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Can a HackRF One be used to measure safe/unsafe levels of EMF?

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wildsquirrel:
I am a total newbie at this, but I'm interested in getting a HackRF One.  While I know there are a ton of more complex things I'm sure I'll use it for once I have it, my primary concern and reason I'm considering it right now is much simpler.

I'd like to be able to detect and measure whether there is any potentially harmful EMF from any devices.  For example to see whether my microwave is leaking radiation, see just how far away I should put a baby monitor from a baby, how far away I may want to put the cell phone on the night stand etc.

I know it can capture data in a wide range of frequencies. However after hours of searching, I'm having a tough time figuring out whether it would be useful for measuring the power level or safety of those signals.  All info I find on the web generally rates safe levels in milligauss, however I couldn't find any info if the HackRF can measure this.  The software generally shows the signal magnitude in DB, so I am unsure if there is any relation.

If the HackRF is not the best tool for this, than can anyone recommend a different tool that is still under about $300?  I've seen some emf meters on amazon but they seem quite limited and don't even tell what frequency the radiation is on, which is why I'm hoping to use the HackRF to actually detect the specific frequency, visualize it, and have a useful tool for may other purposes.

rs20:
Please link to one of these pages that gives safe levels in milligauss?

xaxaxa:
A simple diode detector and LED will give you a better rf power level reading.

PS: I would recommend the limesdr instead if you are looking to get an SDR; it has better linearity, higher dynamic range, and less spurs.

Berni:
Living things can tolerate a lot of RF power before it becomes directly harmful. So by the time you have those levels around you would most likely see electronic devices in your hand malfunctioning or even frying completely.

But i guess you could use a SDR to look at things like this, but at the point where things could start getting potentially harmful the RF front end of it would probably get saturated and produce garbage, but you should not have RF fields that powerful in your house with normal conditions unless you are a ham with big antenna on your house and pushing some serious power into it.

MrW0lf:
Now there are several separate aspects, one is actually measuring magnetic fields, especially low frequency. There is no good solution for that within ordinary testgear. I use this device:
https://www.gigahertz-solutions.de/en/rf-and-emf-meters/low-frequency-emf/me-series/397/me3951a
This is very sensitive device and freq range is even somewhat excessive for most common problems. There are much cheaper ones from same company. Most common problem is AC wiring installed by morons which can turn whole apartments into air core solenoids not to mention danger to wild- and other life by direct electrocution in wetrooms. With such device it can be detected tens of meters away. Installation grid level problems can be detected in whole affected geographic area.
Second aspect is static charge in the air or objects. This would also require specialized devices to measure properly.
Third aspect is most easy one. Measuring RF fields. For that you could of course use SDR. I have RF Explorer, which is handheld SNA. Price for most "building biology" meters is not justified for non professional use for what they offer. But special ultra wideband antennas for them might pose interest.
With SDR you would look for some software that supports full spectrum scan, faster the better. Normally you would see only some some "narrow" window (eg 600MHz for RFEx 6G). But there is software called Touchstone which can do full spectrum scan. However, RFEx has huge gap in full spectrum coverage so it not strictly optimal for "building biology" investigation, or building a shielded lab for example.

Edit: Forgot, interesting option if to use differential scope probe to look for crap directly on AC lines:


Edit2: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/scanning-spectrum-8ghz-per-second-new-hackrf-update/

--- Quote ---Sweep mode: A new firmware function enables wideband spectrum monitoring by rapidly retuning the radio without requiring individual tuning requests from the host computer. The new hackrf_sweep utility demonstrates this function, allowing you to collect spectrum measurements at a sweep rate of 8 GHz per second. Thanks to Mike Walters, author of inspectrum, for getting this feature working!
--- End quote ---

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