Does a cell phone emit radiation when it is turned on, but not when it is engaged in a call?

Question

What is the best way to block it?

Answer 1

You cannot stop a cell phone from radiating because it has to maintain periodic contact with its registered base station, or switch base stations if you are moving between cells.

The radiation can easily penetrate the skin, and is of the same form as microwaves in radar or ovens. However, it is relatively low power and - unlike an oen - it is not tuned to a frequency that is readily absorbed by biological matter or water, so it has little heating effect.

There is mixed evidence as to the safety of phones, and government advice in the UK is to minimise exposure especially of children. Advice is to use a landline as an alternative where possible. However, this advice is precautionary given uncertainty and not based on definitive risk evidence.

You can look at the SAR rating on the phone to see how much absorbable radiation it emits (the lower the better). Or try to choose a phone with a direction antenna (one that radiates away from the body rather than uniformly.

The risk area for exposure is the head, especially the brain and eyes (one study reported catarracts from exposure), so keep the phone in your pocket or on your belt.

Some people advocate using a hands free kit to talk so the phone does not have to be lifted to the head, but if you do check it specs - some kits have been found to channel microwaves and lead to greater exposure.

On balance, the benefit of phones probably outweigh the risk.

Answer 2

If you block it you will not be able to recieve any calls.

That being said . . .

Your cell phone is constantly transmitting, so long as power is on, regardless of whether you are engaged in a call or not. It periodically sends signals to the nearest cell phone tower to establish it's location and maximize signal strength. It does this to insure that you are in the proper cell that the telephone company computer thinks you are supposed to be in; in order to maintain reliability, and to prevent dropped calls.


If you are worried about possible harmful effects to the human body, due to cell phone radiation, here are some additional facts:

Cell phones transmit at or near the microwave spectrum, but at a very low power compared to microwave ovens. The average cell phone puts out about 5 watts of power. That's not enough to cook your skin, or cause nerve damage to sensitive parts of your body.

Although cell phones emit radiation, it is NOT an IONIZING radiation. That's important. Ionizing radiation is associated with permanent damage and genetic mutations. Non ionizing raditaion is not. As a matter of fact - anything in the electromagnetic spectrum - including visible light - can be described as non ionizing radiation.

Do you still want to block it from emitting radiation? For whatever reason? Maybe you are running from the FBI, and you don't want them homing in on your location. They can do that because every cell phone manufactured since 1998 has a GPS circuit built into it. That's for 911 calls - so the paramedics will know where people are at.

But it can also be used by the government. As a matter of fact? Even if you have your GPS locator turned OFF - all it takes is a laptop computer, a WI-FI network, and some special government computer programs - and the government can turn your GPS locator back ON - even if you have it turned OFF.

Want to keep them from doing that? Just put your cell phone in a metal enclosure when you are not using it. This will prevent anybody from turning your GPS locator ON, when you are not using the cell phone.

That can't help you when you are engaged in a call however.

Every time you make a call, you expose yourself to government cell phone hackers.

Answer 3

It transmits occasionally whenever turned on, so as to be able to tell whether there is a base station nearby to talk to. It transmits continuously when in use. But the radiation is radio waves in the UHF region, and they are completely harmless: not only is the power level low (only a watt or so), but the radiation cannot penetrate skin.

Answer 4

Yes, most certainly.

Place you cell next to a speaker. Every few minutes you will hear sounds from the speaker. That's the cell phone calling a tower to check in.

Answer 5

your cell is *always* emitting radiation.
that's the way it transmits the signal.
it's a pretty same signal though.
however the long term effects cannot be known yet.