It depends what you want it for. Some are unable to function above a certain dose rate, some are calibrated, some not.
Maybe watch the videos from bionerd23 on youtube, there are probably some reviews.
Can anyone recommend a Geiger Counter (Beta, Gamma) with reasonable sensitivity for personal use that would cost between $2200 and $500?
I have tried the surplus civil defense type but they are not suitable for anything other than a full-on nuclear attack.
I have looked at models in this price range online, but since most look poorly made, i would not know which one to pick.
Thank you,
Kevin Foster
On a sunny day (Sat, 07 Mar 2015 17:10:55 -0800) it happened Kevin Foster wrote in :
2200? You mean 200? This is a design group, how about this:Or
Most should work if you are digging up uranium ore or something. So, question is: WHAT do you want to use it for? For 2200 join the gamma spectrometry group at yahoo and ask... :-)
I bought one of those nuculear war detectors (old army one) for what was it, 10 Euro a few years back... It still uses tubes, and runs on a 1.5V battery, and it still works. The transistor ones will all fail in a nuke war. All FLASH will be erased too if you are close.
On the low side of the scale.... test your mushrooms, ... there is also a geiger counter group at yahoo:
How reasonable do you want your sensitivity to be? What are you looking for?
Wrong. There are two types of Civil Defense radiation detectors. One is an ionization chamber type of survey meter, such as the CDV-715, which certainly meets your description. However, the equally common CDV-700 Geiger counter is quite useable for your vague application. I have one of these and it's amazingly good for a fairly crude 1950's instrument.
Oh that's easy. Look at the Geiger tube. The sensitivity is entirely dependent on the tube. Bigger is generally better. Two tubes are more sensitive than one.
Best of the bunch is the pancake tube, such as: Here's a good breakdown of the available Geiger counter tubes: The rest of the device is just a high voltage power supply, pulse detector, amplifier, meter, audio amp, and speaker. You can build that out of junk parts and still have a tolerable instrument. Well, the high voltage power supply has to be done right and safely, but the rest can be almost anything. It's amazing what can be done with just
2 transistors: or, just buy a kit:Also, if you have money and want better sensitivity, look into scintillation counters, instead of Geiger counters:
You can also do quite a bit using a PIN diode as a radiation detector: etc. Not very sensitive, but cheap cheap cheap.
For more and probably better info, join and read the files under: If you want to design your own, come back to sci.electronics.design.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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Thanks for explaining those points Jim.
I am leaning toward the SE Inspector EXP at the moment.
Kevin Foster
Who is Jim?
About $720 plus shipping and tax, which is somewhat above your $500 limit.
You didn't bother to mention what you're looking for. Prospecting? Safety? Fukushima floating debris? Bomb factory? Dangerous experiments? The type and quality of instrument very much depends on the application.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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