|
Post Time: 07/05/2008 15:45:33 |
jo2
Total Forum Posts: 19 |
Hi
Please could you tell me if the MW35 is more sensitive than the MW1 - the sensitivity is given in different units (V/m and nWcm2) and I haven't been able to find a conversion on the internet.
Does the MW35 pick up a wider range of frequencies than the MW1, including things like TV signals?
The reason I ask is that I have tested a house and the surrounding area for microwaves, and apart from sources from equipment in peopele's houses like DECT etc, I can't hear any microwaves from masts. However, someone in the family who is EHS thinks they feel unwell in the area, even away from neighbour's houses in areas quiet on the MW1, and I'm trying to work out what it could be. The house is in a fairly narrow valley. There are two large, shared masts on a hill about 3 or 4 miles away that include mobile phones, TETRA and TV/radio transmitters, and there are 400 V overhead cables along the road (these meausure 50 to 80 mG magnetism on the ELF).
I'm worried there might be something I'm missing? I know the MW35 is technical, but I'd be willing to buy it to find out.
Thank you. |
|
Post Time: 08/05/2008 09:47:57 |
Sarahp
Total Forum Posts: 48 |
Hi
firstly, there's a great link on the left menu to "RF unit conversion" which may help you do the conversion :)
I honestly wouldn't go with the MW35 unless you have a strong technical/science background as it's a very complex instrument.
The MW1 won't pick up NON pulsed microwave radiation (such as that emitted from TV /radio transmitters). The COM monitor would do however.
It is possible that the ES person is reacting to the combination of signals, as people who are ES tend to react more strongly when there is more than one type of source (eg tetra + gsm) than two sources of the same type. Add in the powerfrequency emissions too (and the ELF doesn't measure in mG, it measures in nT ?) and it's quite possible that you haven't missed anything at all, it's just the combination of all the signals, even low level ones, is worse than the separate ones. |
|
Post Time: 08/05/2008 14:13:42 |
alasdairP
Total Forum Posts: 173 |
Sarah's reply is a good one.
It could be that there is a continuous RF signal, but fairly unlikley. The MW1 does actually pick up 'strong' AM radio and also 'strong' normal TV (not the digital TV) signals. Unless the masts are very large it is unlikely that at 4 miles way they will be much of a problem (very high major TV masts cause significant fields up to 20 miles away!).
Have they (or you) switched off all the house electricity at the main switch / consumer unit/ fuse box for at least an hour and then seen how they feel?
Some ES people are sensitive to RF, some to ELF (mains electricity, especially electric rather than magnetic fields) and some to both. So, it could be that the person is reacting to electric fields in the house due to the house wiring. If so, then re-wiring using screened wire and/or possible the use of on or two 'demand switches' would be necessary. Really strongly ES people find they have to do this. Turning off all the electricity in the house for a time is the way to test for this sensitivity.
Alasdair
|
|
Post Time: 16/05/2008 08:59:21 |
jo2
Total Forum Posts: 19 |
Thank you both for your suggestions. We have since found out that the house has been underpinned for subsidence, so we are having to look for alternatives.
We have seen a dormer bungalow, downstairs not too bad for mobile phone mast signals, bedrooms in the roof obviously worse as the signals are meeting less resistance through the roof rather than walls. I have wrapped the MW1 in bobinet curtain and I can still hear the signals. In the house we are in now, I have also experienced that the screening paint, curtain, and even several layers of tinfoil can significantly reduce loud sounds on the MW1, but sometimes they cannot eliminate them entirely (I don't think its due to 'gaps' in the protective layer) . Is there any material/substance, however 'extreme', that will block all signals, however strong? We would consider anything re cost or adjustment work to the house, just to make a safe place to live.
(Unexpected experiences - one layer of tinfoil made a big difference to the sound on the MW1 from a neighbour's DECT phone, but adding more layers seemed to make no additional difference.
- DECT signals seem easier to block than mobile phone mast noise, very loud DECT noise will be blocked by a protective layer but weaker mobile phone mast noise seems to come through?)
Thank you again for your help. |
|
Post Time: 20/05/2008 14:16:21 |
alasdairP
Total Forum Posts: 173 |
Generally mast radiation sneaks into a building down many paths which is why it is so hard to screen against it. You actually need to (ideally) be in a completely screened "box", so ther window, window frame, walls, ceilings and floors all need to be screened. Even then, with a mast nearby it can get onto the lighting wiring and acreep in along the wires (which is why EMFields sell ferrite filters).
In our house we had done the walls and the ceiling upstairs but were still getting quite a strong signal that was coming from a local mast and reflecting off the outside ground and coming in through a closed kitchen window and then getting upstairs through the kitchen ceiling (which is also the main bedroom floor).
|
