Satellite Dish Scare

It does sound like your issue is more worrying than satellite dishes per se. From that point of view, (as an ex aerospace engineer who worked on satellite projects) a couple of points - as you said, they are receiving a signal and not transmitting anything. Secondly, if they were, they are transmitting up to the sky and the signal is very focused, so there isn't tons of radiation in every direction anyway.

Perhaps you could look for some counseling to help you deal with the anxiety? It sounds like you know that your worrying isn't helpful...

E.

Dear K.,
I too tend to be a worrier, but I've been a single mom for 12 years and I worry about things like providing for my kids and how to juggle everything.
I have never heard of anyone being afraid of satellite dishes. And, I'm no expert, but it sounds like what you are describing is a phobia and you are becoming obsessed by a fear. I hate to say "irrational" fear, because the fear itself is real, even if the danger from the satellite dishes isn't.
If this has been in your mind for 2 years, you really should talk to your doctor about getting a referral to a behavioral health specialist. They can help you with your feelings and fears. There is nothing to be ashamed of because of this. And with help, you will find you can learn to live free of this fear. It will benefit not only you, but your whole family.
If it will make you feel any better, my daughter was terrified of balloons. She didn't even want to go to a party of any kind if there would be balloons there. I didn't understand it at all. It turned out that she wasn't afraid of the balloons themselves, she was afraid of them popping. It was the fear of that sound that scared her. I only discovered this after taking her to talk to someone about it because it was getting out of hand and she didn't want her little brother to even be able to have balloons. She worked through it and no longer has that fear. In fact, she loves buying/receiving balloon bouquets.
So, you are not alone, but you need to get help finding your way past this.
I wish you the very best.

You said it: the health risks from excessive worrying are real. The satellite dishes won't hurt you at all. They are an eyesore, nothing more.

K., It sounds to me like you may have allowed an irritant to become something more. I can imagine that if your neighbors weren't sensitive to where they put their satellite dish and it is an eyesore from your point of view in your yard, that you would be upset. However, there isn't anything about the dishes that should be a health worry to you. Think about it this way... if the satellite dishes are dangerous, so is most every other modern appliance, and even the electrical connections to our homes. Dangers do exist in all of these things, but used properly, they are usually quite safe.
We have to remember that even in the days before all of these conveniences, people dealt with dangers of all kinds. I'm old enough to remember when being injured or killed by a team of runaway horses was as much a worry as being injured or killed in an auto accident, for instance. Modern conveniences have eliminated a lot of dangers, too.
Back to your particular problem with the satellite dishes, have you considered talking rationally with the neighbors and asking if they might be able to place their dishes in a different location that wouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of your back yard? Perhaps even inviting them over to visit so they can see how it looks from your point of view would be helpful. You will need to make it a friendly visit, rather than setting a negative tone, or it may cause more problems. In this day and age of living next door to someone for years and never really getting acquainted, we often create problems for ourselves by simply not communicating.

If you have good health insurance, I am suggesting that you go and see psychiatrist.

I talked w/ my engineer husband about this because we are thinking of getting a dish. He said that satellite dishes are RECEIVERS so they are just picking up signals that are already out there being sent from the satellites orbiting in space. In other words, you'll be receiving the same signal whether you are 1 foot from the dish or 10 feet or 100 feet or even further away. The satellites are not directly aimed at individual dishes, they are sending the signal out over a huge area so you could be in a remote area with one dish on a house and it's the same as being in a crowded neighborhood where everyone has dishes. Cell phone towers on the other hand do broadcast signals so that's a completely different situation. That's the science side of it at least!
C.

You should talk to your doctor about your fears and anxiety. In my personal experience the anxiety will only get worse unless it is confronted. Talk to your doctor about it and find out about medication options should you need them to help with anxiety.
Good luck

It sounds like this may be a manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorder. Or it may be anxiety disorder. I honestly think your best bet is professional help with this issue. It seems to be becoming something that is seriously affecting your life and should be dealt with before it gets so far out of control that it stops being just about satellite dishes and starts including everything else electronic too.

Good luck and best wishes with this.

I am a Psychology major in my last year of college. I've had many classes on various psychological problems and have also battled with my own. It really sounds like you are having trouble with extreme anxiety. I agree with someone else that the dishes are just an eyesore. However, I will guess that no matter how much you know about how the satelite dishes are not harmful you will still feel this anxiety. You really should speak to a professional about this. If you can't do it for yourself then do it for you family. What lead me to finally seek psychiatric help for myself is that my bipolar was affecting my relationship with my son and my husband. If you don't seek help then this anxiety can consume your life and mess up your relationship with your family. A professional can help you live your life more fully. You will be amazed how good you can feel when you are past the anxiety.

Satellite dishes do make our planet resemble Mars, but I think you have an irrational fear that you need to get over. The world is futuristic, always has been and always will be. Dont take the right of choice away from your neighbor. Plant a tree to block the view if it really bugs you that much. I still have cable TV, but Dish sounds like a good and cheaper way to go. Dont be so rude. We all have to buy our little square of ground to live on and we should have the right to do with it as we please. Get creative, plant a tree, put up a gazebo, or just realize the fact that dishes are everywhere and just decide it's normal and deal with it appropriately. It's always best to embrace your neighbors and not disrespect them. We are all just trying to get by on this ball of dirt.

K.,

I don't know much about the health risks of the satellite dish, but I do know of a treatment for fears (whether they are rational or not). Our family has seen Dr. Mark Steinberg in San Jose for biofeedback. He also uses a technique called Thought Field Therapy or Voice Technology for fears, phobias, childhood trauma and many other related ailments. It works wonders, takes about 10 minutes and the patient is often treated with only one session. I was struggling with what I call the "hampster wheel" of worry over a decision that one of my older children made. I saw Dr. Steinberg and he used the TFT treatment. I have not worried about the issue since. It really is amazing! The founder of Thought Field Therapy is Roger Callahan. You can google his name and read more about the procedure. If you are not close to San Jose, Dr. Steinberg can use Voice Technology over the phone.

Hope this helps,

J.

um.. i think you're making a mountain out of a mound... they are perfectly safe.. i dont think there is anything that you need to worry about. I live in a gated community that has them damn near at every other house and there are quite a few children (toddlers) whom are not affected by them AT ALL. Dont worry, you and your little ones will be fine.... My husband is an electrician/fire alarm tech and i had this conversation when we were pregnant because our dish sits right out side of our bedroom window.. and the dish is only a receiver, it's not emitting any signals out. So, in short, it's safe. Dont worry about it... there are other more dangerous things out there than a satelite dish.

Hi K.,
Based on the information you supply I'm thinking you might benefit from visiting your physician and explain your thoughts. It's possible that you can benefit from intervention.
All my best, S.

you are welcome to write me back if you feel like talking more. S.

What does you husband recommend? this seems to be becomming an overwhelming issue for you and must be impacting your family. have you thought about seeing a therapist to help relieve some of the anxiety you are feeling?
i have been living with a satalite and have not seen any ill effects and have 2 daughters who are excelling in life.

UGH! I call this "visual noise". I agree with the advice to see a professional but understand how this could affect you. When we had our backyard redone the wonderful guy who did it insisted on taking down the TV antenna that had not been used for YEARS left by previous owners. I told him not to bother but after it was gone it was such a relief and so nice to look up at the trees and sky without seeing it. I'd also check with your City to see if there are any kind of regulations regarding this. I have no idea, but maybe they are exceeding size limits, placing them incorrectly or need to dispose of them. Anyway, it sounds like you're a great Mom, by not letting your fear dictate what your kids do. Take care and all the Best!

I think you should talk to a therapist because you are describing an obcession and anxiety behavior that is interfering with your day to day life. I say this as someone who has received help for my own anxity issues.

You might check out the Mercola website. He sends out a weekly newsletter online(free) and i know he talks about the dangers of cell phone towers and the like. He may have something on Satellite dishes too and what to do about it. There is a necklace you can wear called a "Q" (sp?) that is supposed to fend off the radiation emitted from computers and cell phones; not sure if that would help with this as well? But in the meantime, don't stress about it! As you said, worry can also cause health problems! Best to you, J.

I would suggest talking to a psychiatric professional. We all have fears that are basically irrational and can take over our lives. They are here to help us get through these fears w/o major consequences (like effecting our children and making them scared too). Try to find someone who deals w/ phobias. I have seen a couple therapists and found them very helpful. If nothing else, they give you someone to talk to about these fears that won't judge you. Good luck and don't stress out too much. There really is nothing to worry about, dishes are safe.

take care,
J.

I'm sure satelitd dishes are as safe a phones, computers and any other electrical device. The government sets manufacuring standards for all such devices to control the amount of electrical discharge, etc. Actually Satalite dishes are probably safer than any of the other appliances since they are outside our home and you aren't working directly with them.

K., I actually work for a Satellite TV provider and what everyone else says is exactly true. The satellites up in space broadcast their signal down to earth whether there are "reciever dishes" or not. In fact, even if no one in your nieghborhood had a dish the signal would stil be coming down from the sky. AND cable companies use satellite too. The local stations (like NBC, or CBS) in your area send their programming up to a satellite, that signal is then sent back to earth to be received by the cable company who sends it via underground cable to their customers. This has been happening for YEARS! (Like since the 60's) Those signals are not sent to one particular dish, but broadcast over a large area, the entire SF Bay Area and then some. And the FDA or some other agency would have intervened if these signals were any danger to us.

It is basically the same prinicple as your radio. Radios just receive the signal sent out by stations. If you aren't fearful of radios (in cars, in your house, etc) then satellite dishes shouldn't bother you either. No, they are not pretty to look at, but they aren't emitting anything. I agree with others that you may have an anxiety disorder, but should seek a professional opinion on that.

You have a very well-documented and rational fear. Who can say for certain what these bi-directional digital dishes are capable of doing under today's massive broadband loads unless someone with a card from a federal agency were to come up to your door and guarantee, in writing with a signature in ink, that they are safe... and good luck getting that to happen? As a professional computer technician who, admittedly, is not too educated in satellite dish technology per se, I would not be so confident from mere hearsay that either the signals from the satellite are weak to begin with, that the bidirectional signal going out into thousands of miles of space during all weather conditions might not be powerfully concentrated at the source, or that incoming signal might not be being amplified to dangerous levels within the spatial cone of the dome, or any combination of all three. Basically if it's not something a person of average common sense would want their children to be running up and hugging on a regular basis, I see no reason why it should be allowed to be installed so low, yet I just discovered that they may in fact be. At least, for now. The very reason I found this discussion board was because I wanted to do research online into whether there were any federal regulations regarding safe height of satellite dish installations. The reason for my interest is because I was recently walking down a sidewalk when I walked past a ground-mounted satellite dish and felt a strange buzzing in my ear for that split second where I should have been in front of it. I felt this strange sensation before I knew the satellite dish was there. Once I started to inspect the outlay I realized that the cone was pointing directly where my ear should have been as I walked past it. What may come of this particular instance is still yet to be determined, but needless to say I understand your concern and would feel it myself if I lived under these conditions. To solve the problem, I would first ask the neighbor politely to have the dish installed higher up because it was making me nervous pointing towards my house. If they don't take action in a reasonable amount of time, say maybe a week, call the company that owns the dish, explain your situation to a manager, and ask that they do it for the customer pro bono because it is causing you extreme anxiety and emotional distress that is interfering with your ability to thrive and which may even be physically harming your family for all you know. If they refuse, consult a lawyer. It should only take a single letter from an attorney to both the homeowner and the company for the dish to be raised. Needless to say, you should start taking records now. Take careful notes of every time you speak to the neighbor or company about this issue. Make sure to write down dates, times, call durations, and names. Theoretically, your lawyer will need these notes to establish your case if it ever gets that far, which it almost certainly won’t. But having taken those records beforehand WILL help in getting the lawyer’s well-written letter sent to the offenders. It will make the lawyer know you’re serious.

I'm reading a lot of posts right now talking about how satellite dishes are “only receivers.” While this may have been true in the distant technological past, it’s impossible now, and I have to call such assurances from well-meaning satellite service installers "industry technobabble." If all the dishes did was receive, then you wouldn't be able to send even a one-word email using a satellite internet connection. You would not be able to switch pages in your browser because the satellite would not know what page to give you when you clicked on a link in a webpage with your mouse. As a computer technician, of this I am certain, and the signal would naturally get denser, and thus require more power, as more bandwidth was used for upload, such as during videoconferencing or P2P filesharing. As for television, I strongly doubt that you could even change the channel if the satellite didn't have a way of knowing when you pressed the remote, let alone rate a movie or order a pay-per-view. Online, I see plenty of information on bidirectional satellite dishes, so they do exist. I don’t buy the tech talk. I'd need to know far more information before I was convinced.

I'm surprised there are still people out there using the large dishes. I thought most have had to transition to the small dishes.

Is the neighbors dish actually hooked up? Maybe they moved it there after having a small dish installed and just don't know how to dispose of it? Have you asked them about it? Maybe it is up against the fence temporarily?

K., I thought I was alone!

It's IRRATIONAL. Clearly you understand what they are and what they are doing and not doing. It's not a fear of "what's it doing to me?" or anything like that. IRRATIONAL, as in there is NO REASON to fear these things, yet they sadly affect life to a point of non-function.

I wanted to go see the Grossology exhibit at the Louisville Science Center and found that I couldn't get in the building. Not even the building........ it was the sidewalk to the front entrance. Now let me explain, at the entrance to the building is a beautiful piece of art. It's huge, it gleams, and seems to give off this surreal awe. I HATE IT.
<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1396/1076791267_32fcb42188...;
In case this link doesn't work..... this "art" is a NON-FUNCTIONING parabolic dish. It's flat out just there. The closer I got to the building the fainter I felt. Ultimately I did not make it. I left the sidewalk in tears..... the further away I got the calmer I was getting.

This is an irrational fear, a phobia. Common sense and logic tell you there is nothing to fear, yet you cannot help the waves of anxiety and panic. It's highly frustrating.

Is there anything else other than these dishes that give you the creeps? I can't get near power lines/poles, transformers, nor fuse boxes, without feeling like I might have a heart-attack.

Anyway.... good luck and let me know if you find anything out.