TANK VANDAL OUT FOR REVENGE
By Brenden Hills, Ellen Connolly
July 15, 2007 12:00am
A FORMER Telstra worker allegedly stole a tank and used it to demolish six mobile phone towers as he led police on a wild two-hour rampage through western Sydney yesterday.
More than 20 police chased the tank but were powerless to stop it, retreating to a safe distance as the huge vehicle cut a path of destruction through six suburbs.
They could only watch as the driver, hanging out of the top at times, allegedly rammed the tank through fences and into six mobile phone towers, telecommunication relay sheds and an electrical substation.
The damage caused major disruptions to mobile phone services in Sydney's west yesterday.
The divorced father allegedly stole the 1967 Trojan armoured personnel carrier (APC) from his former workplace, A One Lift Truck Service, at Minchinbury.
His former boss, Greg Morris, said the man had a beef with mobile phone towers.
"He used to work for Telstra and told us he was going through a medical claim for his head injury.
He said something about the radiation from the towers had caused it,'' Mr Morris said.
"He actually worked on the tank he stole, doing a lot of wiring and putting the engine in.''
The drama began at 2am when the ex-British Army tank - complete with steel tracks and replica gun turret - was taken from a holding shed and headed straight for its first target: an electricity substation at Michinbury.
The tank then allegedly rammed a police car as it drove from the Mount Druitt Hospital car park.
At its maximum speed of 52km/h per hour, it continued on through the suburbs of Mount Druitt, Dharruk, Emerton, Glendenning and Plumpton with 10 police vehicles in pursuit.
Several times police were forced to retreat when the driver allegedly swung the tank towards them.
He taunted police by leaning his head out the side window to wave at them.
The joyride ended at 4am when the vehicle stalled as the driver attempted to destroy a seventh mobile phone tower.
Police used capsicum sprayto subdue the man, who was dragged head first from the tank by officers.
Mr Morris said he bought the tank from the British military.
He restored the vehicle, which is valued at $1 million, and he hires it out for weddings and for motor shows.
A colleague who would not be named said the man who stole the tank had a "vendetta'' against phone towers.
"He told us he'd worked for a government agency where he had to work around the towers and got radiation poisoning.
"So he planned out a map of where the towers were that he wanted to destroy.''
Mr Morris said he was "devastated'' at the news.
"I can't believe it," he said.
Mr Morris described the man responsible for the carnage as a "quiet, well spoken'' man.
He left in December but Mr Morris saw him often.
"We were mates, he'd call in for a chat and a few beers.'
"The problem he's got is not with us. It's just that it's the tool he needed to do it.''
The chase attracted a lot of attention with drivers following the tank.
"It's not something you see in Mount Druitt every day,'' William Errington, 26, said.
Another local resident expressed similar disbelief after being woken up by her partner to chase the tank.
"Mick said we were going to follow a tank and I thought yeah a fuel tanker. Then the thing drove past us,'' said Oakhurst resident "Ally''.
Mount Druitt Chief Inspector Guy Habberly said the man had not been drinking and did not appear to be affected by drugs.
Yesterday John Robert Patterson, 45, of Dharruk, appeared in Parramatta Court charged with stealing the tank, dangerous driving and malicious damage.
He did not enter a plea or apply for bail and he was remanded to appear in Penrith Court tomorrow.
His defence lawyer Ivan Bertoia told the court that in a police interview his client "suggested he had the authority to behave in such a manner''.
Magistrate Terry Forbes said there was a strong case to be made for the case to be dealt with under the Mental Health Act.
So, he thought that working around phone masts had given him 'radiation poisoning'? So, now they're radioactive as well! Is there no limit to the depravity of the telecoms companies?
ReplyDeleteI don't see how this funny/sad story about a clearly disturbed man going on a rampage is supposed to convince us that you're on to something.
You say in your profile that you 'discovered' that electromagnetic radiation was to blame for you health problems; how did you do this, exactly? Your Nobel Prize for Medicine awaits.
A typical comment from a typical asshole.
ReplyDeleteI think you should read the posts, smartass.
ReplyDeleteJust for the record, I don't think one really needs to be a Nobel Prize Laureate in order to be able to use one's brain, to take in information and see how that information fits with other bits of information in order to make logical inferences - unlike Martin, who makes ridiculous premature ejaculatory remarks without doing the research or even reading the posts to find out more information. Yes, cell phone masts do give off radiation, Martin. They are called microwaves. These are the same microwaves that you use to cook food in a microwave oven and they are the same microwaves you use to fry your brain with if you are stupid enough to stick a microwave transceiver up to your brain. And yes, microwaves are a form of radiation, Martin. If you are not interested in doing the research and reading the posts on this blog to find out exactly how electromagnetic radiation (EMR) can cause health problems, then I suggest that you refrain from emitting your own premature ejaculatory verbal remarks.
ReplyDeleteprd34:
ReplyDeleteThe term "radiation poisoning" is generally taken to refer to cellular damage caused by ionising nuclear radiation ie radioactivity.
Also, the wavelength of microwave radiation produced inside a microwave oven is different to that used for cellular phone transmissions. The heating effect of a microwave oven is due to the frequency of the microwaves matching the thermal vibrational mode of water molecules. This only occurs with a specific wavelength. This does not occur with other wavelengths. Mobile phone masts do not "fry your brain" in the way you appear to believe.
Dear Martin, John, or what ever your name really is:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posts.
Any which way you look at it, Radiation is Radiation - which is why it is in fact called "Radiation."
Now, whether by design or not, people have been led to believe that one kind (which is called ionizing) is harmful, while the other kind (which is called non-ionizing) is not.
Well, that simply is not the case. Study after study have shown adverse effects due to exposure to microwaves and other forms of EMR (electromagnetic radiation):
- a decrease in immune function,
- a decrease in Natural Killer (NK) cells,
- a depolarization of red blood cells affecting oxygen transport throughout the body,
- subliminal stress affecting the adrenal glands' production of adrenaline and cortisol,
- an effect on the brains hormones/neurotransmitters (melatonin, serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, etc.),
- a decrease in blood flow to the brain,
- an opening up of the blood-brain barrier,
- a depletion of the body's antioxidants,
- an increase in allergies and other sensitivities, and
- an increase in viral, bacterial, yeast, and mold in the blood,
just to name a few.
You can cook a frog by putting it in boiling water or you can cook a frog by putting it in cold water and gradually raising the temperature of the water. Either way, you still cook the frog.
Dr. Henry Lai - of the University of Washington, and one of the world's foremost experts on the biological effects of EMR - has stated publicly that long-term exposure to non-ionizing radiation can have similar effects as short-term exposure to ionizing radiation.
As a matter of fact, one really has to wonder why many of the symptoms found in these "new" disease states - such as CFIDS or electrosensitivity - mimic the symptoms found in Radiation Sickness:
Fatigue, Swollen Lymph Nodes, Nausea, Weakness, Intestinal Problems, Impaired Memory, Impaired Concentration, Insomnia, Loss of Appetite, Weight Loss, Skin Rash, Weakened Immunity, Night Sweats, Heart Problems, Visual Disturbances, Chills, Headaches, and Flu-like Symptoms.
Is this just a coincidence or is there really a connection? I think that common sense would tell us that it is indeed the latter - that is unless one is living in a serious state of denial - or perhaps one wants to put a spin on the truth.
Why don't you do an experiment? You could even make a movie out of it - something like "SuperSize Me" but you could call it "SuperMicrowave Me." You could tape a miniature microwave oven - oh sorry, I mean cell phone - to your head and leave it on "talk" position for a month. You could also expose yourself to the constant radiation of a WiFi environment and if possible sleep in front of one of those Microwave Relay Stations (in line-of-sight, of course). Have a doctor check you before the experiment, during, and at the end of the experiment to see if there are any changes in your physiology. You could make a lot of money, but you might also become very sick.
peace
paul
The 'Microwave Relay Station's' you mention operate with power levels between 0.025 to 0.1 watts, or 25 to 100mW, or 14 to 20dBm.
ReplyDeleteA mobile phone can operate at up to 300mW for GSM and almost 1000mW for 3G WCDMA. It can be safer to have 6 600mm solid parabolic microwave dishes pointing at your head, than to talk on a mobile phone. The gain of the dish is of no real consequence regarding power density, as the aperture is many times the wavelength of microwave frequencies.
So if you are scared about exposing yourself to PTP microwave link dish beams and RF in general, best to discard your mobile if you have one and move to the country, where the levels from AM and FM and TV broadcast transmitters (hundreds of KW)are lower.
Mark, thanks for the information. We also need to consider what has been termed the window effect:
ReplyDeleteFrom Electromagnetic Killing Fields,
by Arthur Firstenberg
http://prd34.blogspot.com/2005_11_20_archive.html
Leif Salford's recent work on the blood-brain barrier has verified the earlier work of Allan Frey and others, but with additional, ominous findings. First, sometimes, decreasing the amount of radiation 1,000 times increased the damage to the brain (demonstrating the 'window' effect). Second, animals exposed to a cell phone once for two hours were found to have areas of brain cell death two months later. Salford has called cell phones 'the world's largest biological experiment ever'. His work provides solid support for those who warn that every cell phone call damages brain cells, and that cell phones, like cigarettes, harm both users and nearby non-users. His findings are particularly alarming in light of surveys – by Santini in France, and by Sandström and Mild in Sweden – which include: headaches, migraines, chronic fatigue, agitation, sleep disorders, tinnitus, nervous and connective tissue pains of unexplained origin, and susceptibility to infection. The appeal calls for a massive reduction in exposure limits; no further expansion of cell phone technology; cell phone-and antenna-free zones; a ban on cell phone use by children; and a ban on cell phones and digital cordless phones in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, public buildings and public transportation.
The following is what the FCC has to say about microwave relay stations - and of course I don't know how much I believe everything they say either - since, after all, twice-nominated-for-nobel prize, and expert on EMR, Dr. Robert O. Becker has made different claims regarding the spill off from microwave relay stations.
Point-to-point microwave antennas transmit and receive microwave signals across relatively short distances (from a few tenths of a mile to 30 miles or more). These antennas are usually rectangular or circular in shape and are normally found mounted on a supporting tower, on rooftops, sides of buildings or on similar structures that provide clear and unobstructed line-of- sight paths between both ends of a transmission path or link. These antennas have a variety of uses such as transmitting voice and data messages and serving as links between broadcast or cable-TV studios and transmitting antennas.
The RF signals from these antennas travel in a directed beam from a transmitting antenna to a receiving antenna, and dispersion of microwave energy outside of the relatively narrow beam is minimal or insignificant. In addition, these antennas transmit using very low power levels, usually on the order of a few watts or less. Measurements have shown that ground-level power densities due to microwave directional antennas are normally a thousand times or more below recommended safety limits. Moreover, as an added margin of safety, microwave tower sites are normally inaccessible to the general public. Significant exposures from these antennas could only occur in the unlikely event that an individual were to stand directly in front of and very close to an antenna for a period of time.[emphasis added]--
"Significant exposures from these antennas could only occur in the unlikely event that an individual were to stand directly in front of and very close to an antenna for a period of time"
ReplyDeleteThis may have been the case with older, long hop lower frequency and higher powered point to point solid parabolic dish links that did operate at powers similar to that of a two way radio, like 4watts (4000mW) however these days, as mentioned, most of these services operate at less than 100mW.
This results in no exclusion zone either RF Worker or General Public according to the ICNIRP standard, and the ARPANSA standard that is based on ICNIRP in Australia.
RF Hazard control documents in Australia show large zones in front of mobile phone panels, like 10 metre general public zones and 3 metre RF worker exclusion zones, however they almost exclusively show no exclusion zone in front of solid parabolic dish antennas. There simply is not enough power to generate one. Your mobile is usually several times more powerful as mentioned before.
Point to multipoint cellular, and broadcast systems are thousands to millions to billions of times more powerful.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the information. Sounds like you are a bit of an expert on this aspect of the technology. I had heard that a lot of the microwave relay stations in the USA were being replaced with fiberoptic cables. Could you tell us something about that?
paul
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteYeah its actually the bulk of my job to look after radiation hazards as well as interference analysis for a company in Australia. I don't know much about the situation in the US, but in Australia, some of the longer hop East/West and North/South microwave links that traverse the whole country, are now pretty much redundant due to fiber rollouts, however the radio links are kept operational for backup purposes for vital traffic customers, like banks, in case someone goes through a fiber with a backhoe and there no redundant fiber path.
Microwave is still a very viable technology in Australia over shorter distances but in areas where fiber would be too expensive to run, due to long distances and sparse population density in some areas. Another cost issue here is due to the monopoly one large carrier, Telstra, has over the bulk of fiber connections.
Fiber can transport a lot more data, so desirable in these data hungry times, however not too difficult to get a 650Mbit/sec radio link operating reliably these days.
It might be more economically viable in the states compared to Australia to run fiber in many cases, due to population density and resulting larger market size and higher throughput demand. Fiber is a bit more reliable as well.
Hey there, awesome blog. I really like it.
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome radiology software program. Check it out!
Radiology Software
Let me know what you think.