What is a Base Station?

The base station is a radio transmitter receiver with an antenna that broadcasts or receives electromagnetic signals in communication with a mobile phone. Base stations provide communication by telephone. Every mobile phone must be in communication with a transmitter. The transmitters are called base stations with its current technological name.

A base station can be described as a unit that broadcasts in a bidirectional mobile network system. The base station, unlike the antenna in a radio system, both receives and transmits signals, that is, it consists of two antennas. Today, base stations use antennas capable of broadcasting at different strengths in different directions. In order not to attract people's attention, base stations can be of different sizes and shapes.

What are the types of base stations: There are three known types of base stations currently in use:

a) Macrocells: It is stronger outside the city, but far from people's living spaces.

b) Microcells: It is used in urban areas where the population is less frequent.

c) Picocells: Much lower intensities are used, such as narrow spaces, streets, and tunnels.

Operation of Base Stations

There are MiniLink (receiver) ?s in the antenna image installed on the stations (Figure 1). Without these recipients, no conversation can take place. Although the network indicator of the phone is full, it does not allow to make a call. Base stations are devices that emit microwaves, usually white in color and box-shaped, 4 meters in length, consisting of two bar antennas and a dish antenna, which are installed on the roofs of buildings in order to expand the coverage area of GSM communication. Rod antennas collect microwaves and transmit them to dish antennas, and these waves are broadcast via the dish antenna at 16 different frequencies and over UHF (ultra-high frequency).

Figure 1:

Antenna image installed on Base Stations

Structure of Base Stations

Base stations broadcasting in a two-way mobile network system are units, that is, a system consisting of two antennas that both receive and transmit signals. Every mobile phone must be in communication with a transmitter. Transmitters are called base stations with their current technological name. Although the base station looks like a television transmitter, it does not work with the same system. Base stations should be scattered all over the city like a cell system, like a honeycomb, and should be located all over the city. With 3G, the increase in the number of base stations has accelerated.

Figure 2: Structure of base stations

Installation and Security of Base Stations

Antennas in base stations have output power. When calculating the daily distance of the antennas, these output powers are calculated and made accordingly. As a result, the safety distance of the antenna is determined. In the figure, there is a simple drawing of the antenna with a certain safety distance. Attention is paid to the absence of schools, houses, parks and people's living spaces within the daily distance of the antenna (9.74 m).

Domain of Base Stations

The capacity of the base station is a certain number and as soon as the extra phone is activated, we see that our phone is not in the coverage area. For these reasons, base stations have an important place in our lives, even if we don't realize it. Base stations have international radiation standards. These standards are determined by the radiation they emit.

The base station does not have a very dangerous and harmful effect today. The base stations do not radiate at the top of the buildings while radiating, they radiate outward in a narrow band with an angle of 120 degrees. Base stations do not radiate towards the back, that is, base stations are no longer harmful.

International Views on Base Stations

a) The World Health Organization published a basic data document on Mobile Phones and Base Stations in 2000. ?Precautions to be taken? section contains the following statement:?The available scientific evidence does not suggest that any special precautions should be taken for mobile phone use. If individuals are concerned, they may choose to limit their own and their children's RF exposure by limiting their call duration or using hands-free devices to keep their mobile phones away from head and body.

b) The World Health Organization published a basic data document on base stations and wireless technologies in 2006. This document summarized the scientific evidence for the occurrence of symptoms such as cancer mass formation and sleep and cardiovascular problems around base stations. According to the statement in the conclusion section; ?Given the extremely low emission levels and the research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that weak RF (radio frequency) signals emitted by base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.?

c) Numerous studies have been conducted by independent experts, and none have concluded that exposure to radiofrequency fields at levels below the limits set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has adverse health effects. Cell phones and base stations are designed and operated to ensure that people are not exposed to the radiofrequency field at levels above the prescribed levels. (BTK Information Technologies and Communication Authority refers to ICNIRP, the most preferred and reliable authority in the world, which determines the non-ionizing radiation limits worldwide.)

d) Extensive research has been conducted into the possible health effects of exposure to a wide variety of parts of the frequency spectrum. All studies conducted to date indicate that exposures in the 0?300 GHz frequency range, below the recommended limits in the ICNIRP EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) Instructions, have no known adverse health effects. However, gaps in the information need to be made up before a better assessment can be made to identify risks to health. (WHO, IEMF website, http://www.who.int/peh-emf/research/en/, 27 September 2006).

Do base stations have a carcinogenic effect?

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of 0.1-100 cm - a frequency of 0.3-300 gigahertz (Ghz). Thanks to the system logic, it does not emit heat and radiation between mobile phones and base stations. There is no microwave effect as base stations do not emit heat and radiation as their operating logic. Therefore, it has no proven effects on human health.

Radiation caused by base stations is in the class of non-ionizing radiation, and base stations do not cause nuclear radiation. The frequencies of the waves in the ionizing radiation zone are about a million times higher than the operating frequencies of the base stations. Although it is known that ionizing radiation causes mutation and cancer by affecting the genetic material (DNA) of cells, it has not been proven that RF waves have similar effects. It has not been shown conclusively that RF levels exposed in daily life cause problems such as headache and insomnia. However, in various studies, it has been shown that mobile phone signals cause short-term changes in the electrical activities of the brain and perception functions (such as attention, recall, and reaction) below the limit values determined by ICNIRP. However, the effects of these changes on human health are unknown. Being under the influence of RF waves that causes the whole body to heat up can cause miscarriage and birth defects. However, the power radiated by the base station antennas is too low to cause such heating. There is no laboratory or epidemiological evidence to suggest that the power levels caused by RF waves emitted from base station antennas and which affect the general public can lead to miscarriage or birth defects.

Antennas in base stations are directional antennas that affect a narrow area. These antennas are designed in such a way that there is very little radiation behind or at the bottom. For this reason, they do not make the people living in the building they are in a high risk group. However, the location of the antenna should be determined so that it does not include the building where the radiation pattern of the antenna is installed. In addition, care should be taken not to put the buildings in the nearby area at risk during the selection of the antenna location and the installation of the antenna. The antenna location should be chosen within the safety distance to be calculated according to the operating frequency and output power so that people are not unintentionally and continuously exposed.