[CliveG]

Let me give BIG hint.

Ask WHY the Telco (Atlas Towers) did what they did at various steps.

[Bored chemist]

Did it occur to you that they may have been using the tower... because that's what they built it for?

A) Disobeying a court order has consequences.

Typically a fine- which is often less than the cost of stopping "the job" for many companies. And that assumes that the court believes you ratehr thana  rich corporation.
Good luck.

The man drove by slowly in a old pickup with no markings while checking the site and our house. He then did a U-turn down the street and parked where we could not see his vehicle.

Cheap contractor doesn't know the area + got lost. No reason to suppose that he knew you were spying on his vehicle.

Nearly everyone in SA (poverty stricken or not) has a cell phone.

And yet you seemed surprised that he used one.

Why do you want evidence that my instincts are good?

Because you are talking about going to court where they will laugh themselves silly if you say you rely on "instinct".

Are you a bored cynic?

If you think I'm cynical, just wait til you see the other side's lawyers.

Check the meter readings

I have a garbled summary of them- from you.
What can I check?

and you will find the court will have difficulty rejecting my explanation of the tower companies actions

They will not give a toss about your view of shifty looking men without hard hats.
They might, if you can prove it, care about the tower being used when the court said it shouldn't be.
But they may well not accept your evidence.

[CliveG]

Let me give you the questions that should be asked. This is what scientists and detectives do to solve a problem.

1) Why does the tower have a navigation light?
2) Why did they NOT keep the navigation light on?
3) Why did they turn the tower on despite a court order not to do so?
4) Why did they not turn it off the morning they got notified?
5) Why did they send two crews that morning to the tower who did nothing but walk and talk?
6) Why did they wait until they turned it off to send a formal letter that it was not on?
7) Why did they then ask for a test on the 15th (the 18th was the filing date)
8. What was the ostensible purpose of the test?
9) Was there one or more ulterior motives for the test? What were they? IMPORTANT!
10) Why turn on the navigation lights after the test?
11) Why show an accumulated kWhr on a graph rather than numbers for each day?
12) Why show average kW for each day on a graph instead of daily consumption and the number of hours?

Bored Chemists answers have some truth in them. They show what a rotten society we have where corporates ignore the law because they simply pay the cost of doing business, and how rotten the legal system is that ignores justice and the suffering of ordinary people. And the apathy of society until it gets critical.

[CliveG]

The biggest hint of all.

Who supplies the electricity and how do THEY meter the usage!

(Not the metering company employed by Atlas.)

What would happen if there was no "test day"?

[alancalverd]

The man had no work clothes or hard hat, which other employees have. The man walked about slowly while on his phone and looking about. Even for the slow pace of SA workers he was taking his time and not appearing to have an objective.

Government health & safety inspector. Also explains parking an unmarked van out of sight and skulking in.  Probably made some fatuous order about switching off the light at night (might attract aeroplanes or keep the neighbors awake) too.

[Bored chemist]

11) Why show an accumulated kWhr on a graph rather than numbers for each day?

Because that's how electricity meters "traditionally" work.

You seem determined to attach some "special" significance to things that are probably run-of-the-mill greed and stupidity.
Saying those sorts of things in court will not go down well.

[evan_au]

11) Why show an accumulated kWhr on a graph rather than numbers for each day?
12) Why show average kW for each day on a graph instead of daily consumption and the number of hours?

11) Traditional electromechanical electricity meters integrate instantaneous power (in kW) to show energy on the display (in kWh), which is intended to be read every month or so.
Electronic meters store the consumption in smaller blocks like every 5 or 15 minutes. These smaller blocks can be accumulated produce a cumulative graph.
12) You can effectively differentiate the energy readings by just adding up the energy of one day and dividing by the number of hours.

These are just different ways of presenting the same information.

[CliveG]

Okay. Back from an interesting holiday in Uhlanga (near Durban). More lessons. Will post soon.
I thought of giving some multiple choice answers but I will give the answers I had in mind.

1) Why does the tower have a navigation light?
   Because it is the law and part of their license. When they put the tower up the lights were mounted on the same day and powered with an extension cord.

2) Why did they NOT keep the navigation light on?
   Because it might fool people into thinking the transmitters were also off. People would say "but we never saw the lights on the night of 9 and 10 January. They hoped we would not notice until I was sick - but my wife noticed within hours.

3) Why did they turn the tower on despite a court order not to do so?
   Because they fully intended to make me sick to miss the upcoming deadline. There is no other reason to violate a court order and risk contempt of court.

4) Why did they not turn it off the morning they got notified?
   Because they needed to make me sick to the point I could not work. They know it takes time - a few days and not just a few hours. They also wanted a distraction that would occupy my time which should have been used for drawing up and serving the affidavit.

5) Why did they send two crews that morning to the tower who did nothing but walk and talk?
   Because it was another distraction. They could then say the tower was checked. Yes it was but checked for what? They opened no cabinets. They took no readings.

6) Why did they wait until they turned it off to send a formal letter that it was not on?
  Just in case I decided to get witnesses to verify my readings.

7) Why did they then ask for a test on the 15th (the 18th was the filing date)?
   Because they now needed to cover up the fact that they forgot that the Power Company would be billing them for the power used. The lawyers probably told them they needed to do this. Of course, the billing would show an energy usage of about 38 hours, so I can still insist on those invoices. It added to the distraction, and added to my health problems because they wanted me to witness the tests. I could not stay with them the whole time and had to go into the garage to escape the radiation.

8. What was the ostensible purpose of the test?
   I thought that they wanted a really expensive test to counter my readings. Later I thought it was to add to the costs against me. It was when I did not see it on the bill of costs that I really thought about why they tested.

9) Was there one or more ulterior motives for the test? What were they? IMPORTANT!
   They needed to  cover up the consumption that would show on the Power Company bill.

10) Why turn on the navigation lights after the test?
   They had failed to fool us that the tower was off and not transmitting. Now that it was an issue, they turned them on without turning on the transmitters.

11) Why show an accumulated kWhr on a graph rather than numbers for each day?
   Because the graph is a "Gee Whiz" bit of engineering sleight of hand. One cannot clearly read the graph. It rises steadily for a number of days and then has a barely perceptible rise over a space of many days.

12) Why show average kW for each day on a graph instead of daily consumption and the number of hours?
   Another "Gee Whiz Fool the Judge" graph. Because whether 38 hours of consumption or 2 hours of consumption are shown it only confirms that the tower was powered up. Slightly more than a normal day because the batteries were charging. On both the 9-11 period and the 15 period. They could slither out of perjury by saying that the 9-11 period had recorded but not transmitted the consumption and so it was added to the 15 period. But 38 hours of consumption. The manager will blame his engineers for not pointing this out. Not INTENTIONAL LYING sir, just an HONEST MISTAKE of miscommunication.

I am going to blow up their graph and draw lines to better show the kWhrs. Both graphs are fuzzy and small so that it makes it difficult for me to do so.

A follow-up. Why did they not send an engineer and manager to visit me to ask me why I thought the tower was on? The two crews could have done that. Either crew could take me to the site and show me the circuit breakers. After the test, I was shown a cell phone picture of the breakers to prove it was off. They knew the batteries would keep it going to another 20-30 minutes which happened.

[alancalverd]

Time to  call in the South African Civil Aviation Authority www.caa.co.za . A statutory warning light cannot be switched off unless properly permitted and notified by an official NOTAM. Emergency failure must be notified and promulgated. Prosecution by the CAA under the Air Navigation Order, for endangering traffic, rarely fails.

However bent your local judiciary may be, NOTAMS and ANO prosecutions receive international scrutiny and any other country or the ICAO itself banning flights on safety grounds will seriously upset the SA government.

[Bored chemist]

There is no other reason to violate a court order and risk contempt of court.

Yes there is.
There is the obvious reason.
They ran the transmitter because that is what they do for a living.
They make money by running transmitters.
If (as is quite likely) the fine for breaching the court order is less than the money they make then they will ignore the court and run the tower.

Saying they did it to make you sick is paranoia.

Why did they not turn it off the morning they got notified?

Because that's how they make money.

What would you have done in their situation?

   Because it was another distraction.

They had no way of knowing if you were watching or not.
So they couldn't be doing it to influence you.

Again, that's paranoid thinking.

How do you think that would play out in court?

 Because the graph is a "Gee Whiz" bit of engineering sleight of hand. One cannot clearly read the graph. It rises steadily for a number of days and then has a barely perceptible rise over a space of many days.

Why do you ask questions to which you already have two independent mutually confirmatory answers?

Because that's how electricity meters "traditionally" work.

Traditional electromechanical electricity meters integrate instantaneous power (in kW) to show energy on the display (in kWh), which is intended to be read every month or so.

Again, your refusal to look at straightforward facts makes you look like an idiot.
If you do that in court you will lose.

. Not INTENTIONAL LYING sir, just an HONEST MISTAKE of miscommunication.

OK, so we agree that the company is quite likely to do this sort of thing.
"blame  it on an honest mistake" - maybe sack some poor clerk who gets the blame for not filing the right paperwork.

Why can't you see that they would do exactly the same sort of thing to run the transmitters (in spite of a court order) and keep making money?

[Bored chemist]

A follow-up. Why did they not send an engineer and manager to visit me to ask me why I thought the tower was on?

Because they have written you off as s some paranoid nutter who wouldn't believe anything their staff told you anyway.

[CliveG]

Time to  call in the South African Civil Aviation Authority www.caa.co.za . A statutory warning light cannot be switched off unless properly permitted and notified by an official NOTAM. Emergency failure must be notified and promulgated. Prosecution by the CAA under the Air Navigation Order, for endangering traffic, rarely fails.

However bent your local judiciary may be, NOTAMS and ANO prosecutions receive international scrutiny and any other country or the ICAO itself banning flights on safety grounds will seriously upset the SA government.

Others had advised us to do this. I just had so many other issues. No wonder they then did it after the test. I had advised them in writing it was off. I will find out some more.

[CliveG]

A follow-up. Why did they not send an engineer and manager to visit me to ask me why I thought the tower was on?

Because they have written you off as s some paranoid nutter who wouldn't believe anything their staff told you anyway.

Here is me at the hearing the last court appearance. A non-lawyer arguing for condonation for being one day late on a filing of an affidavit.

Tell me why the tower company had 2 junior advocates in court and 4 attorneys. And one Telco had a senior advocate and a junior advocate and 2 attorneys as well as the head of their legal department. And the other Telco had a senior advocate and 2 attorneys. It seemed there were other professionals of some sort. Not the two who gave false affidavit evidence for fear I would insist on cross examination. If they were genuine they would want to be there to answer questions. I am learning how the law game is played.

The first and second Telcos were not named by me as parties (Respondents) because they only rent on the tower. Yet they appeared and intervened. The first Telco simply repeated the tower company arguments. The second Telco applied (as the first should have) to be joined in the main review. The stated reasons were that if I succeed on the health claims as one judge thought I would, their business would be in serious trouble. (Their only defense in all their affidavits to the health claims, was that it was within the ICNIRP limits.) And they are right. It was why our Constitutional Court refused to give me a hearing. Politics, not justice.

One cannot hire an advocate to appear in court on health reasons. It is not because one cannot prove one's case, it is because that advocate would be shunned and not get business. Remember the radium girls trying to get legal representation. While in the US, one may be able to make a name and get big money from companies, here the companies pay off the lawyers to abandon the case - in my opinion - judging from failed lawsuits.

The first Telco ramped up their costs bill to a ridiculous amount by changing and swapping advocates so they could triple charge and adding irrelevant material. But they did not realize how well I research the law. They MUST get leave and so they will lose all their claim. I confirmed this with a lawyer who was impressed that I picked it up. Unless the Court once more delivers a false and unjust ruling that I would have to appeal.

They are using SLAPP tactics. Strategic Litigation Against Public Participants. Where one uses massive money claims to make a bad case go away. They are afraid I will win. THAT is their motivation.

Care to contribute to my fund as I fight on?
Or are you worried you may lose your cell phone communications and live longer?

[CliveG]

They make money by running transmitters.
(snip)
If (as is quite likely) the fine for breaching the court order is less than the money they make then they will ignore the court and run the tower.
(snip)
They had no way of knowing if you were watching or not.
So they couldn't be doing it to influence you.
(snip)
Why do you ask questions to which you already have two independent mutually confirmatory answers?
(snip)
Because that's how electricity meters "traditionally" work.
(snip)
Why can't you see that they would do exactly the same sort of thing to run the transmitters (in spite of a court order) and keep making money?

If they are going to ignore the court order to make money, why not do it all the time? Why wait for a week before my filing date.

How literal you take a "distraction". Me watching? Please! Distract me from doing the affidavit by interacting with them on a side issue. You need to get with the legal tactics employed by big corporates.

Mutually independent proves what?

That is how meters work! Thanks for informing an electrical engineer who once worked in a power company meter department. How about the bill you get. Is it in unreadable graphs. One showing the consumption and one showing the money you must pay? In my bill I get EXACT numbers - one to the accuracy of the meter and one to the nearest cent (rounded down I hope).

They want the money from running the transmitters but they need to win at all costs. Their business model is threatened.

[Bored chemist]

That is how meters work! Thanks for informing an electrical engineer who once worked in a power company meter department.

You asked...

How about the bill you get. Is it in unreadable graphs.

I just get 3 numbers . The previous reading, the current reading and the difference.
It is usually based on the readings which I took and emailed them. (It's currently 74044).

I ca go + read the meter any time I want. I could even set up a web cam to watch it if I really wanted.

But, obviously, that has nothing to do with the issue.

However, while the electricity company could come and check that my current reading is 74044, they have absolutely no way of knowing  when it passed the 74000 mark. (Except they know it was some time after the previous meter reading).

So they can't know if I was running a ten KW radio transmitter for an hour or so.

The power company supplying the tower is in much the same position.
There is literally no system in place that measures my actual power consumption.
If the power Co. went to court and said "he was drawing so many KW at such and such a time", it would be perjury.

If they are going to ignore the court order to make money, why not do it all the time?

Because there's (obviously) only so many times you can play the "honest mistake" card, before  the court stops believing you.

[alancalverd]

Industrial electricity suppliers generally do know the instantaneous consumption profile as the charges for 3-phase power vary by time of day, plus a surcharge for absolute maximum consumption during the charging period. However this won't tell you much about the radiated power of the transmitter since a lot is consumed in cooling the computers and even the standby consumption of the transmitter.

[CliveG]

(snip)

However, while the electricity company could come and check that my current reading is 74044, they have absolutely no way of knowing  when it passed the 74000 mark. (Except they know it was some time after the previous meter reading).

So they can't know if I was running a ten KW radio transmitter for an hour or so.

The power company supplying the tower is in much the same position.
There is literally no system in place that measures my actual power consumption.
If the power Co. went to court and said "he was drawing so many KW at such and such a time", it would be perjury.

(snip)

You seem to have no problem trying to be an expert in my field. And as a result you are so wrong.

The Power Company has an energy consumption meter that records the kWhrs of energy consumed. It is typically read once a month and the customer billed.

This is not your ordinary industrial user or domestic user. The law compels the Power Company to provide a special power point to masts. This mast company then hires the services of a metering company to record the usage by means of metering that is communicated by modem to a server (their words)(probably by fiber since they have put in a number of cables to the tower) on an ongoing basis. The data is probably stored every 15 minutes to give them a daily profile.

The reason that they use a separate meter company is because the local power companies need to make money by charging ridiculous amounts to various customers. The fact that the consumption for a six month period (the actual readings are erratic and most readings are estimates) can be more than a small town does not stop them going to court and claiming. And what does the court say to the customer "Where is your proof?". (Just like you!) One golf course had such a metering company put in private meters and hence were able to prove that they were being grossly (an understatement) overcharged. In the millions!

It is likely they can also read and graph the instantaneous power in kW. Yes, such meters have existed almost from the time of electrical generation. They take the instantaneous voltage, the instantaneous current and the instantaneous angle between them and do the multiplication either digitally or in an analog fashion for the older types.

But once more you are blind to the point I am making.
Why not say 0.00 kWhrs for day 9, day 10 and day 11 and 142.25 kWhrs for day 15?

Note my mistake of 10,000 kWhrs for 9 days should be 1,000 kWhrs for 9 days giving a typical daily consumption of about 110 kWhrs per day. (See - even I was fooled by misreading the poor graph.) The average kW would be 4.58 kW which is close to their second graph. There are about 12 transmitters on the tower making each transmitter have a power rating of about 4.58 less 40% for other equipment divided by 12 = 229 watts. About right.

A one hour test cannot consume 142.25 kWhrs. The poor graph hides this number. It would mean that the power of the installation would be over 142 kW.

Has the penny finally dropped?

[CliveG]

Industrial electricity suppliers generally do know the instantaneous consumption profile as the charges for 3-phase power vary by time of day, plus a surcharge for absolute maximum consumption during the charging period. However this won't tell you much about the radiated power of the transmitter since a lot is consumed in cooling the computers and even the standby consumption of the transmitter.

Most of your answers show some understanding. My post to BC gives the detail of what is going on.

Do you follow my logic?

How can I display the one A4 sheet with the two graphs on this forum. And the one page write-up.

[Bored chemist]

The law compels the Power Company to provide a special power point to masts.

What is special about it?

[Bored chemist]

You seem to have no problem trying to be an expert in my field.

It's good to see that you are an expert.
Would you like to explain why you are asking us mere mortals for help?

They take the instantaneous voltage, the instantaneous current and the instantaneous angle between them

If they are doing the multiplication in anything like real time, they don't need the angle- which isn't "instantaneous" anyway.

If that was an attempt to "blind me with science" it backfired badly.

How can I display the one A4 sheet with the two graphs on this forum. And the one page write-up.

And that's where you point out that you have not yet presented the data you are complaining about.

But once more you are blind to the point I am making.
Why not say 0.00 kWhrs for day 9, day 10 and day 11 and 142.25 kWhrs for day 15?

If, as seems likely, their meters (like mine) show cumulative use, why would they not present to the court a graph of cumulative use?

It is, of course, rather hard for us to tell because...  you have not actually given us the data.

A one hour test cannot consume 142.25 kWhrs. The poor graph hides this number. It would mean that the power of the installation would be over 142 kW.

Has the penny finally dropped?

Yes the penny has dropped that all they need to do is say they were testing the lights and heater and battery charger and whatever as well.
Simple, if rhetorical question.
Do you actually know what is in the tower?