Over the last few months I have noticed your newspaper seems to have a preponderance of reports about mobile phone masts.

I am sure I am not the first to suggest that you are likely to absorb far more radiation from holding a phone next to your head than from a mast situated a few tens of metres away.

The antennas on these masts are designed to disperse energy in a controlled way, not straight down, where radiated power (and thus coverage) would be wasted.

I suggest that a better way to approach objecting to such an installation, if one feels motivated to do so, would be to employ an independent expert to assess the level of radiation from the site, and treat the advice given by somebody with a vested interest, such as an employee of the communications company or a councillor, with a certain amount of scepticism.

I, incidentally, do not harbour any views for or against these masts other than the need to install sympathetically within the landscape.

They are a feature of modern life, like it or not, and objections should be backed up with proper data from independent experts if they are to hold any credence.

What does puzzle me though, is the complete lack of concern about the large TV mast in Great Malvern.

There are transponders on there for analogue BBC1, BBC2, ITV and CH4, 6 Digital TV multiplexer channels and two FM radio channels. This does not include all of the utility radio transmitters/ microwave links that can be seen on the mast and probably mobile phones too!

I would suggest that there is far more RF radiation from this spot than any of the small, fairly low power mobile phone masts in the area.

Is everyone prepared to do without TV and radio? Or is it a case of the mast having been there so long that nobody notices it anymore?

Andy G McNally, Lower Chase Road, Malvern.