The international smart meter deployment has been characterized by screw up after screw up, affecting health and safety, not only of humans, animals, insects, and plants but of electrical systems as well. If we had regulatory agencies that genuinely functioned to serve the public, the entire fiasco would have been shut down long ago.
Setting aside for the moment the wisdom and morality of strapping a wireless, electrocuting device to an animal who presumably has not given their consent, this report from BC, Canada sheds some light on how unforeseen interactions between complex, technological systems are opening a Pandora’s box of nightmarish consequences, not only for us, but for our animal companions as well. We have the same question as the dogs’ guardian– “What the bloody HELL is going on?”
Canada.com reports:
Sahtlam resident Chris Davis lives on a five-acre parcel near the rural community’s fire hall.
To give his two dogs Minnie and Katie room to roam but to also keep them contained, Davis installed an electric dog fence around the entirety of his property.
“My dogs wear a collar and then it gives them a little shock if they get too far past the fence,” Davis explained. “There’s never been an issue. Ever.”
That is, until BC Hydro contractor Corix installed a smart meter at his house.
“The smart meter gives my dogs electric shocks when they go near the meter,” Davis explained. “The collar starts bleeping and shocks them to the point where they yelp.”
The meter sits just outside Davis’s kitchen window, in a patch of yard typically used by the dogs to do their business.
“I look at it now and it’s perfectly clean,” Davis said….
Davis.. said Hydro was not willing to help. “They told me it couldn’t possibly be happening,” he relayed. “They’re pretty well denying that it’s happening. Effectively they’re calling me a liar. They still won’t send anyone around to check it. I’m fuming.”
When red flags were first being waved by smart meter opponents, Davis didn’t think twice, he said. He didn’t understand why everybody was up in arms.
“But now I’m thinking well, what the bloody hell is going on?”
From the information provided, it sounds like the claim should be easily repeatable (with the collar OFF the dog) as proof for the utility. Once proven, how do the utilities handle such claims?
Alternatively, many electric fence systems (and other wireless devices) come with adjustable frequency to avoid signal interference. Maybe there’s something in the user manual?
Personally, I’d rather live with a SmartMeter chirping data than with a shock collar to keep me in check.
Poor dogs 🙁
I bet that the collar is UL listed unlike the smart meter. The guy that owns the dogs is smarter than the typical victim. Most would not have thought about the smart meter being the culprit. People are in disbelief that no one is protecting them.
Here is a typical victim’s story. The doctors are trained to look for a cure and not the cause. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izwY-cO_qoY
The smart meter is actually worse than a shock collar due to it sending full body microwave pulses 24/7 and being a slow kill weapon. A shock collar tells you where the danger is coming from.
Chirping data? It sounds so innocent doesn’t it? How about sending full body pulses throughout your home all day and all night over energized power lines.
The smart meter is actually worse than a shock collar due to it sending full body microwave pulses 24/7 and being a slow kill weapon. A shock collar tells you where the danger is coming from.
Poindexter seems to be concerned with his energy usage 24/7. Worring constantly about which appliance is using more energy and needs to see it on a computer screen to feel better. ….Sounds like an obsessive complusive disorder to me… He probably makes everyone at the table order water when dining out, just like he enjoys forcing everyone to have a smart meter. He doesn’t understand his unpopularity. People hate him and as the bad word ,spreads like fire, they will hate him more.
Here’s the second article about this man and his 2 dogs written by the Cowichan Valley Citizen newspaper that published the above story.
There would be no harm in a quick home visit – Cowichan Valley Citizen – June 08, 2012:
– http://www2.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=3309ced7-4c6b-4c8d-8f4e-d68db3847548
When Citizen reporter/ photographer Kevin Rothbauer went to take a picture on Wednesday of Sahtlam resident Chris Davis and his dogs, he was shocked. [- http://www2.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/news/story.html?id=632114a6-925c-45e7-9736-b76fbc783af6%5D
Not literally, but he was surprised to see that the collars on Davis’s two dogs, Minnie and Katie, did indeed shake, rattle and roll when the pair of pooches got close to the Corix-installed smart meter.
The dogs are outfitted with collars that send out a shock if and when they get close to the fence Davis has installed on his fiveacre property. The system has worked flawlessly for upwards of five years to keep the animals in the yard.
Never did the homeowner think the installation of a smart meter one month ago would leave his animals confused and yelping in pain despite being nowhere near the fence.
It sounds crazy.
But it’s happening.
It’s part of our job as newsroom staff to field some pretty strange calls from folks claiming some really odd stuff. Our goal is to separate the wheat from the chaff as it were – to figure out what is bogus and what is actually real.
That’s why Kevin took a half an hour out of his busy day and actually went to visit Davis and his dogs and witness the effect of the smart meters on the dogs with his own eyes.
It seemed a prudent step. We can’t for the life of us figure out why BC Hydro won’t do the same?
It’s no secret BC Hydro is seen as the enemy of a massive contingent of people who wholeheartedly believe smart meters are not only unsafe for humans to be around, but also just another step in a larger plan of the government to monitor the goings-on in everyone’s household whether they have something to hide or not.
Davis isn’t accusing Hydro or their contractor, Corix, of malice. Up until now, he wasn’t even worried about smart meters or their alleged harmful effects.
He’s simply worried there is something wrong with the way his meter is installed.
To essentially be told he is lying, despite the cries of his animals that suggest he is not, well, that’s a tough pill for him to swallow.
And we’re not so sure why he should have to.
In the business of customer service, it would behoove Hydro or Corix to pop by and see for themselves just what Davis is complaining about – if only for the purposes of appearing to care about the concerns of a customer or at the very least, to prove him wrong.
Now, Hydro has is another unsatisfied customer, one who is more than willing to stand up and speak out against the power company. That’s not exactly what Hydro needs. And it all could have been avoided with a simple visit to the house.
From the second link: “Vancouver Island’s BC Hydro spokesman Ted Olynyk said staff were investigating the claims and working with Davis, [who] relayed “They’re pretty well denying that it’s happening.”
*** Then isn’t it on Davis (or the reporter) to prove (or investigate) the case? It shouldn’t be difficult. Just get a field strength meter and show that the collar triggers at the same time the electric meter transmits. Any coincidence of the events should be enough for BC Hydro to give Davis a break, I would think.
Why should they care when they have a monopoly on power? This is why all names behind this meter should be not forgotten. We have pleaded for help and they ignore our cries. They tell themselves it’s all made up. They are more concerned with “saving money” or their jobs. They might be winning now but will lose in the long run as lies always are found out and exposed.
>>> “We have pleaded for help and they ignore our cries. They tell themselves it’s all made up.”
Is it unreasonable for any company to expect proof of any claim against them? When it’s human against human, the “trust me, it’s really happening…you have to believe me” argument won’t win anything against a corporation.
As far as these dogs are concerned, if their collars go off at the same time the meter transmits, then there’s a strong argument to be made, and the company should provide a solution, whether that’s replacing the old meter or paying for a compatible fencing system.
Electrical engineers will tell you that different frequencies do not interfere with each other, therefore things like this cannot happen.
In actuality, there is no way to avoid interference between multiple frequencies. There are a couple of businesses with microwave-based security systems that disrupt my radio reception every time I drive by. Why would a 900 Mhz ISM system interfere with a receiver tuned to a sub-100 Mhz frequency? Why would a CFL bulb shut off when a cell phone is in use? Why would a video camera malfunction near a cell tower? Because one is simply overpowering.
Let’s use as an example, two people who speak different languages. One person is loud and obnoxious, while the other is quiet and reserved. Even if they can’t “communicate”, they can still interact. It’s fairly predictable who will be left holding the short end of the stick.
For an actual example of this dynamic, look at the LightSquared debacle.
here’s one more:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187021-toyota-s-electromagnetic-interference-troubles-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
During WWII, EMI was commonly known as a gremlin who would take over the electrical system of a fighter plane wrecking havoc on the control systems, especially during thunderstorms or highly charged atmosphere. Like in the movie “Gremlins,” you would never want your electrical system to get wet because the problems that you experience would “multiply.”
I did read an article about LightSquared a year ago. Light Squared was a corporation that was backed by Obama. It was to be a new GPS system to compete with existing systems.
Unfortunately, LightSquared wanted to use radio frequencies that are close to other existing communications frequencies.
What can happen is that due to harmonic distortion, the transmissions can repeat themselves in logarithms up and down the radio spectrum.
I have never heard of any electrical engineers that claim that radio frequencies do not interfere with each other, that is probably non-engineers that claim that.
I learned about harmonics when I was in 4th grade listening to my fathers shortwave radio gear. And, I lived up on the hill in Stinson Beach. When the ships would leave the Port of San Francisco or Oakland, they used microwave radar systems for navigation. I remember listening to the shortwave and even watching television when every time that the revolving microwave beam from the radar hit our antennae, it would cause a momentary interference at every revolution of the powerful microwave transmissions.
I think that we were all being bombarded by microwave devices back then. But hopefully that has changed now. Microwave communications are extremely high powered, and should not be focused on any communities.
Microwave links are used in remote areas where running trunk lines is cost prohibitive. My friend is working on the Caleveres Dam project, they had to run a microwave link out there to connect to the phone switch, so microwave is used in trunking of phone and other communications systems. But mobile phones, SmartMeters, computers and all the other electronic systems do not use microwave communications, and hopefully the microwave systems in use now will not beam the powerful RF in line with any people and systems.
Back to LightSquared, that was another attempt to make a bundle of money off of a redundant land based GPS system promoted by Obama and his corporate buddies, but it got squelched, thank goodness.
Not sure I understand about smart meters/mobile phones not using microwaves. If you look at Wikipedia (yes, I know it is not always accurate) it says that microwaves are between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. Don’t all these things operate in these frequencies? Like cordless phones, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave
Or, are you using the definition used by RF engineering (see Wikipedia).
I’ll be interested to hear Redi’s reply. At this point their argument is not well supported…
You can view RK’s arguments as posted elsewhere: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=7553
**view the allocation chart referenced within that thread
And a general working definition: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=7684&cpage=1#comment-44317
Microwave communications does operate in the UHF band ( 300 MHz to 3GHz), the SHF band (3 GHz to 30 GHz) and in the EHF band (30GHz to 300GHz).
Yes, all things radio operate on these bands of the radio spectrum, but only a very small percentage of these radio devices are microwave devices. I think that is how you have been misled.
I read a description on this site that said that the “microwave range” is 300 MHz to 3,000 MHZ. And they did not say it, but implied that all radio in the UHF band is microwave, therefore SmartMeters and mobile phones are microwave. This is not true, but it has been mis-understood and repeated a thousand times over and over again by people who don’t really know anything about the subject, but just parrot others false information.
I suppose that it will never end here on this site, it is now known as a propaganda site, and many posts are not taken seriously, which is too bad.
Use Wikipedia to look up “Radio Spectrum”, that will tell you the various kinds of radio that uses these bands of the spectrum, for instance the UHF band the types of radio that use it are: Television broadcasts, microwave ovens, microwave devices/communications, radio astronomy, mobile phones, wireless LAN,Bluetooth, ZigBee, GPS and two way radio such as Land Mobile, FRS and GMRS radios and amateur radio.
Note that microwave is only one kind of radio that is used, and all the others are separate. This was written before the SmartMeters changed to use radio for communications, (originally SmartMeters used PLC, but that failed) so now, SmartMeters operate on the same frequencies as mobile phones (in the 900 MHz band).
Also wireless LAN is wi-fi.
Boy, this is confusing stuff.
Based on all the .gov webpage results that come up when searching for “900 Mhz microwave”, I think it’s safe to say the 915 ISM band (used by Smart Meters, et al) are in fact microwaves. All it means is that that wavelength is small (33 cm), which limits propagation, increasing the need for line-of-sight. That’s why WISPs are testing out TV whitespace (174-216MHz) for areas with topographical and forestation challenges. This is VHF region, and definitely NOT a microwave.
Wiki is clear that there is some disagreement about the threshold between the microwave and sub-microwave region (I think I incorrectly referred to it as a “range” before. sorry) of the radio frequency spectrum. A 300 Mhz radio wave has a 100 cm wavelength, so I can understand why that might be hard to consider it “microwave.” Many do though.
Not quite… LightSquared was to be a “wholesale” 4G network. They had satellite spectrum adjacent to GPS that they wanted to use on 40,000 base stations. The FCC made the right choice by reneging on their original waiver to let them use the L-Band for that purpose.
Spread spectrum technology is entirely based on the assumption made by radio engineers (maybe not all of them, but at least the ones who advise the FCC) that interference can be avoided by “hopping” a Mhz or two. That’s why the world has 10 billion (wild guess) 902-928 Mhz ISM radio devices that are designed to not interfere with each other. Obviously, this is impossible to achieve in the real world, which is why the FCC created Rule 15.
http://smartermeters.blogspot.com/2011/09/part-15-catch-22.html
Spread spectrum radio has been in use for decades, as a matter of fact, I still have a Sanyo digital spread spectrum 900 MHz cordless phone that I bought in 1992. It works great, far better than these new 2 to 5 Ghz cordless phones that are pushed now. And, it has a good speaker phone which I use whenever I use the handset.
No, it is not microwave communications at all, and it only transmits when it is activated. I have tested it, and it worked a half mile away from my house, try that with one of these new cordless phones.
Spread spectrum is designed for mainly security, but also for trunking. Trunking makes for more efficient use of bandwidth. Most all public and commercial private radio systems now are trunked, they change frequencies every few seconds, making more efficient use of the allotted airwaves, and make it harder for people with scanners to follow a conversation on a two way radio.
Mobile phones and SmartMeters are not trunked systems, either are my Motorola business two way radios the operate in the 450MHz to 472 MHz UHF band, but they do utilize the newer standard of narrow spectrum use, each channel is separated by only 5 kilohertz by law now. My radios have a phone patch and repeater access, but they are not duplex like mobile phones, they are simplex, with a DTMF keyboard, and are “push to talk” only. My super small handheld units are 4 watts. Fortunately, at the time I don’t need to use them much any more, but I did when I was working full time and had employees. I always treated them as radios, hold the radio at least 18 inches away from my body, and point the antenna away from myself.
I still treat mobile phones the same way as I do with radios, and only use the good speaker phone. I will never buy a smart phone because I don’t need one, and I don’t like the tracking abilities, plus, the 3 and 4 G data plans are too expensive for my needs. If I want to go onto the internet, I use a wired network in my office at home, which is far superior to any mobile phone broadband. connection
Pingback: Dogs Shocked by Smart Meter | stopsmartmetersbc
I know that it’s all a big game. Unfortunately all living things will be the ones to suffer. I took a survey of my neighborhood, they need to take a couple also. Especially if there is so quite a bit of evidence that this project is harming us.
I can’t seem to get this famous quote out of my head..from our dear President Barack Obama: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket” .
In a way I feel bad for the power companies because they are under extortion themselves.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2012/06/13/20120613srp-will-buy-credits-navajo-nation.html
Reference to the quotes from Obama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4
we must stop these meters being forced upon ourhomes! therre is NO state or federal mandate for them! you must tell them NO!!!!!!! YOU DONT HAVE TO HAVE THEM! ALL OF US TOGETHER JOIN IN AND SAY HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please visit http://www.w4ar.com for allot of info on smart meters! pauline holeton shelby twp mich
There still are a lot of people not informed about the smart meters. Please go to citizensforsafetechnology.com and do some home work! The problem seems to be that those people who are not involved get the darn things on their homes without being consulted first, or even asked permission. So the most vulnerable are taken advantage of. Do we all realize, that if we were to hurt someone or spoil his/her reputation through defamation of character etc. we could be fined heavily?
Yet these Corporations are guilty of fraud, deceit and extortion through
threats if you don”t want the Meter, we cut you off. In my mind and my experience having had a lot to do with the law, I refer to them as guilty of criminal activities. The farce that the analogue belongs to them, does not give them the right to consciously .place an object on your home, that you pay taxes on and possible a mortgage. They are trespassers and should be fined accordingly. About governments? We voted them in, we can also vote them out. Corporations now run governments rather than the other way around.
I am needing an electrical fence for my pups and their safety in my neighbourhood.
I’ve looked into wifi fencing, but I have more than 2 dogs. So I was directed towards
the underground electrical fence.
This awakening news about our smart meters being dangerous is terrible.
How dare hydro make this mandatory when we all had power before this stupid metre.
I want it off of my property so I may live my life and protect my dogs.
I received no warnings about emissions of electrical currents before installation.
It must be comparable to the windmills that kill wildlife for miles.
What can I pay to have it removed ?