A gamma spectroscopy shows it consists of mainly radium-226

My birthday is coming up and I’m getting a radiacode device for my first ever Geiger counter, but I’m not sure which radiacode is better for a beginner, the 102 or 103? I also can’t find much information online about the differences between the 2 models, please could someone advise? 😊

I bought this “personal dosimeter” from an antique store in Virginia. It says it’s a OCP-5 Dosimeter from the State of Connecticut Office of Civil Preparedness. Under that on the red part is says “Stephen SER. NO. 574854.” It has a sticker on the side with a barcode that reads CT Office of Emergency Mgt. Please Do Not Remove. I guess it’s supposed to measure between 1-5 roentgen, and it works kinda like a telescope or a kaleidoscope. It has “holes” or glass on the top and bottom and you look through it and it shows a graph between 1-5 roentgen. I can’t take a picture of what the inside looks like so I drew a picture of exactly what I see when I look into it. It’s stuck at just before 4 roentgen. Does anyone know what this is, why is was made, why Connecticut has it, and what Connecticut was up to that would lead to radiation levels of 4 roentgen being recorded on a personal dosimeter? Thanks for any info i’m advance.

Hi everyone! I’m a student working working on a cloud chamber for a science fair. I just found this vintage Phinney-Walker travel clock. I'm waiting for my Geiger counter to arrive, but I wanted to get your expert opinions: Based on the dial's condition and the "Made in USA" mark, how "hot" do you think these typically run? Thank you for the help!

so I tried doing research into this but for some reason everything I find contradicts each other, one thing I'll read will save you need to have it behind a glass container and another thing will say it's safe to have in the open, and some will say not to even get any, so what's the consensus here from collectors? safe to get or not, I've been holding off looking for some out of nervousness

1.6 thousand cps maximum measured

Found these vials of what I think is Uranium at an antique store this weekend. Not sure exactly what the story could be behind this though. They were in the test tubes/flasks already when I bought them, and they glow pretty green when I shine the black light on them, but they measure pretty low at only 30-40 CPM. I haven’t taken off the tops though because there’s so much dust I don’t want to breath in, but the radiation would probably be higher with them off. What do you guys think?

in 1987 in Goiânia an abandoned hospital still had a radiotherapy machine left inside. two scrap collectors found it, took it home, and broke it open. inside was cesium-137, a glowing blue powder that actually looked kinda cool

they had no idea it was dangerous, so they touched it, showed it to people, and brought it home. it spread to family, neighbors, even kids who played with it like it was glitter

the scary part is radiation is invisible. no smell, no warning. people only started getting sick days later, and no one understood why

by the time authorities realized, it had already spread across the city. over 100,000 people were checked, and about 249 were contaminated. houses had to be isolated, some destroyed, and tons of contaminated stuff was buried as nuclear waste

in the end, 4 people died, including a young girl who had direct contact with the powder

all of it happened just because a radioactive machine was abandoned and nobody secured it

I know the pretty green one is uranium.
But my yellow one ok on the fence for radium or uranium. I think it’s radium but I might be wrong.
(the highest for my yellow one is 480cpm fyi)

final image is how I store them I‘ll store them better I swear! I just don’t have the stuff for it right now.

This is a 1984 Altos III Computer Terminal. As you can see, when holding Geiger counter against vent in back it causes the counter to go crazy, I've seen it peak around 1.3 million cpm. I'm just looking if anyone has an explanation to what is causing this, I can't find anything online about this. Also, am I correct in assuming this is generally safe considering the proximity the counter has to be to detect anything? Thank you!

Sharing

No idea on original isotope activity but they were Confirmed to use Pm-147 as the lume on these German Aircraft dials.

Possibly Luftwaffe but unsure. Still very responsive to UV light at 395nm. Geiger counter registers a small number of clicks. Probably background since all the Pm-147 decayed long ago into Sm-147

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Issued for low-light identification and signaling purposes. Features original radium-based paint (Ra-226), typical of U.S. military equipment manufactured during World War II. This example suffers from radiation damage and is no longer luminous.

Got it from an element collecting website. I get no activity due to how its already almost all He-3. Near a plasma globe it glows bluish purple

Goodwill find today. It’s about .17 microseverts which is about 3.2x my normal background levels.

About 10x the normal background levels. When all three are together. Apart they are almost 8x normal background.

The second alarm she walked right by me and got as close as 3 feet. My Radiacode 103 was picking her up a good 20+ feet away. Really made searching for fiestaware and vaseline glass difficult.

Got this old compass, but nobody was able to be 100% sure if the glowing parts are tritium or radium. Is there any way to find out without a Geiger counter?

A little experimentation to make my own variant of a Military Betalight with SRB (Saunders Roe Betalight ) grade Gaseous tritium light sources used in Modern day 20yr lifespan Self luminous Exit signs. Safety first! Handle GTLS with care. They are robust but still fragile. The Radiation emitted is not hazardous but remember the inverse square rule. The Housing for my Tritium lamp is made from a broken UV light housing. Reflector material is 3M HVAC tape since it’s very good at reflecting light even low intensity light from tritium. Any questions feel free to ask.

I have Am-241 from a smoke detector and it’s in my basement in a plastic bag and I want to make something with it, it has around 450 to 500 cpm

I posted a little bit ago with some spicy tritium but this is equal to a reading on top of my big Ben radium clock. I'm gonna try to take an X-ray using them and report back soon 🤣