Turn off Cell phones and two way radios

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Do you? Nearby my home, they are doing some blasting. There is a sign as I drive that says to Turn off Cell phones and two way radios. I was doing this, then realized is everyone else doing this? Why do I need to turn off my cell phone?

I have decided to be a rebel and leave my phone on - after all who is going to know?

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It can interfere with blasting signals. Depends on the technology.

Not a risk I'd be willing to take with other people's lives.

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If radio signals are being used to set off the blast, there is a chance, albeit a very remote chance, that your cell phone is on the same frequency as that being used to do the blasting.
If that is the case, using your phone could set off an explosion.
If that happens before those doing the blasting are ready, if they arent clear of the area, if they are still setting their charges, etc. you could kill or seriously injure them.

Thats why they ask you to turn your phone and two way radios off.

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Speaking of this, I always leave my cell phone on when I'm flying, even though they say I should turn it off. My cell phone is a piece of ****, and whenever I turn it off, it is a fifty-fifty shot whether I can get the f*cking thing to turn back on again.

Am I actually endangering lives? Somehow I doubt it.

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very little blasting is radio det. You lose whatever control you have and the risks are , while not great, they are there.
The real reason is that wires used, if not properly"shunted" before making an open circuit , can act like an antenna and can set off a blasting cap.

Most dets use a wire and PETN system, its the most safe.

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I was just wondering as I asked around and no one bothers to shut off their cell phones. So I figured my additional one isn't going to do anything different any how.

And my phone is like kickys. I have an old one and it turns off by itself all the time so most likely it is already off.

Do you have to be actually using it to cause a problem or is it simply being on that is the issue?

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In perforating casing in an oil well, they use what farmerman describes. I am told by a wireline hand that the detonators now use a resistor that prevents a radio signal from setting it off.

Kicky, if those cell phones interfered with anything on an aircraft, they wouldn't let you bring them aboard. They just want you to use their phones. You know, the ones that accept credit cards.

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Ah, thank you Roger! That makes sense, and I will continue to do as I do regarding this situation. I'll let all of you know if I ever accidentally take down a 747 with my Nokia.

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your phone has probably already given you brain cancer so what have you got to lose? Might as well take a few other people to hell with you. :wink:

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Oh jeeze . . . for the few seconds it takes to drive through the "no cell phone" area, Warren Buffet might call to offer me millions of dollars for no particular reason, but i'd miss the call!

I NEED my cell phone ! ! !

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Setanta wrote:

Oh jeeze . . . for the few seconds it takes to drive through the "no cell phone" area, Warren Buffet might call to offer me millions of dollars for no particular reason, but i'd miss the call!

I NEED my cell phone ! ! !

thank you big dawg.... for cutting to the heart of the matter....

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Setanta wrote:

Oh jeeze . . . for the few seconds it takes to drive through the "no cell phone" area, Warren Buffet might call to offer me millions of dollars for no particular reason, but i'd miss the call!

I NEED my cell phone ! ! !

Well by the time I find the damn thing hidden in my purse and am able to grab (hopefully without getting the car off the road in my search), find the off switch, I have already driven out of range.

Do you also turn off the cell phone at gas stations?

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Linkat wrote:

Do you also turn off the cell phone at gas stations?

You bet. It's not like you don't know you'll be going to the gas station--it's not as if the sucker just suddenly jumped out in front of you and you found yourself at the pump before you knew it.

In the case of this construction zone, you have your aforementioned excuse just one time. After that, it is no longer a surprise.

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Setanta wrote:

Linkat wrote:
Do you also turn off the cell phone at gas stations?

You bet. It's not like you don't know you'll be going to the gas station--it's not as if the sucker just suddenly jumped out in front of you and you found yourself at the pump before you knew it.

In the case of this construction zone, you have your aforementioned excuse just one time. After that, it is no longer a surprise.

I turn mine off too at the gas station - just wondering if others do...

Hospital zone? I actually was in the maternity ward and there was a woman in labor walking around on her cell phone - thought you weren't supposed to use them there either.

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The odd thing too about this construction area - is there are many on ramps and streets and stuff surrounding this area, but only one on-ramp actually tells you do turn this off. Seems weird that from every other direction it is ok.

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Anybody else think that Setanta looks ridiculous on that high horse?

Those signs are probably an OSHA or insurance requirement.

IMO, it's their responsibility to make sure they're operating safely.

And I never blew up my car, or crashed an airliner before they said to turn off my cell phone.

They have people turn off cell phones for the same reason they have people take off their shoes; it makes people feel safer.

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Quote:

Europe clears mobiles on aircraft

Mobile phone calls will be allowed on planes flying in European airspace under new European Commission rules.

The decision means that mobiles could be used once a plane has reached an altitude of 3,000m or more.

[...]

The plan is to install small mobile phone base stations, called pico cells, in aircraft that will be switched on after take-off. The base station generates a bubble of coverage in and around the aircraft.

Calls made via the pico cell will be routed to terrestrial networks via satellite link. Across Europe radio spectrum has been set aside for the technology.

The services could stop working once aircraft leave European airspace.

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Linkat wrote:

I turn mine off too at the gas station - just wondering if others do...

In Ohio, it is now a misdemeanor to operate a cell phone while in a filling station, and it is posted on the pumps and on signs attached to pillars of the pump islands.

Quote:

Hospital zone? I actually was in the maternity ward and there was a woman in labor walking around on her cell phone - thought you weren't supposed to use them there either.

I strongly suspect that it is no longer true that there are any prosthetics which can be interfered with by radio waves, although someone might be in a hospital with an older "pacemaker" which could be affected. I also suspect that this a control issue, and doctors, and especially nurses, are control freaks. However, it's their ballgame, they get to make the rules. With regard to hospitals, and the construction zone to which you referred, i personally don't have the expertise to second guess them, so, i'd go along, assuming the not unreasonable assumption that there are people involved who do have the expert knowledge and that they are the ones asking for the phones and radios to be turned off.

There are also security systems in hospitals which rely on RF technology (mostly the infant alarm systems), but i doubt if the frequencies for cell phones are the same. Once again, though, it's their game, they get to make the rules.

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I just looked up cell phones and found that myth busters actually did a test on this and they tried to use a cell phone to blow up explosive stuff and tried as they might - nothing exploded.

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Have you got a link for that? Cell phones are prohibited in filling stations not because of the radio frequency, but because of the ambient gasoline fumes which might ignited by defective wiring in a phone. I can't say if that is a very proximate danger, but that is the point of the Ohio law.

Cell phones can be used as detonators for bombs, by triggering the detonator when the phone rings.

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Turn off Cell phones and two way radios

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