EMFields Measuring Equipment

Stock: 2 in stock

Further Information

The 'COM' microwave monitor measures microwave fields from mobile phone base stations (including TETRA and 3G - but see below), mobile phones, digital cordless (DECT) phones, 'wireless home' computer systems, radio-based baby alarms, microwave ovens, etc. The monitors come complete with full instructions. It is interesting (and often worrying) to see how far away you need to be from a microwave oven or mobile phone before it stops reading over-scale!

The COM scale covers the range of precautionary guidance that a number of European countries have adopted. The bottom green equals the old Salzburg maximum residential level (it has since been reduced further to 0.1 V/m), and the reds (4 to 6 V/m) equal the Italian and Swiss limits. ICNIRP guidance levels are from about 40 to 60 V/m and are far too high, in our and these countries' opinions, for residential exposure from mobile phone masts. Please note that because 3G/UMTS systems are "spread-spectrum", the apparent strength will be less than an equivalent GSM signal by a factor of somewhere between 5 and 20. This is because the power (watts/m²) is spread across a wide frequency band and so the signal level in V/m is that much lower. This means that although there may be emissions from the transmitting source, the COM meter may not pick some or all of them up, if the minimum meter threshold of 0.7 V/m is not reached.

Since the COM was designed, evidence is accumulating that pulsing microwave levels above 0.05 V/m are producing reports of adverse health effects. The A-COM and the Electrosmog Detector were designed to detect and make audible pulsing radiation below 0.7 V/m, the sensitivity threshold of the COM.

Cellular industry personnel are often very dismissive about the accuracy of the COM - we believe that they don't want people to be able to measure microwaves for themselves. The COM was formally investigated by UK government agencies in summer 2001 and found to give a good indication of the signal levels in the mobile phone frequency bands and quite suitable for use as a 'quick check' field strength meter. It is now often the instrument of first choice used by senior EMF researchers at a number of UK universities when they want to carry out initial signal strength investigations.