Temporal Variation In Non-Ionising Radiation At A Single Location (part 3)
Introducing the GQ Electronics EMF-390 multifunction meter that logs the electromagnetic field (EMF), the electric field (EF) and the radio frequency field (RF EMR) simultaneously every second
Today we are going to look at the output of another lavish device that sits here in my office window; we are talking about the GQ Electronics EMF-390 trifield multifunction meter, details of which may be found here. I appreciate that there are geeks, nerds and bods out there in cyberspace and they just might have an inclination to ogle the manual that I have placed on my Google drive right here. Here’s the opening salvo from the user manual…
The GQ EMF-360V2 / EMF-360+V2 / EMF-380V2 / EMF-390 advanced multi-function digital EMF meter is designed and developed by GQ Electronics, Seattle, USA. It is designed to be a portable and convenient device. It can be used as regular EMF, EF and RF radiation detection. This high sensitivity meter lets you check EMF/RF radiation easily. Examples: computer mouse, car remote key, cell phone, cell tower, cordless phone, static, electric field, WiFi, computer laptop, microwave, electric heater, hair dryer, vehicle engine, light, outdoor power line, monitor the WiFi signal, smart meter signal, spy wireless video camera signal, even track radio signal in air.
The meter features multiple sensors to ensure maximum scale/range measurement and highest accuracy:
Three axis Electromagnetic Fields
Electric Field
Radio Frequency
Additionally, the testing features also include:
Radio Spectrum Power Analyzer (EMF-360+V2/380/390 only)
Real-time (every second) data logging (EMF-390 only).
The meter is able to identify the common source from EMF/RF measured, such as Power Line, WiFi/Cell phone, Cell Tower, Microwave etc. It also comes with built-in audible and visual alarm. The device can be used for EMF, EF and RF detection and monitoring, both indoors and outdoors (the unit must be protected from rain), as well as in other similar environments. The device also features a high contrast black/white LCD module and one front LED indicator. The unique GQ RF Browser feature allows to visualize the RF radiation precisely with an on-screen graph. With the RF Browser, the user is able to see the Digital RF equivalent in bytes as well as an RF power spectral histogram. The EMF-380V2 and EMF-390 come with an on-board real time clock for time related data measurements.
So there you go. It’s quite a fabulous little device and interfaces with my workstation via a USB. Bod-geeks will want to know the basic specs, so here they are:
The only criticism I shall level at it for now is that there’s no way of changing the sampling resolution which, as the blurb states, is set at each second (i.e. there’s no averaging function), and it only stores 20 hours of data. To obtain an uninterrupted sample I’m downloading at 3pm each afternoon then again at 9am the next morning in order to squeeze in an 18-hour overnight run. A third gripe is the naming convention for the CSV output files, this being MMDDYYYY_HHMMSS and not YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS, but hey ho, nonny, nonny, nonny etc.
I purchased the unit back in March 2024 and my very first record is timestamped 26/3/2024 11:51:15. Data collection since then hasn’t been continuous, with flurries of activity in April and May, then more consistently this month in order to generate some meaty data for this report. During this time the Dee household has mostly run as normal, with the occasional switching-on and off of certain appliances and devices to see what they’re generating. Thus the data sample is an utter hotch-potch of probing and observing but it does offer an insight into the EF/EMF/RF EMR profile of my office, and thus our home and our semi-rural neighbourhood.
Later on I shall be using the meter for more specific measurements of the following devices:
Wi-Fi router
4G Android
Laser printer
Dual screen workstation
Office paper shredder
Vacuum cleaner
Washing machine
Dishwasher
Electric kettle
Electric blender
Electric toaster
Electric oven
RF controlled C/H boiler
LCD television
Electric drill (corded)
Electric toothbrush/charger
Cordless shaver/charger
Air purifier
I’m also planning on measuring background EF/EMF/RF EMR during ‘silent running’, when the big red switch on the mains A/C board will be thrown and the entire house descends into electrical stillness. The dangers here are trashing Mrs Dee’s UK Freeview recording schedule (we never watch live TV these days), putting the house into utter darkness (big toe stubbing risk) and wrecking the contents of the freezer.
Still, it could be worse… I could be flying a kite with a ground wire in order to experiment with static electricity. Oooeer!
My most daring experimental adventure is likely to be sampling the profile of traffic zipping along the local bypass in order to observe the influence (or not) of EVs, though for this assessment I’ll likely start out nice and easy in the local supermarket car park (easy access to biscuits). So how about we get that kettle on, open that big tin of choccie Christmas biscuits that have already gone on sale, and go look at some data?