EMF Exposure

[mcb]

...Now, if your meter is truly a transmitting "smart meter", then you have another problem. Check it to see if it has an FCC sticker or statement on the front. That statement indicates that it is a transmitter. If this is the case, then your entire house wing is being bathed periodically in high frequency GSM-like pulsed signals. The best solution (if you can't get the meter replaced) is to move the meter and panel box to a location out in the yard and erect a small metal fence behind the meter to deflect the RF energy away from the house...

Apparently we have until the end of the year to "opt out" of the program (for $127 + $39.40/mo), even though we never "opted in." They are taking pains NOT to tell people about it.

_http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=7284

Even though SMUD is very concerned about their ‘reputational risk’ ... the directors make fun of people who don’t want utility smart meters on their property.

One director says, “The $166 upfront will convince them they can really afford a lot of tin foil hats” [laughter]…Another director says, “But they are already wearing them!”

In closing Director Posner says, The less that’s said about this, the better off we are.” The last thing they want is a social media campaign that exposes them as unfriendly to their customers.

Nice, huh?

They claim that the transmission interval is four hours, that the duration is 50ms, and that the transmitter power is 1 watt. Should I believe that?

 

[mcb]

I used a telephone pickup coil (it's 46 years old!) to check for power-frequency magnetic fields around the house. I plugged it into a computer and just listened. I can trace out exactly where the power meter is, from the inside wall. The field is rather strong in that area (with the air conditioner running), and extends over part of the bed. The house is mostly quiet except for something running vertically inside the wall beside the door to the main bedroom.

I can hear all kinds of racket coming from the computers and printer, as expected. It drops off rapidly within a few inches. The noisiest spot on the notebook computers is on the bottom, probably right where the CPU is.

 

[LQB]

I used a telephone pickup coil (it's 46 years old!) to check for power-frequency magnetic fields around the house. I plugged it into a computer and just listened. I can trace out exactly where the power meter is, from the inside wall. The field is rather strong in that area (with the air conditioner running), and extends over part of the bed. The house is mostly quiet except for something running vertically inside the wall beside the door to the main bedroom.

I can hear all kinds of racket coming from the computers and printer, as expected. It drops off rapidly within a few inches. The noisiest spot on the notebook computers is on the bottom, probably right where the CPU is.

Good deal! - that'll work for an idea of the problems. For the most part, you're listening to net current plus dirty power (net current should sound like a 60 Hz hum). You can also listen to dirty power with an AM radio tuned off-station. The AM radio will not respond to the net current. You should hear the noise as you approach an area that couples well. If you have one, give it a try and maybe you can separate out the EMFs. The computer stuff will radiate RF because the speed of the processor is so high and the printed circuits can act like antennas at those frequencies (@ 2GHz the wavelength is 6"). The vertical run by the door could be a net current problem or it could be a spot where the dirty power couples well - hard to say without the right meters.

The notebook should have a bright spot above the keyboard too if you are really measuring AC mag fields.

Nice, huh?

They claim that the transmission interval is four hours, that the duration is 50ms, and that the transmitter power is 1 watt. Should I believe that?

Disgusting indeed! Well, since we know the ultimate purpose is intrusion and control, then the 50ms/1watt can be changed at anytime. For billing, there is no reason for it to be on more than 50ms once a month! I have read of ES cases where it drove them crazy until they got it off the house and shielded as Sirius said. So no, I wouldn't believe anything from those jokers.

Yes, that is pretty much what I did, except that I had to unplug everything because the cables and power cords all routed through openings in the back of my desk. The UPS was on a shelf in front of my legs. Now it is on top of the desk, almost at the ceiling and as far away from me as it can be, power cords and all. The monitor power cord is the only AC that comes near me now. This will also protect Cassie, our "sick kitty," who likes to sleep in the desk chair when I am not there (as well as on the wall where the meter is).

Good - that gets it away from the cat.

I haven't seen an RS-232 port on a computer in a long time. I could perhaps use the microphone jack. The whole computer is aluminum. For patio use I might have to create a "bundle" containing an extension cord, ethernet cable, and ground cable.

You can use the external video port or USB. You just want to get the ground wire to connect with the outer casing of the port. This will be connected to internal ground of the machine. Most notebooks/laptops have 2-pronged plugs for the charger which means they do no carry ground from the receptacle. No on the mic jack hole - you don't want to ground the wrong conductor in there.

Ideally I would just sit at my desk when I am indoors. I have a large monitor, and the computer itself can set on the far side of the desk. Unfortunately, sitting causes problems with my feet and ankles, and I need to limit it while at home.

I use a zero gravity chair and a stand next to it that positions the notebook in front of me and off my body. I can just swing it away to get up and then swing it back in when I sit down. The ZG chair tilts back so you are actually sitting in a very comfortable position wrt gravity.

I can see I am going to need several meters. For the moment, I think we're just going to have to keep the cats off the bed. I'm hoping my housemate will agree to rearrange the furniture (it's her house). I spend 10 minutes in there in the morning on days when I commute to work, and my printer/scanner/fax is located in there, but otherwise only the cats use that room.

Yes on the meters, a gauss meter, a GS meter, and a good RF meter. Sirius had a good idea of renting the RF meter. The other two you will want long term.

Oh yes, it has an FCC sticker. That was my first clue. I think I need some way to measure the field strength in the main bedroom. The head of the bed is maybe 12-14 feet away, toward the front of the house. I took pains not to have Wi-Fi anywhere near the bedrooms and look what we ended up with instead.

Yes, I know, instead you got super power co WiFi (this one talks to the whole neighborhood). You do need to get rid of that, and really the cheapest way to deal with it is to move it and shield it. The bonus is that you can move the panel box too and get rid of the mag field EMF from both the panel box and meter.

I am considering the possibility that EMF exposure might be a factor in my health. Both of us have reason to be concerned, and it may be affecting one of our cats as well. I am also going to need to measure EMF exposure at work. But I have no time or money set aside for this. I will just have to work it in somewhere.

I thought we were making good progress. The remodel used low/zero VOC materials. We are in the process of installing blackout shades in the bedroom. (I made the room darker over a year ago, but it's not dark enough.) There doesn't seem to be an end to it, and I think these things are going to be issues for a lot of other people as well.

I think so too. Hang in there and just take it slow. Moving the meter/panel is not a big job - and don't let anyone tell you it is. Sink a couple of posts, mount some unistrut, mount the meter/panel, and build a little shelter out of metal around it. You don't have to move it very far. Just moving the box/meter few feet off the wall and putting a reflector behind it would be a major improvement.

Edit: fixed double quote and added last sentence

 

[LQB]

From one of today's sott articles: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247754-Rare-Disorder-Drives-Woman-to-Document-Industrial-Canaries

Back in 2003, photographer Thilde Jensen started getting sick. She had problems with her sinuses, flu-like symptoms, a weird tingling in parts of her body and at times felt drunk and foggy.

"I felt like my blood was running backwards," she said.

The weirdest part was what set if off. First she noticed that the symptoms would appear whenever she was around a lot of car exhaust. Then she experienced similar symptoms whenever she was around books. Then it was cigarette smoke and perfume.

"It just kept getting worse and worse," says Jensen, 40, who at the time was living in New York City. "It actually became kind of surreal. It was like being in a Hitchcock movie, like everything was out to get me."

Finally, Jensen says, it got the point where there were so many triggers that she became totally disoriented and completely non-functional. By that point certain foods were also making her sick, as were electronics that emitted radiation, like phones and computers.

Faced with constant irritation, Jensen made the difficult decision to permanently move to upstate New York and live outside in a tent, away from almost all the amenities of modern life. It was the only thing, she realized, that would make her feel normal again.

She was married at the time, but about a year into her stay near Syracuse the marriage ended - in part because she couldn't move back to NYC and her husband couldn't move out to the country. Jensen says she's doesn't hold the breakup against her former husband.

"Most people would probably do what he did because it was such an extreme life change, I wasn't the same person anymore," she says. "I used to be this fun-loving person and suddenly I couldn't do anything, and in certain ways I really needed to do it by myself."

More and more EMF researchers are coming to the conclusion (and writing about it) that EMF effects are intimately tied to toxic exposure - at some point the interactions become too much for the body to negotiate. I think the research results here on the forum require that we add diet to the mix - so it would be three broad categories that contribute to sensitivity symptoms and, ultimately, chronic disease.

 

[LQB]

Thought to add this quote from Becker:

“I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time the greatest polluting
element in the Earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields”
-Dr Robert O Becker, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon, author,
teacher and twice nominated for
a Nobel Peace Prize in medicine

 

[Sirius]

I switched to a notebook PC originally because the noise from my desktop PC (fan plus disk drive) seemed to be affecting my ears. I believe that the warning I encountered recently (wish I could remember where) related to high frequency emissions. Wi-Fi should produce the stronger signal, but the microprocessor itself, running at a couple of GHz or so, produces microwave noise as well -- and it might not be picked up by a meter. And then there is the noise from keyboard and display scanning. It has to meet FCC requirements, but I doubt that that is going to be enough protection for the user.

I haven't seen an RS-232 port on a computer in a long time. I could perhaps use the microphone jack. The whole computer is aluminum. For patio use I might have to create a "bundle" containing an extension cord, ethernet cable, and ground cable.

Ideally I would just sit at my desk when I am indoors. I have a large monitor, and the computer itself can set on the far side of the desk. Unfortunately, sitting causes problems with my feet and ankles, and I need to limit it while at home.

The noise from running computers is a very subtle factor, too. I noticed that quite often (e.g. in enterprise environments where numerous desktop PCs run at the same time producing significant noise levels). It affects one in negative ways. I have also a “MetalBook” which I managed to transform into an entirely silence machine. I replaced the hard disc; its two fans are very quiet running at 2k RPM regularly. My external drive still produces noise but it can be plugged off or used as a network drive so that distance can be achieved. The aluminium metal body has a shielding effect (always buy a laptop with an aluminium body as a rule of thumb). You can't compare a CPU with a clock speed of a few GHz with a microwave emitter using a GHz channel. It's not the same. There is rather LF present.

They claim that the transmission interval is four hours, that the duration is 50ms, and that the transmitter power is 1 watt. Should I believe that?

The only thing you may believe is the 1 watt sending power; this is akin to a cell phone. However, it is probable that it operates always with full power. No, I wouldn't believe the rest without adequate measurement.

More and more EMF researchers are coming to the conclusion (and writing about it) that EMF effects are intimately tied to toxic exposure - at some point the interactions become too much for the body to negotiate. I think the research results here on the forum require that we add diet to the mix - so it would be three broad categories that contribute to sensitivity symptoms and, ultimately, chronic disease.

Indeed! There is evidence for a link between EMF sensitivity and heavy metal poisoning, MCS, mercury poisoning (e.g. amalgam), and … probably fluoride, too. Remember?

Q: (Laura) This couple of weeks that Ark spent in Dijon were miserable. What was the fundamental reason for these conditions and this misery?
A: Near ELF transmitter. Also the water supply is loaded with fluoride.
Q: (Laura) Okay, I did some research on the Emerald Tablets and discovered...
A: Is this all you want to know about this? We suppose if we told you "Laura, a great big rock is about to fall on your head," then you would say: "okay, now moving right along, about the Emerald tablets..."
Q: (Laura) Well, that was about Dijon. He is gone from Dijon now. Whatever it was in Gottingen, you said he would be gone soon and not to worry. So... he is no longer near the ELF transmitter... he is no longer drinking the water...
A: Fluoride is toxic, and deposits in fatty tissues, and lymph system. Aside from the obvious possible negative consequences, it can make one more susceptible to electromagnetic wave frequencies that are designed to make one open to mind alteration!

Though I assume there is on the one hand natural sensitivity and on the other hand simply illness or a critical condition. That is, a relatively healthy individual could be sensitive to pulsed radiation by nature, albeit not so extremely as EHS people are.

 

[paralleloscope]

There's quite some mention of Dr. Magda Havas work in Milham-Morgans paper. Here's a sort of introduction to her studies on rapid aging syndrome and beneficial pulsed EMF. And Here a horrid dirty electrics news story where she comments on.

***

- I assume it's OK to embed youtube links?

- I get an error that says "Your server is running PHP version 5.1.6 but WordPress 3.3.1 requires at least 5.2.4." when trying to access Magda's papers on _www.magdahavas.com/ , I assume the problem lies with her server settings?

 

[monotonic]

About EMF:

I think a conductive metal ring can short out magnetic flux that passes through it. Copper strip is wrapped around many transformers to short out leakage flux that can cause eddy currents inside the metal which waste energy heating it up.

So say for instance those metal rings worn around people's heads in fairytales. Going by transformer math, coils with fewer turns will output greater current, so a single ring may need to be very conductive, or it won't totally short the flux. However if you make say 5 turns, the resistance requirement is relaxed by 5 times for the same amount of flux shorting. However if you use 5 times smaller wire to do this, the wire's self-resistance cancels out the gain you make. Perhaps RF reception coils already exist tuned with just the right properties.

Another thing could be skin effect. At high frequencies, current flows at the outer edge of the conductor as through forced to the edges by centripetal force. For this reason in radio transmitters, high-power inductors are often made with copper tubing because none of the current runs through the center anyways. Because the current is confined to the edges, it experiences greater resistance. Silver plating is used on some types of wire to give better conductivity at RF. Silver plated wrapping wire is one example. Another thing that has been done is to use stranded, individually insulated copper wires instead of a single large one; the broken up conductor suffers less from skin effect. A flat wire, band, tape, or whatnot also experiences less skin effect; the wider and thinner the better.

At higher frequencies, the ring may become less effective because of wavelength effects. On metal electronic shields, vent holes will allow through wavelengths smaller than their diameters. 1GHz has a wavelength of about 1 foot according to an online calculator. This suggests to me an ordinary conductive band around the head may be effective to a little over 1GHz. The circumference of a 1 foot ring is about 3.14 feet, which should be about 300MHz, so it may resonate at this frequency and it's overtones, 600/900/1200 etc. Specially chosen ferrite beads may be placed on the ring that could damp resonance at the problem frequencies; but possibly reduce the intended effect at other frequencies.

If a ring were designed to have the same harmonic attributes as an available crystal, perhaps the crystal could be used with the ring in such a way as to eliminate these effects (however crystals can be overdriven - the number of turns in the ring could perhaps be chosen to best suit the crystal). I do wonder if ancient societies have used all these ideas in the past.

Perhaps nice looking necklaces/chokers/headresses could be made fitting this requirements, using gold or silver plated copper wire. OHFC copper is more conductive and may or may not be worth using. Multicolor enameled copper wire could be twisted or braided and this would allow some creative freedom as well as reduction of skin effect. A flat braid would probably work well, and would also help with uninsulated wire, if there is some problem with the insulation chemicals (many insulations are available, teflon, kynar, "enamel"). One wire [loop] from the braid could be broken and fed to a sensor that can give a direct reading on how much EMF is going through your skull at the moment!

Curious thought - what happens if you wear a copper headband in an MRI!?

Sorry, I posted this in the LWB thread in response to the discussion there. Feel free to remove it. I have some things to add.

I came across a device that basically uses a BBQ sparker stuck in the ground, in combination with a large resonator to pull energy from ground currents. If this actually works, and interrupted household currents cause an effect similar to the ground sparker, then it's possible our homes are constantly exciting the local resonances in our geographic location.

Furthermore, I design audio electronics as a hobby. Many others like me have found that very high filtering on the power source for audio devices can be necessary for an improvement in sound quality even if the interference is not being shown to cause negative effects on the circuit. I experienced this as well. So I wonder if this is one way EMF affects daily life? For instance increasing auditory stress?

Also, ordinary motors with brush stators also spark, especially power tools. Just touching two highly conductive objects can cause an impulse that will trigger an oscilloscope, because of the static voltage difference. As soon as you remove contact, another impulse may occur, and the static charge will creep back up again. These impulses will be conducted through your body directly.

Using one of these with a homemade coil or hall sensor may help in differentiating different sources of EMF, as they will all have their own unique shapes. Bandwidth is up to 1MHz, so this viewer is useful up to AM radio range. using just a metal probe and the negative probe held in the fingers, it could act as a static air probe as well to, on a whim, see what static AC signals are in the air as opposed to magnetic - but it may not work well for this.

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-nano-pocket-size-digital-storage-oscilloscope-p-512.html

It strikes me that if one took a crystal radio kit and removed the resonator, it may work as a sensitive audible EMF sensor. However the problem is you cannot hear EMF beyond your hearing range, so RF ultrasonic signals (such as from CFL lights) are not detected.

Most of this will not be as effective as stopping EMF at it's source. Devices creating EMF need a power filter as close to the device as possible to avoid contaminating the house wiring. This does not reduce EMF generated inside the device and radiating from within it. There is something called mu-metal which is used as a magnetic shield, but from what I know it is impractical and expensive.

For sources of EMF such as motors, like air conditioners, fridges, and so on, maybe a local "gearhead" could be commissioned to work on it to shield it.

Anyways, I hope this is helpful in some way.

 

[Foxx]

Megan, have you considered EMF blocking clothing? I don't think it's widely available (and it's certainly not cheap), but this place claims to have clothing that can block EM radiation:

_http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html

I've seriously considered buying some clothing from them before (and am still considering it), but haven't purchased anything from them as of yet.

 

[mcb]

Megan, have you considered EMF blocking clothing? I don't think it's widely available (and it's certainly not cheap), but this place claims to have clothing that can block EM radiation:

_http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html

I've seriously considered buying some clothing from them before (and am still considering it), but haven't purchased anything from them as of yet.

I can see that it might be worth considering after establishing by measurement that high EMF levels exist in the environment that can't be avoided. But looking at the products at the above link, how would you even know that those things work?

 

[paralleloscope]

Megan, have you considered EMF blocking clothing? I don't think it's widely available (and it's certainly not cheap), but this place claims to have clothing that can block EM radiation:

_http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html

I've seriously considered buying some clothing from them before (and am still considering it), but haven't purchased anything from them as of yet.

I can see that it might be worth considering after establishing by measurement that high EMF levels exist in the environment that can't be avoided. But looking at the products at the above link, how would you even know that those things work?

There's a Danish scientist who became electro sensitive (can't find the thing right now) in a way she was totally debilitated in her life, she renavigated her research into this area and can now function with a silver shawl. Then there's also the silk tip from the C's:

Session 21 September 2002

Q: (A) There must be some way to make the body less vulnerable to these things.
A: Silk clothing and headgear.
Q: (A) I know! Aluminum pyramids! [Laughter.]
A: With silk lining.

I've been daydreaming for years about getting or making some silk gear but haven't gotten around to it. To my knowledge there haven't been done any tests on it. Perhaps someone here with a gauss meter and some silk could make a test ala this one? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdk70k4bjw

 

[Foxx]

I can see that it might be worth considering after establishing by measurement that high EMF levels exist in the environment that can't be avoided. But looking at the products at the above link, how would you even know that those things work?

They have possibly one of the worst sites on the internet, but their fabrics page gives a little more information about their claims:

_http://www.lessemf.com/fabric.html

It's linked to in the middle of the clothing/personal page.

 

[LQB]

There's quite some mention of Dr. Magda Havas work in Milham-Morgans paper. Here's a sort of introduction to her studies on rapid aging syndrome and beneficial pulsed EMF. And Here a horrid dirty electrics news story where she comments on.

There is a good list of papers at David Stetzer's site including some by Havas - they have presented several papers together.
http://www.stetzerelectric.com/category/research/

 

[LQB]

About EMF:

I think a conductive metal ring can short out magnetic flux that passes through it. Copper strip is wrapped around many transformers to short out leakage flux that can cause eddy currents inside the metal which waste energy heating it up. ...

If you have a current in a long straight wire, the magnetic flux induced runs around the wire - like a cylinder. The inverse also happens. If current runs through a cylindrical coil, the the mag field is concentrated along a line running down the axis of the coil (the principle used in transformers). Currents generate mag fields and mag fields generate currents. Same thing when charged particles from the sun hit the magnetosphere - currents are induced (deflected) which distort the magnetic field. If you put a coil around a transformer, the component of the mag field that runs perpendicular to the coil would induce a current in the coil - but the mag field would still be there (distorted somewhat). If the coil is resistive then the current would dissipate heat and the energy would come out of the mag field driving it down. In order to significantly reduce the mag field from a transformer you might need 3 resistive coils perpendicular.

Furthermore, I design audio electronics as a hobby. Many others like me have found that very high filtering on the power source for audio devices can be necessary for an improvement in sound quality even if the interference is not being shown to cause negative effects on the circuit. I experienced this as well. So I wonder if this is one way EMF affects daily life? For instance increasing auditory stress?

I think it does but I'm not sure what the mechanism is. Apparently hearing variation and loss of hearing are EMF symptoms.

Also, ordinary motors with brush stators also spark, especially power tools. Just touching two highly conductive objects can cause an impulse that will trigger an oscilloscope, because of the static voltage difference. As soon as you remove contact, another impulse may occur, and the static charge will creep back up again. These impulses will be conducted through your body directly.

Yes indeedy - dirty power. Apparently a bad source can just be a loose wire nut connection in a junction box somewhere in the house. This connection can periodically arc producing high freq transients.

Most of this will not be as effective as stopping EMF at it's source. Devices creating EMF need a power filter as close to the device as possible to avoid contaminating the house wiring. This does not reduce EMF generated inside the device and radiating from within it. There is something called mu-metal which is used as a magnetic shield, but from what I know it is impractical and expensive.

I agree - but filters would have to be made law. Manufacturers will not spend the money unless they have to. As long as the majority of folks have no conception of what this EMF does ...

Mag shields are very expensive.

For sources of EMF such as motors, like air conditioners, fridges, and so on, maybe a local "gearhead" could be commissioned to work on it to shield it.

Best thing for most of these is to keep them separated from the rest of the house and discourage children from being around them. For the dirty power they induce, about the only thing you can do is plug a filter in the socket.

 

[LQB]

I can see that it might be worth considering after establishing by measurement that high EMF levels exist in the environment that can't be avoided. But looking at the products at the above link, how would you even know that those things work?

They have possibly one of the worst sites on the internet, but their fabrics page gives a little more information about their claims:

_http://www.lessemf.com/fabric.html

It's linked to in the middle of the clothing/personal page.

It does need some serious help! :P I don't know about the cloths but the materials are pretty good (based on their measurements). High freq RF will bounce right off. They will do nothing for mag fields. They might do something for dirty power - they might also make it worse. So like what Megan said, it depends on what the biggest threat is.