Re: home made counter

["Richard L. Hess" <lists@richardhess.com>]

At 03:07 AM 12/17/2004 +0000, John Smith wrote:

>Is it possible to take the two wires from one side of a set of headphones, 

>put them inside a small container, almost touching, and seal the 

>container...then use sound recorder to pick up the current caused by the 

>ionization of the air inside the container? The 'louder' the more current, 

>or the more ionization?



Hello, John,



While this is a noble experiment, it is more complex than that.



If you're referring to a Geiger-Mueller (G-M)-type counter, that device 

uses a special tube. The tube is polarized and when ionizing radiation 

enters the tube, it conducts, providing the click. As I understand it, it 

is binary: either ionized or not. The amount of radiation present is 

determined by counting the number of disintegrations (ionizations) per unit 

time.



There are lots of Google links under Geiger Mueller and Geiger Muller.



IMHO there are two choices for the hobbyist looking for an inexpensive counter:

  (1) A good, working CDV-700 ex Civil Defense counter.

  (2) An Aware Electronics Radiation Monitor.



I have two CDV-700s and one Aware RM-70. A friend has the RM-60. While the 

marketing of the Aware is sometimes considered a "scare" marketing, I 

actually became far more relaxed after realizing how low the background 

radiation is and that, despite what some "people" "told" me, we're not 

being bombarded.



http://www.aw-el.com/specs.htm



I have an old HP-100LX palmtop which is what I use with the RM-70 for a 

nice portable system.



The Aware software provides good logging options which are not available 

with the CDV-700, which is a pre-computer device.



If you wish to do more analytical work, as I understand it, you'll need 

something more complex than a G-M detector.



Cheers,



Richard 





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