Telstra's phone tower software - Questions Answered

How does the community find out about the levels of radiation from a mobile phone antennas? Is it possible to have a printout of radiation footprints of an area? What will be the radiation exposures at various distances from an antenna? What will they be at various heights from the ground?

On Tuesday 16 November Telstra presented EMRAA with a copy of a software program it has developed that will allow councils and communities to quickly and easily answer many of these questions.

The FIP (Field Intensity Plotter) program demonstrates in graphic form the radiation levels around a mobile phone antenna. It can calculate exposures in any location around an antenna whether at ground level or above. It can calculate the emissions from a number of antennas on the one site and it can also generate, almost instantaneously, reports which satisfy the criteria of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). (For more information about the program, see EMRAA News, Sept 2000 edition.)

Mike Wood, Telstra’s National EME Manager, who provided the software to EMRAA, also provided two afternoons of valuable information and training for EMRAA representatives. With practice, we will be able to help communities better understand their exposures.

Telstra is presently working on the next generation of software which will be able to calculate exposures from cumulative sources and which will be released in the new year.

EMRAA News Dec 2001, Vol 6 No 4