The NIMBY Factor

The NIMBY Factor One reason for hiding base stations and antennas is that if people don’t know that the hardware is there, they cannot complain about it—the “not in my back yard,” or NIMBY factor. Although it is well beyond the scope of this book to discuss exposure limits, it is an area of increasing—and possibly legitimate—public concern. There are a number of software packages now available that calculate emission levels at particular elevations and distances from base stations, given site variables such as type, height, bearing, antenna tilt, power output, feeder and system losses, and number of RF carriers. The software calculates surrounding RF emission levels from the base station and produces an elevation plot at a number of user-specific points—giving the field strength, for example, in nearby high-rise buildings (displayed in polar or rectangular format). An example product can be found on Link Microtek’s Web site, www.linkmicrotek.com.