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I've looked into creating a Faraday cage for my bedroom for the potential benefit of increasing sleep quality by blocking RF. I live in downtown Seattle where a

I've looked into creating a Faraday cage for my bedroom for the potential benefit of increasing sleep quality by blocking RF. I live in downtown Seattle where a cellular tower is visible from my house and the measured RF around me is quite noisy. From my research it is definitely not trivial to pull off. There are RF shielding canopies you can put over your bed but they are 1k USD+ and quite unsightly. Then there is the possibility to paint the interior walls with RF shielding paint but you have to ground it correctly or you could be introducing more problems for yourself than you're solving. With either solution, I live on the 3rd floor and it's unclear if I would also have to ground the floor underneath me, or essentially "trap" RF emitting upwards into my cage which again would create more problems than they solve. After contemplating all of these possibilities and pitfalls, I decided to put it off for later until more tried techniques have been advertised.

notRobot 6y ago
Uh, why can't you just tape tinfoil on the walls, floor and ceiling and be done with it?
- dylan604 6y ago
  it's easier (and uses a lot less tinfoil) to just make a hat. it's also much more portable so you're not confined to just one room of your home.
  - swader999 6y ago
    Hard to sleep in tin foil. You need to use a meter as well. Its very easy to end up making a big reflector that just ends up amplifying the signal.
    - mxmilkb 6y ago
      http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/ http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csai...
      - dylan604 6y ago
        This was fun. Thanks for sharing "It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC." Of course it has. They've been gaslighting us all along.
alacombe 6y ago
> it's unclear if I would also have to ground the floor underneath me, or essentially "trap" RF emitting upwards into my cage Your research must not have gone really far if you're still wondering about this kind of questions... Also, Faraday cages effectiveness depends on the wavelength you're trying to block. Long story short, it's not a trivial DIY project.
- swader999 6y ago
  This is true, don't understand the down votes. You don't need a complete faraday cage, it's important to understand the direction of the source of where you are trying to block. And use a meter so you aren't guessing.
  - Johnythree 6y ago
    You most definitely do need a complete box. No gaps and all joins welded. And no wires passing through. A partial box can actually make things worse: Depending on wavelengths the intervening metal can actually focus the waves (it's called a "director").
- nikkwong 6y ago
  Sorry, I should have clarified. I have a modem under my room, as well as a few neighbors with modems around ground level. What am I missing here? I tried as best I could to cobble together info together from around the web but it was fairly technical and sparse in the details that were relevant to my project. Yeah, choosing the spectrum length which would be best to block was also confusing.
swader999 6y ago
Consider going the emf clothing route. I sleep very well this way. You can get a head and neck buff for a couple of hundred. I'm finally going to pony up and use the Y shield HSF54 paint for the entire bed room. About $1,500 all in.
walterbell 6y ago
While a full Faraday cage can be expensive, RF from known sources can often be reduced by 90% within a specific area, with the aid of a directional RF meter, commercial-grade aluminum foil/insulation and aluminum foil tape. Window shielding would require copper mesh, which is pricier. Start with the cheapest, simplest and most reversible approach and collect data to test assumptions as you learn about your local RF environment. Profile RF sources that are under your control. You may be able to reduce the power level of your WiFi router. Many cellphones support WiFi calling, which allows the cellular radio to be disabled. Shield installation: http://www.eiwellspring.org/shielding.html http://www.eiwellspring.org/shielding.html Skin depth calculator by RF frequency: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/skin-depth-calculator/ https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/skin-depth-calculator...
qtech 6y ago
Since most of the strong RF around us are in the S-band, around 12cm, you could just use a metallic mesh with holes smaller than that (<1cm). I use wire fence on the walls facing the antennas and it reduces the radiation from 2 V/m to around 0.4-0.5 V/m. From my experience, everything below 0.3 V/m, or 0.2 uT on the magnetic side, is fine. I would also recommend following the scientific research in this field and to gather your own data. Simple variables, such as pulse and blood pressure, are a good start.
qz2 6y ago
I suspect that worrying about ambient RF is causing you the problems rather than the ambient RF. some anecdotes: I worked in an office with a phone tower on the roof. A couple of people complained continuously about headaches and sickness and blamed it on the tower. One quit. This was entirely related to their borderline alcoholism and terrible diet rather than the phone tower but failing to see the causality is a typical human trait. How do we know? Well when they were putting the tower up they managed to damage the roof which caused all work to stop before it was even powered up. At that point the insurance companies were duking it out. Also I’m an amateur radio operator and ex RF engineer. I spent a number of years working in fairly high energy RF installations in the defence sector and not once did I see a reported problem from someone in the field. I suspect you need to check your causality before being hooked on solutions which are usually sold by a combination of con artists and morons. This is one step from burning 5G towers on the thought spectrum.
- andi999 6y ago
  Also you could argue that radiation levels are the lowest beneath the tower.
- nikkwong 6y ago
  Yeah, I actually sleep fine and this would be the most extreme version of proactivity that I would ever elicit. I don't really know what to make of some interesting case reports that some individuals make about being "RF sensitive" on a very rare basis; but I definitely don't fall into that camp. However, I have done some reading on the potential long-term health consequences of non-ionizing radiation and a lot of the research is inconclusive. I believe the general consensus from empirical data is that RF has not been shown to cause cancer, but, I feel like that's a relatively low bar to meet. Certainly, there are no positive health effects to all of the extra radiation we are creating and exposing each other to; and the consequences may only be known in the future when we have more precise measurement techniques. But yeah, even with that said, I don't know if I consider it to be enough of a problem to warrant spending more than a few hundred dollars on.
  - qz2 6y ago
jhoechtl 6y ago
Tin foil connected to ground and you are done. What is difficult about that?
- Johnythree 6y ago
  The slightest gap or join will make it useless. To be effective it must be very heavy foil with welded or bolted seams, and no wires passing through. And contrary as it seems, earthing it won't make much difference. Especially as any earth wire will be many wavelengths long at VHF/UHF.

notRobot 6y ago

Uh, why can't you just tape tinfoil on the walls, floor and ceiling and be done with it?

dylan604 6y ago
it's easier (and uses a lot less tinfoil) to just make a hat. it's also much more portable so you're not confined to just one room of your home.
- swader999 6y ago
  Hard to sleep in tin foil. You need to use a meter as well. Its very easy to end up making a big reflector that just ends up amplifying the signal.
  - mxmilkb 6y ago
    http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/ http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csai...
    - dylan604 6y ago
      This was fun. Thanks for sharing "It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC." Of course it has. They've been gaslighting us all along.

alacombe 6y ago

> it's unclear if I would also have to ground the floor underneath me, or essentially "trap" RF emitting upwards into my cage Your research must not have gone really far if you're still wondering about this kind of questions... Also, Faraday cages effectiveness depends on the wavelength you're trying to block. Long story short, it's not a trivial DIY project.

swader999 6y ago
This is true, don't understand the down votes. You don't need a complete faraday cage, it's important to understand the direction of the source of where you are trying to block. And use a meter so you aren't guessing.
- Johnythree 6y ago
  You most definitely do need a complete box. No gaps and all joins welded. And no wires passing through. A partial box can actually make things worse: Depending on wavelengths the intervening metal can actually focus the waves (it's called a "director").
nikkwong 6y ago
Sorry, I should have clarified. I have a modem under my room, as well as a few neighbors with modems around ground level. What am I missing here? I tried as best I could to cobble together info together from around the web but it was fairly technical and sparse in the details that were relevant to my project. Yeah, choosing the spectrum length which would be best to block was also confusing.

swader999 6y ago

Consider going the emf clothing route. I sleep very well this way. You can get a head and neck buff for a couple of hundred. I'm finally going to pony up and use the Y shield HSF54 paint for the entire bed room. About $1,500 all in.

walterbell 6y ago

While a full Faraday cage can be expensive, RF from known sources can often be reduced by 90% within a specific area, with the aid of a directional RF meter, commercial-grade aluminum foil/insulation and aluminum foil tape. Window shielding would require copper mesh, which is pricier. Start with the cheapest, simplest and most reversible approach and collect data to test assumptions as you learn about your local RF environment. Profile RF sources that are under your control. You may be able to reduce the power level of your WiFi router. Many cellphones support WiFi calling, which allows the cellular radio to be disabled. Shield installation: http://www.eiwellspring.org/shielding.html http://www.eiwellspring.org/shielding.html Skin depth calculator by RF frequency: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/skin-depth-calculator/ https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/skin-depth-calculator...

qtech 6y ago

Since most of the strong RF around us are in the S-band, around 12cm, you could just use a metallic mesh with holes smaller than that (<1cm). I use wire fence on the walls facing the antennas and it reduces the radiation from 2 V/m to around 0.4-0.5 V/m. From my experience, everything below 0.3 V/m, or 0.2 uT on the magnetic side, is fine. I would also recommend following the scientific research in this field and to gather your own data. Simple variables, such as pulse and blood pressure, are a good start.

qz2 6y ago

I suspect that worrying about ambient RF is causing you the problems rather than the ambient RF. some anecdotes: I worked in an office with a phone tower on the roof. A couple of people complained continuously about headaches and sickness and blamed it on the tower. One quit. This was entirely related to their borderline alcoholism and terrible diet rather than the phone tower but failing to see the causality is a typical human trait. How do we know? Well when they were putting the tower up they managed to damage the roof which caused all work to stop before it was even powered up. At that point the insurance companies were duking it out. Also I’m an amateur radio operator and ex RF engineer. I spent a number of years working in fairly high energy RF installations in the defence sector and not once did I see a reported problem from someone in the field. I suspect you need to check your causality before being hooked on solutions which are usually sold by a combination of con artists and morons. This is one step from burning 5G towers on the thought spectrum.

andi999 6y ago
Also you could argue that radiation levels are the lowest beneath the tower.
nikkwong 6y ago
Yeah, I actually sleep fine and this would be the most extreme version of proactivity that I would ever elicit. I don't really know what to make of some interesting case reports that some individuals make about being "RF sensitive" on a very rare basis; but I definitely don't fall into that camp. However, I have done some reading on the potential long-term health consequences of non-ionizing radiation and a lot of the research is inconclusive. I believe the general consensus from empirical data is that RF has not been shown to cause cancer, but, I feel like that's a relatively low bar to meet. Certainly, there are no positive health effects to all of the extra radiation we are creating and exposing each other to; and the consequences may only be known in the future when we have more precise measurement techniques. But yeah, even with that said, I don't know if I consider it to be enough of a problem to warrant spending more than a few hundred dollars on.
- qz2 6y ago

jhoechtl 6y ago

Tin foil connected to ground and you are done. What is difficult about that?

Johnythree 6y ago
The slightest gap or join will make it useless. To be effective it must be very heavy foil with welded or bolted seams, and no wires passing through. And contrary as it seems, earthing it won't make much difference. Especially as any earth wire will be many wavelengths long at VHF/UHF.