single point calibration

[Lester.Slaback@nist.gov]

RADOS has a survey instrument which they market (RDS-120)
which is advertised and documented as requiring only a single dose rate
point calibration (presumably due to the digital based electronics and
timing based signal processing).

My question is: has any licensee gotten regulatory approval
for such a cal program?    

There would seem to be very persuasive arguments for this for  this class
of instruments, and there certainly is an extensive  experience base now
for these. I do not believe that the 
current ANSI std makes provision for this.
[note: in the case of the RDS-120 this dose rate must be carefully chosen
since it has 2 detectors.]

Are any of the manufacturers pushing this idea?

As a side note, for some dgital instruments this might not be appropriate.
The Victoreen 450 series uses different cal factors for each range so
presumably each should be checked (although one could probably make the
argument that any performance change would affect all ranges so that once
calibrated a single check is adequate- that has been our experience to
date with this instrument).

-- 
the above are the personal musing of the author,
and do not represent any past, current, or future
position of NIST, the U.S. Government, or anyone else
who might think that they are in a position of authority.
NBSR Health Physics
NIST
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
301 975-5810
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Lester.Slaback@nist.gov
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