Yes, low voltage DC of course -- hence mention of transformer. Maybe 24V for wire gauge purposes.

There would be scope for just using perhaps multi winding transformers and yes the gauge will go up, the other thing would be their size as they, unlike some of the nasty Wall Warts, the PSU would need to be "continuous rated" like my ancient Marelli shed ceiling fan with its open construction, which runs 24/7 and has decent roller bearings.

Spark quenching is likely why we still tend to use LV AC with transformers?

Switching for LV lighting is still done on the primary side, so it is switching 240 rather than 12.

It is a shame that a normal light globe is only 8% efficient. By comparison with fluoro or LED replacements, they are so simple and they do give the best quality light.

The only incandescent globes I've installed in the last few years (aside from pilot globes in my test lamps) is in some wall lights at work which are on dimmers and there isn't a LED globe available, that I know of, that will work in these fittings. Globe type = fancy round with SES cap.

The locals have been protesting in my area about a 5g tower being built, They say there is evidence of it being a health risk , In the news it appears a halt on building the tower may be granted....I live in the Dee Why , Cromer area and the tower they are speaking of was going to be built up on-top of the hill at Cromer very close to my house ,but I'm moving soon anyway ... Pete