What is E-Smog and How to Detect it?

Many people claim advancement in technology and the proliferation of electronic devices is creating a sea of electromagnetic waves around us, and this eSmog is actually a cause for many of the illnesses we are afflicted with nowadays. While eSmog causing bad health is up for debate, some people seem to be more sensitive to it than others are. However, the presence of electromagnetic waves around us cannot be ruled out, with greater concentrations around devices such as computers, mobile phones, Wi-Fi routers, cordless phone bases, and in fact, anything electronic and powered up. Therefore, an instrument that measures the level of electromagnetic fields around it is in order.

Today, it is practically impossible for us to live life without our electronic devices and everyday technology that produce electromagnetic fields. Although we cannot see the electromagnetic fields that surround us, an instrument that can measure its presence is useful for us to know, say, whether a brick wall has reduced the level, and to what extent.

We all need our Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, television, radio, mobile phones, and other gadgets. To know the level of eSmog each of them is producing, you can use the kit TAPIR—an eSmog detector. You can assemble this tiny instrument from the seven small PCBs in the kit. TAPIR comes with an antenna and two types of electromagnetic detectors.

The kit has a PCB panel, actually made of seven parts. You can assemble the PCBs and make them form the enclosure for TAPIR. The PCBs are numbered—starting with the top piece, the left sidepiece with a switch, the bottom piece with the components, the right side piece with the headset connector, the negative battery connection piece, the positive battery connection piece, and the end piece. A headset plugged into the connector allows the user to hear the device detecting eSmog. The intensity of sound increases with the level of eSmog TAPIR detects. You need a single AAA battery to power the kit.

TAPIR—acronym for Totally Archaic but Practical Interceptor of Radiation—is a wideband ultrasensitive eSmog detector. Once you have connected it to the antenna and the headphones, and switched it on, you can move it around an electronic device. This allows you to hear different noises depending on the type and frequency of the field the device is emitting.

Making the two antennae for the TAPIR is important for it to function properly. All around us, there are two types of electromagnetic fields—the E-field or electrical field, and the H-field or the magnetic field—and two separate antennae are necessary to allow TAPIR to detect the two fields.

The E-field antenna consists of a length of solid insulated wire. The kit includes the wire, and you will need only half of it to form the antenna. Insulate one end of the wire with heat-shrink tubing and bend it to form a loop. At the other end of the wire, solder the cinch connector shell to complete the antenna.

A coil is enclosed with the kit, and you can solder this coil to two pieces of insulated wires. Solder the free ends of the wires to the second cinch connector, and your H-field antenna is ready.