"Sean Breheny" wrote:
> You could probably use your WiFi router to test whether the meter works.

*After* I buy it? :-)

I know it's just a few bucks, but that is what actually made me suspicious.


> I have had problems with microwaves interfering with wifi before. I
> also have a general-coverage radio receiver which covers up to 3.3GHz
> and it can easily hear the output of many microwave ovens. I think
> that the amount of RF which is allowed to leak out of a microwave oven
> is usually higher than the wifi signal strength.

I'm guessing that's because the regulation was developed way before WiFi was 
around?


> I believe that the maximum allowed level is 5mW/cm^2. Imagine that you
> have a sphere around the microwave with a radius of 1 meter and that
> it has an average of 5mW/cm^2 on its surface. This would work out to
> 630W of radiation.

Are you sure? 630W is a lot of radiation. I would be pretty uncomfortable 1 
m from an incandescent bulb that put out so much power. And the microwave is 
tuned to boil the water inside my cells...


> Of course, any leakage is likely to be in a narrow
> range of angles, so let's say that 1/1000th of the surface has
> 5mW/cm^2. This is still 600mW of radiation - much more than any
> home-based wifi transmitter (which would be about 10mW).

I'll see what my spouse thinks about wrapping the microwave in foil, so we 
could watch our movies uninterrupted.


Vitaliy 

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