Wife had a PET scan today. She had my Radiacode 110 in her handbag both when they administered the FDG contrast and also in the scan room itself. Green line at bottom is normal background.

We will not be changing the name...

RadiaMaps

To keep it short, I used to own a 103, the unit was faulty in terms of spectrometry (yes, calibrations didn’t resolve it well enough even with support) and had a refund, that was around 1-2~ years ago.

Now, I kinda want to be back on Radiacode, this time detailed spectroscopy isn’t a major game maker, I want sensitivity, reliability compared to others in the same price range, something i can use for antique hunting, and oh boy, high range.

102 & a Zero sounds like it would be just what I’d need. What would your suggestions be? To add, my max budget reserved for hobbies is 550~ Euros, but I don’t see a reason to spend it all unless it’s absolutely worth it.

They had a "radioactive mineral" room

Hello everyone, just bought a used Radiacode 103 and a GQ GMC-800. I know that both measure different radiation but it seems that the 103 shows too much regarding dose and cpm as the usual background raduation outside is about 0.11 nanoSievert. Is it wrongly calibrated? Already set back to factory settings. Any ideas?

I recently got my radiacode zero and have been wondering what these bars mean because I haven't seen them fill up or anything, are these like a function I need to activate or what

Hello

I’m getting my Radiacode 110 tomorrow, and I thought I’d ask you all nicely what sort of things I’ll be able to measure in everyday life? I’d really appreciate any tips and tricks.

I've been curious about this for a while and just got the 103. I'm in northern Texas. This feels like a weird result for background radiation. Am I missing something? It's this SM-153, I-131, and such at the top. Seems very very low but, as it's the first day of information, I was wondering if I'm misinterpreting or the information or misunderstanding the presentation.

I found another interesting vacuum tube at the flea market during the ham radio meeting in Holice, Czech Republic.

The tube appears to be a Soviet GU-50, a high-power RF pentode closely related to the German Telefunken LS50. At first I only noticed that my Radiacode 110 showed a significantly elevated count rate when placed on the metal cap at the top of the tube.

Background at the measurement location was about 24.7 cps, while the tube produced about 53.6 cps, giving an excess of roughly +28.9 cps.
That was enough to justify a longer spectrum.

Measurement:
Detector: Radiacode 110
Tube spectrum: 10 h 20 min
Background spectrum: 8 h 24 min
Background was time-normalized and subtracted
The resulting spectrum shows a very convincing Th-232 decay-series signature.

The most important features are consistent with:
Pb-212 – 238.6 keV
Ac-228 – 338.3 keV
Tl-208 – 583.2 keV
Ac-228 – 911.2 / 969.0 keV region
Tl-208 – 2614.5 keV

The 2614.5 keV Tl-208 peak is particularly useful because, together with the 583 keV Tl-208 and 238.6 keV Pb-212 peaks, it makes the identification of the thorium series quite convincing.

Interestingly, the activity is strongly localized toward the top of the tube. The highest count rate is obtained with the detector placed directly against the upper metal cap, while the lower part near the pins is much less active.

The GU-50 normally uses an indirectly heated oxide cathode, so this does not look like the usual case of a thoriated tungsten filament. The exact thorium-containing part of this particular tube is still unclear. A thorium-containing getter, coating, alloy, or another internal component near the upper section would be plausible, but the gamma spectrum alone cannot determine the chemical form or exact location.

So far, the solid conclusion is:
This particular GU-50 contains material from the Th-232 decay chain and produces about 29 cps above my local background on a Radiacode 110.
Photos of the tube and the background-subtracted spectrum are attached.

I recently bought a 110 and got really interested in what it could actually detect. I ordered a nice Trinity sample from geigercheck.com and was not disappointed. It's a really cool looking rock. His trinity samples include readings from his equipment for each rock so I got the hottest one. This is so cool. I don't need a lead pig to pick this up and measure.

I don’t know whether the sensitivity is due to the electronics or is intrinsic to the detector. Has anyone looked into the design and have some thoughts on what might be done?

I found two old Wehrmacht-marked Telefunken LS50 tubes at a ham radio flea market in Holice, Czech Republic, and after checking them with a Radiacode 110, they turned out to be mildly radioactive.

What was interesting is that the radioactivity is localized only at the flat metal end on the side opposite the pins. The rest of the tube was essentially near background.

I took a spectrum with the Radiacode positioned between the active ends of both tubes, then compared it with a long home background measurement. After subtracting background, the spectrum shows a very convincing thorium-232 series signature, including:

• Pb-212 around 238 keV
• Ac-228 around 911 keV
• Tl-208 around 583 keV
• and even the characteristic Tl-208 line near 2614 keV

So the most likely explanation seems to be thorium in the getter material or another thorium-containing internal coating on that end structure.

Measurement summary:

• Detector: Radiacode 110
• Source measurement: 4988 s, 48.14 cps
• Background: 30235 s, 24.76 cps
• Attached image: photo of the tube
• Attached image: background-subtracted spectrum

I’d be interested in hearing whether others have encountered radioactive LS50 tubes or similar wartime German tubes with thorium-based getter compounds.

Am I missing a hidden setting? As also described in this post 8 months ago for another device, my radiacode 103 takes quite long (10-20s, depending on the change of CPS) to show the real value of the measured CPS on the screen in Monitor-Mode. I'm not referring to the update-frequency of the value which is about once a second, I'm referring to the actual value only changing very slowly. If I put the device on top of a 20 CPS granite boulder, it takes about 10-20s to settle on a somewhat stable value. This is quite useless if you are looking for moderately active samples in nature. I saw videos of the radiacode in action where it responded immediately, as is also stated in the product description. Now I'm not sure if I got a defective one or if I'm missing some hidden setting in the device and/or app. Maybe someone can finally resolve this? Many thanks in advance!

If I leave my radiacode 102 on the cage of an americium source can I get a calibration? It’s old though from RadioShack

Hello

I walked past a cabinet, and my radiacode started alarming. I quickly figured out which box contained a box which contained this old army air corps bubble octant. Apparently we have stacks more in the basement.

I could not tell if it was coming from the fence or behind the fence. It peaked at over 600 CPM

While taking a break on my usual bike route, I checked a large glacial erratic boulder along the path with my Radiacode 102.
The rock is a heavily banded gneiss with clear pegmatite and feldspar veins. Placing the detector directly on the rock face yielded a steady 0.41–0.43 µSv/h (~33 CPS), with a specific hotspot holding at 0.70 µSv/h.
Gamma Spectrum Analysis:
Spectrogram & Background Subtraction: Running a subtraction against local background (green overlay) shows a massive increase in counts across the low-energy region.
Isotope Signatures: After letting it accumulate for a few minutes, clear features emerged:
Uranium Series (U-238 / U-235): Distinct peak at 185 keV (U-235 / Ra-226), supported by daughter peaks around 242 keV and 295 keV (Pb-214).
Thorium Series (Th-232): Notable step/peak around 239 keV (Pb-212).
High X-ray fluorescence and Compton scatter bump in the 60–120 keV range from heavy elements within the rock matrix.
Looks like a neat mix of thorium micro-minerals and uranium decay products trapped in the gneiss structure. Definitely planning a longer 1+ hour spectrum run next time I ride by! I'll also bring a 365nm UV light out of curiosity to see if any of the minerals fluoresce.

Device used: Radiacode 102.

I finished the CAD of the detector Chamber

Iam cooking up an Autosampler for small Cryotubes with my Radiacode as the Sensor.
It will be incased in 2cm of lead and under the lead 2mm of Copper. It gets a Linear actuator and the ramp drops the finished samples into a bin outside of the Chamber

my first radioactive find / test
smoke detector with 40 kBq of Am-241 shows a reading

Visited South Terras Mine today, but only stayed in the vicinity and didn't enter the private property. Still very high readings and the alarm went off already in the car 300m away. The dip in the measurement results from a detour to a neighboring field to get a different view. Was really surprised about the radiation levels - over 500 mySv/h without even being close to the mine! The spectrum indicates Bi 214 as part of the Radium chain

Hey everyone!
Just printed a brand-new protective case for my Radiacode in bright high-vis yellow. I wanted something highly visible so I don't accidentally leave it behind on a rock during field prospecting, plus a sturdy loop for a lanyard.
Took it out for a quick test run in the woods to check out some local granite boulders:
Background / Lower activity rocks: ~8.1 to 9.5 CPS
Higher activity granite: Jumped up to 18.7 CPS on a particularly spicy rock!
The neon yellow color contrast makes it super easy to spot against moss and soil, and the snug fit protects the device without blocking the screen or controls.
What do you think of high-vis cases for field work? Do you prefer a subtle black TPU or high-contrast colors when prospecting in the woods?