Do you ever wonder if you are getting exposed to electricity from things in your home or at work?

Do you ever think you might be exposed to something in the air from all the wireless things we now use?

Even if you don’t use wireless things yourself, are you still being exposed by others?

If you wonder about any of these things you are thinking about electromagnetic fields and radio frequencies.

Electromagnetic fields or EMF’s usually refer to AC low frequency magnetic fields. Magnetic fields are created by electricity flowing through wires. Common EMF sources are power and transmission lines, internal building wiring system, electrical panels, transformers, motors and appliances. Elevated EMF fields are often caused from wiring problems, stray current or bad grounding.

Radio Frequency Radiation or RF’s usually are high frequency electromagnetic radiation due to the use of wireless equipment, devices and data transmission. Common RF sources are radio and television transmissions, cell towers and antennas, portable phones, cell phones, wireless computer networks (WLAN) and radar equipment. In-house wireless network installations have become a significant source of RF radiation in our homes and offices.

To make it easier to see what is EMF and what is RF, here is a table I put together of examples of what things are measured as EMF’s and which are measured as RF’s.

Power lines

Transformers

Internal building wiring

Electrical panels

Motors

Appliances

Influence of power lines and transformers

Electrical wiring problemsCellular antennas

Cell towers

Cell phones

Wireless information

Radio

TV

WLAN

Cordless phones

Baby monitors

Wireless computers

Wireless game systems

Radar

If you want to know what the EMF or RF readings are at your residence or workplace, you can have measurements taken by a professional testing company using professional calibrated equipment.

EMF measurements can be taken outside to see what the magnetic field levels are from various things including power lines, transformers and circuit breaker boxes.  EMF measurements inside the residence or workplace can be taken sa well. Measurements can be taken once with as many electrical devices turned off as possible and a second time with electrical devices turned on. The results are then analyzed by professionals to see if levels are high and if they are, what improvements can be made to lower the levels. Sometimes the high levels are caused by wiring problems that can repaired by an electrician or electrical appliances that need to be fixed or replaced.

RF measurements can be taken outside to see what the levels are and if there are any influences from things like cell phone towers or antennas. RF measurements can be taken inside to see if there are any high levels from your wireless devices. Similar to the EMF results, they are analyzed by professionals to see if there are any high levels and if there are and what can be done to lower these levels.  Sometimes, it is as simple as moving wireless devices to other rooms or switching to hard wired instead wireless.

I hope you found this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading!

-ET&T

(Click the Link below for full story)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241046/pdf/ehp0110-a00599.pdf

Narda SRM 3006

We have extended our capabilities. The Narda SRM 3006 allows us to measure Radio Frequencies (RF) emissions in a more selective, accurate and precise way. This is the state of the art field instrument, which is simultaneously a spectrum analyzer and a power density meter. This high tech piece of equipment tremendously enhances our capabilities in the 9 kHz to 6 GHz frequency range. It allows us to better serve our customers.

SRM stands for Selective Radiation Measurement. The instrument allows frequency identification and power density measurements of multiple unknown sources instantaneously. We are looking forward to working with you and using our new arrival on your RF project.

We conduct RF Exposure Assessments for occupants inside buildings, OSHA and FCC regulatory health and safety compliance surveys, plan reviews, continuous site monitoring and field reduction methods.  We offer independent third party surveys and have 25+ years of RF measurement experience.

To obtain more information on the new Narda instrument’s capabilities, please click on this link: http://www.narda-sts.us/pdf_files/DataSheets/SRM3006_DataSheet.pdf

• Considering purchasing a building near to power lines?
• Is your property out of ET&T’s normal service area?
• Do you have electrical interference issues?
• Need to monitor fields over time?

ET&T is now offering a new remote 24-hour EMF test with data logging. It will check your EMF levels around the clock. This provides you with far more information than simple spot measurements with data recording over an extended period of time.

It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3, 4!

1. We mail you our simple to use EMF Instrument.
2. You place it where you want measurements recorded for up to 24 hours.
3. You mail the equipment back to us.
4. We download and review the data and provide you with a written report with reference values.

This service offers you the advantage of having measurements recorded for up to 24 hours so you can see what the changes are throughout the day and night. The data evaluation in the report will give you a comprehensive analysis of the AC-magnetic field strength. All of this for an introductory price of $350.00!

Please contact us for more information. We can be reached at 760-804-9400, email us at info@etandt.com or visit our website at www.etandt.com and click on the contact us tab.

As environmental professionals, we receive frequent phone calls and emails from individuals concerned about potential health effects associated with the radio frequency (RF) radiation emitted from their Smart Meters (utility meters). We have performed measurements with a number of different instruments to find an effective way to test and evaluate emissions from these meters. What we found out is that this is not easily done. You are welcome to download our technical paper on smart meters, the public’s concern and the measurement challenges: Smart Meter: What We Know

Here are some of the challenges we discovered while establishing ET&T’s Smart Meter RF Radiation Measuring Protocol:

• Smart meter emit RF radiation in the 902-928 MHz when transmissions occur.
• Smart meter emit short RF “hand shake” bursts (mini-burst) on average between 2 to 5 times per minute.
• Smart meter emit stronger RF data transmission bursts only a few times a day.
• The transmission burst have last only a very short period of time (milliseconds).
• The transmission burst is intermittent.
• Many RF instruments cannot detect these mini or data transmissions bursts.

We have seen that many inspectors and building owners purchase inexpensive consumer quality instruments and are likely obtaining erroneous results. Taking measurements at a distance of less than 3 feet from the smart meter brings us into the near field, where measurements get really complicated and cannot be reliably performed with consumer quality instruments. The results become bogus data.

Here are some questions you need to ask whoever is taking your Smart Meter RF measurements:

• Which instrument are they using and is it a professional quality instrument?
• What frequency range does the instrument measure?
• What is the accuracy of the equipment?
• Are they doing data logging (recording measurements over a period of time) or are they taking spot readings?
• Are they picking up other RF sources such as radar or cordless phones which make interpreting the data difficult?
• Were the measurements taken in relevant areas where people spend a lot of time?
• Was the measurement taken outside in front of the smart meter?
• Was it taken inside in occupied areas where you spend extended periods of time such as bedrooms or family rooms? It is important to know at which distance the monitoring was taken.

Smart Meter RF transmission bursts vary greatly depending on meter, model, utility provider and programming. The exposure to these bursts also varies by location, distance and obstructions between you and the meter.

Smart Meters are adaptive and automatically checks itself (self monitoring). We have performed 24 hour monitoring and have seen the following rates in Southern California. Self monitoring burst occur on average between 2 and 5 times a minute and have smaller signal amplitude than when transmitting data. Data transmission bursts occur 2- 3 times a day, the time varies depending on the programming by the utility company and have significantly larger amplitude than the self monitoring bursts.

To collect enough data to determine your exposure you may need to monitor and data log for 12 to 24 hours. Many instruments are not able to data log or be able to detect the mini data burst at the correct amplitudes. This requires a large dynamic range and capability of the equipment.

Standard measurement procedures need to be established to obtain accurate, reliable and sound information on RF emission and the potential exposure. We found out that it is not so easy to measure smart meters. Based on our experience we have developed a suitable, relatively inexpensive, accurate and repeatable measurement protocol. If you have any further question, please contact us.