RADIATION FROM THE 100LX? "ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW" 95LX 100LX

Because of the concern about radiation from cellular phones some people have been wondering about the potential risks with the HP palmtops. So, I asked a Health Physicist friend to take some nonionizing radiation measurements on my HP 100LX. The measurements were taken with a Holaday Instruments HI 3600 Survey Meter with VDT probe. We use this to make VDT electric field and magnetic field measurements.

Measurements were made with the HP 100LX on and off, with the case open and closed. All measurements were taken right next to the 100LX, so they are the worst case. The results were as follows:

Electric field:

HP open -- 140-150 V/m on;

27-30 V/m off

HP closed -- 4-4.5 V/m

Magnetic Field, case closed:

On, front -- 1.7-2.0 mA/m

On, back -- 1.9 -3.25 mA/m

Off -- 1.5 mA/m

These are very low levels. For example, there are 80 mA/m per milligauss, so the 100LX is putting out a maximum of 0.04 milligauss. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists recommends exposures be maintained below 1 gauss for alternating fields and less than 10 gauss for static magnetic fields, to prevent interference with pacemakers.

We also looked at total energy density next to the 100LX. There was no measurable energy with the unit off and only 0.07 mW/cm2 with the unit on. This is extremely low.

Michael Blotzer

CompuServe ID: [75366,3463]