Mr Blinky

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 06/12/2021 I have bought a 'PBI Microbial Air Sampler SAS Super 90' just for the simple fact it looked proper funky! I have no idea if it works, or how it works, or even exactly what it does, but bought it for shits and giggles. I paid £15. Working, they are going for about £1000! I care not for testing microbes in the air, so I figure I can make something with it. So far I have thought I can turn it into a ridiculously powerful flash light. Something around 100w LED. I could use a liquid cooler in the body, LED and smallish heatsink at the end,

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 04/10/2019 There is currently Uranium Element sample - Uranyl Zinc Acetate (ZnUO2) for sale on Ebay (UK) (At the time of writing 04 October 2019). I have just received mine and it gets a respectable ~2000cpm sat right next to a SBM-20. This is the same seller I have gotten Uranium dioxide (UO2yellow cake) and Uranium trioxide (UO3) from. He seems reliable and have exchanged the odd email with him. If you decide to buy you will get a small amount, about 0.5g in a small vile (as terribly pictured below...). Also please note that I have absolutely no

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 06/09/2019 I have just received my latest specimen, Autunite. It is quite fantastic! It is tiny, quite spicy and fluoresces like I have never seen before. The pictures don't do it justice as the colour is strikingly vibrant and has more of a yellow than green fluorescence. I struggled taking photos of it due to the amount of light it produces when it fluoresces. Like trying to take pictures of a light bulb! I took a few pictures with differing light levels. A selection are below. 22,000 CPM on a SBM-20 is quite spicy! Very happy with it. "Autunite

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 27/08/2019 This is a list of the common radioactive sources available on ebay (at the time of writing - 31/08/2019) They vary a lot in radioactivity and I own all of these so I will try and give you my opinion of how active they are using an SBM-20 tube, in a rough, roundabout way. They will be marked 1 to 5 (5 being most active) based on the samples I own and based against each other. Where I have included the emission type (a, b & y (alpha, beta & gamma)) this is the overall emission. A lot of the different radiation types are caused from

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 25/08/2019 I thought I would try and collate a good list of old and new disaster and post apocalyptic films. Below are the films I have/have watched (Some I haven't watched as yet). Nuclear disaster: The Day After (1983) Threads (1984) Chernobyl HBO miniseries (2019) The War Game (1965) Dr Strangelove (1964) Broken Arrow (1996) Chernobyl Diaries (2012) Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) The China Syndrome (1979) Biological disaster: 28 Days Later (2002) 28 Weeks Later (2007) Contagion (2011) I Am Legend (2007) World War Z (2013) Zombieland (2009) Other

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 25/08/2019 On a radmon.org forum thread we sort of got to discussing the thickness of Aluminium for shielding beta but I didn't want to divert that thread too much so started a new thread on this subject here. I had quoted, roughly in all honesty, that 5mm aluminium would do well for beta shielding and was met with this reply by user FSM19: For a beta shield you need 3mm of aluminium, foil isn't thick enough, UK Civil Defence geiger counters and ionisation instruments, such as the Meter Doserate Portable No 1 Trainer, Meter Doserate Portable No 1

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 20/08/2019 I have found a relatively inexpensive source for a Cs137 check source. It is in the form of a 'new old stock' Raytheon CK1097-15 spark gap from ebay.co.uk. (No longer listed - You may find one by searching.) It isn't very active though. I bought it to use as a calibration source for my gamma spectrometer project I'm on with. I tested using a LND712 tube and got about 55 CPM tops (background was ~17 CPM) and had to place the spark gap right up to the end window of the LND712. Whilst not very active it should work well for calibration

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 18/08/2019 As the title suggests. A video by DextersTechLab on YouTube. This is well worth a watch if you are interested in scintillation.

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 12/08/2019 In reply to a nzoomed's question on radmon.org: Im wanting to build an outdoor monitoring station with an SBM20 and not sure if its good to use a PVC pipe to place the tube inside? Obviously im wanting something as thin as possible to let as many particles through as possible. Are there some materials I should avoid? Are beta particles typically encountered much in the environment? Should I only be worried about cosmic rays? Im not sure how much background radiation is from other sources, but im expecting there is a great deal from alpha

Archived from radmon.org - originally posted 25/12/2018 Curiosity got the better of me so I decided to open up the Gamma Scout. I managed to carefully remove the sticker enough to reveal the screws so here are some pictures of the inside of the counter. The pictures aren't great as I'm not really setup with good lighting etc. A quick update after living with my Gamma Scout for a few months. Despite everything I have written (which my opinion remains true and I stand by) I have really grown to love this counter. It's very handy and just 'there' when I need/want a counter. It is the first