Temporal Variation In Non-Ionising Radiation At A Single Location (part 7)
Further analysis of the GQ Electronics EMF-390 multifunction meter output: analysis of measurements made without the USB cable
Well, this is what I’ve waited six weeks to produce… a comprehensive survey of EMF, EF and RF EMR field strength in the vicinity of my office window for 28 consecutive days with minimal outage and with zero interference from the USB cable that makes for a mighty fine aerial!
I’ve got 514/672 hourly means (76.5% capture) and 32,553/40,320 per minute means (80.7% capture) to play with and I think we should start with the hourly cable-less data for an overall impression. In case anybody is puzzled over the dramatically lower data capture rates please bear in mind that we have to exclude observations made when the device is plugged in and charging!
By Hour Of Day
Electromagnetic Field
The enhanced uncertainty in measurement at 9am and 9pm is very likely due to the smaller sample size during these times, for this is when I’d have to plug the cable in to charge the unit each day. That being said these are the times when appliances around the house (and neighbourhood) would be belting out their signature fields (or not), giving rise to increased variability. We of the Dee household tend to load and run the dishwasher and/or washing machine at 9am and/or 9pm, and these are in the kitchen just a few feet below my cosy office. Note the enhanced variability during the day compared to the wee small hours. It sure looks to me like 5am would be a good time to meditate!
Electric Field
These means look rather more sensible now that the electro-culprit has been found out and given no supper! This really is appliance alley, with Mrs & Mrs Dee rising at 7am each day and retiring to bed at 10pm. The dip at 9am largely comes about if we get the dishwasher/washing machine going at before 8am, these having 1 – 2 hour cycles. The first appliance to break the electrical silence is our new boiler, which ignites at 6am if it’s cold enough. Prime cooking time is 6pm with many things whirling, and around 8pm we settle in front of the log fire or retire to ‘the chocolate room’, being a dining room with a dedicated chocolate/sweetie cupboard, a candle-powered chandelier and drippy candle sconces. I can see why they called it The Dark Ages - and you should see the ceiling!
Radiofrequency EMR
We’re not a Wi-Fi/SMART appliance household and cellular phone use is modest owing to lack of a reliable 3G/4G signal in our area, hence a row of orange blobs along the bottom for most of the time. The 11am – 4pm window tends to be Mrs Dee doing her teacher-colleague-parent thing, and it’s also when I’ll tend to check my Motorola G23 for SMSesses from plumbers, gardeners and candlestick makers.
By Day Of Week
Electromagnetic Field
I couldn’t decide on whether there was any genuine pattern here – the overlapping error bars suggest not, so I chickened out with sage butter and a sprig of thyme and relied on a Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric wotsit to tell me that there probably wasn’t anything going on (p=0.453).
Electric Field
This is very curious indeed. We don’t go in for the traditional Monday morning wash routine and, as far as I am aware, all appliances are used pretty much daily across the entire week. This got me wondering whether a particular Monday back in time is throwing matters – one where I started drilling holes in the wall or something like that. Maybe a rare spot of Monday morning vacuuming also!
Radiofrequency EMR
Another curious finding, though that Wednesday peak may well be Mrs Dee engaging the Wi-Fi to download several trashy novels to her Kindle thing on her day off. Same for Saturday I guess – and guess I must - for I drew the line at keeping a log of every appliance operated every hour of every day for 28 days!
In the next article I’ll roll out some per hour time series slides so we get to see the dynamics of the electro-situation in the raw, as it were. This will dovetail nicely with some detailed work down at the per minute level, and I may even drop down to per second data to investigate possible micro-patterns in field variation using spectral analysis. Until then…
Kettle On!
Strangely fascinating stuff. The only data capturing devices I have around the house are these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Govee-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Temperature-Greenhouse/dp/B086YYL439?th=1 Cheap enough to have in most rooms.... Trying to figure out a room's thermal mass / insulation from the data. Problem is it's a circular data buffer and unless you scoop it all within 2 weeks it's gone forever. A weather station in every room !