Geiger Counter reccomendation

[AlphaOp]

I've beocome interested in taking radiation readings when I go out geocaching. (Ok, I'm a nuclear nut, I admit it.) I'm curious if anyone here has ever purchaced a GC, and if they have any reccomendations. (I've seen crap-tacular old Civil Defence units sell for under $50, but they can only detect large quantities (over 1 rem/hour?) of gamma and x-radiation.) I want something that's sensitive enough to pick up to background or 0.1 rem/hour of beta particles or gamma/x-ray radiation. Most units I've seen go for between $200 and $300, but $150 is more in my range. Any info would be great!

 

-AO

[+Rebel]

http://www.geigercounters.com/

 

Hope it helps.

 

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"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

[SpooDogsNose]

AO

 

try http://www.radmeters4u.com/ They have good pricing and support.

 

Respectfully

 

Team Spoo Dogs Nose

[AlphaOp]

Thanks for the info/links! Let's see how my job goes, and I might just have the cash to get a good counter. (I just saw an excellent "constant-monitoring" unit that goes for about $300, sigh...)

[+fizzymagic]

A Geiger counter is a very crude radiation-measuring instrument. And it is likely that any you can afford will have negligible sensitivity to betas. But that isn't too big a problem, since if you are getting a significant dose of betas you must be basically holding the source in your hand!

 

The best radiation detector for estimating dose is an ionization chamber. That's what I recommend you get.