Smart Meter Emissions and the Antenna Effect (Updated)
Sourced from The International Coalition for an Electromagnetic Safe Planet (IC-ESP)
DEBUNKING THE UTILITY INDUSTRY MYTH ABOUT SMART METER SAFETY:
THE ANTENNA EFFECT
The utility industry’s argument that smart (AMR, ERT) meters are safe must be rejected, because it relies on FCC testing for radiofrequency (RF) interference, which is not a safety testing protocol, and flawed FCC radiation exposure guidelines. The FCC testing for smart meters is done in an isolated laboratory, divorced from the context in which these meters are intended to be used, connected to the wiring in a home or business.
An RF engineer’s technical report confirms that smart meters cause an antenna effect when connected to electrical distribution systems, resulting in RF exposures that are significantly higher than those reported in isolated laboratory testing.
Stop Smart Meters New York (SSMNY) hired an RF engineering firm named Isotrope “[t]o evaluate the devices in situ” and to make “a field survey of the various emissions of concern, employing an array of electronic test equipment.” Isotrope concluded, among other things, that the radiated- and conducted-emissions testing of electrical meters that was performed by the FCC “does not replicate actual conditions….” By contrast, when Isotrope tested a meter in usage as intended, connected to a home wiring grid, “the conducted emissions from the meter at 915 MHz ISM frequencies in a residence was observed to be substantial,”
This confirms what we refer to as the antenna effect of smart meters, which results in emissions that far exceed those reported when meters are tested in a laboratory setting, disconnected from wiring. The Isotrope Report goes on to state that “if the 915 MHz conducted energy were to be held to the same standard as 30 MHz, the level of the 915 MHz conducted energy from the AMR meter would fail.”
The Isotrope report thus substantiates that smart meters cause an RF/MW antenna effect on electrical distribution systems when they are used as intended, rather than in the isolation of a testing laboratory.
See Isotrope Report:
Report on Examination of Selected Sources of Electromagnetic Fields at Selected Residences in Hastings on Hudson
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Based upon a review of the Isotrope Report by SkyVision Solutions:
There is evidence that RF radiation emitted from a wireless digital electrical energy usage meter in the 900 MHz range enters the home through a conductive mechanism and reradiates into rooms through wiring and other conductive objectives.
Quotes from the report:
* “[T]here was a substantial conducted 915 MHz component on the power line.”
* “When in close proximity to conductive objects (house wiring, outlets, metal lamp) the measured levels increased. This is consistent with the known behavior of objects that “re-radiate” RF energy. The apparent re-radiation of these objects created elevated fields concentrated close to the objects.”
* “The spatial peaks near the electrical wire and table lamp were, on one hand, several orders of magnitude lower than the measured radiated signals found near the electric meters and the DECT phones, yet, on the other hand, these conducted/reradiated signals were still substantially greater than the ambient emissions found generally in the same rooms as the conductive objects.”
The above information suggests that one cannot be assured that RF levels emitted from a smart meter will decrease inside a building with the inverse square of the distance or be fully shielded by walls as much as utilities likely claim. There will be elevated “hot spots” of RF energy concentrated near conductive objects. Further review and research are warranted to determine whether the “antenna effect” might be sufficient to explain some EHS-related symptoms experienced by people exposed to smart meters.
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