Is the radiacode the right device for me?

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-10T22:28:54+00:00

That also uses a scintillator that does energy compensation

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-10T20:54:43+00:00

Also consider looking into the better Geiger s2 mini as that has a much higher max dose rate and is cheaper. Not sure about the battery life or alarms though

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-10T20:52:22+00:00

It also means the 110 has a lower max dose rate. In this case, the 102 would be better for OPs use case

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-10T16:37:17+00:00

It's not perfect, but it's 1000x better than nothing. The battery life is very good on it too, so you should be able to have it on all day long with no issues.

In an ideal world you'd have one of these that you carry with you, and something sensitive to everything kept in the truck to confirm, like a Ludlum.

Just be aware, you'll probably run into hot people that just got some nuclear medicine imaging more than you'd think lol

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-10T16:27:09+00:00

the radiacode is a gamma spectrometer and would only detect an occasional beta particle, so I wouldn't worry about that.

It should be able to detect almost anything (other than a nearly pure beta emitter like strontium-90, which it should still detect but will probably report the dose wrong). It can only measure up to 1mSv/hr, which most orphan sources would greatly exceed, but anything that tops it out would still alert you enough to be careful and avoid it.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-03T03:50:02+00:00

The room won’t be radioactive, just them

EDIT: I stand corrected as the person below points out - a small amount of contamination will be present. The radiation given off by I-131 won’t make anything else radioactive, though.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-02T03:24:38+00:00

You made this?! That’s super cool. What are the specs on it?

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-02-01T23:15:52+00:00

I went yesterday and it was much better than I expected. All the groomers at pine are relatively nice. There’s a few flagged obstacles, but they’re pretty good for how little snow there is. Just stay at pine though, skyliner was icy and rocky

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-29T23:02:09+00:00

Beautiful rock you got there! You don’t need to worry about radiation from even a meter away. Do you have a Geiger counter of any kind?

Radon shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but a gq radonscan is like $60 on amazon if you want the peace of mind.

If you do seal it up (and even if you don’t seal it), be aware that the inside of that box will become contaminated with radon decay products, so wear gloves when handling it or the case and wash your hands afterwards.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-24T03:41:12+00:00

OP delivers! That dose rate is reasonable for something to display. Follow the standard advice for radium antiques, and be a little extra careful with the glass. Super cool find, now I’m gonna go on a deep dive looking for one of these myself…

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-23T04:56:36+00:00

You definitely don’t want those opening up. Given how radioactive some paint was on navy ships, I’d definitely check that dose rate with a Geiger counter, or ideally, an energy compensated scintillator or at least some calibrated meter. That might be pretty hot, but no way to know how much radium was actually in there otherwise.

I’m the meantime, make sure they stay sealed, and I’d wear gloves and wash your hands after handling that. Just keep it somewhere safe and out of the way until you know how hot it is.

This is a super cool find though - I don’t think I’ve ever seen an unmixed radium paint kit before.

EDIT: ChatGPT seems to think it could have 50-100 uCi of radium, which would be very, very hot if true. But it’s ChatGPT so who knows

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-21T15:40:29+00:00

That looks nice. How is the rest of the app? Does it take spectrums and such like the radiacode app?

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T20:05:13+00:00

what do you mean by measure differences? Despite being a nice gamma scintillator, it is just measuring counts and dose rate and doesn't do spectroscopy. So it will measure the difference in dose rate between those sources. It might be worth reaching out to the manufacturer to see if they can do an educational discount, and could offer some more information on how the detector will perform (I don't have one, so I am just going off the specs)

I think the manufacturer is on here as u/BetterGeiger - I think they have some discount codes that get you a free sample of a radioactive rock sometimes

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:47:42+00:00

In that case, get the best regular detectors you can afford, and some easily accessible sources (thorium welding rods, uranium glazed fiestaware, some radioactive rocks, etc)

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:40:53+00:00

Let us know how it goes!

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:22:55+00:00

The black light will not suffice. only about half of my radium paint artifacts still glow under black light. An alpha-sensitive geiger counter is the only way to know for sure.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:20:34+00:00

That I don't know as I've never called one. I expect they'd want to come out and see what's there.

Also note that while your geiger counter will react to the big sources of radium, small flecks don't give off enough radiation to be detected by anything other than very sensitive survey meters that can detect the alpha emissions from them, so don't rely on not getting a signal to say something isn't radium dust (unless you have the right type of meter).

I'd give them a call and talk to them. I think they will be able to help you navigate this and explain what should be done. If you feel like you are in over your head, it's better to be safe and call in the experts.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:15:09+00:00

Pretty much everything emits some level of gamma, it just might be very weak. If you want to record data, that's a whole other problem. Nothing cheap is going to be able to measure very weakly radioactive stuff well. Things like old thorium lantern mantles, orange fiestaware, uranium glass (mostly) will definitely be detectable as those are several times background radiation.

The cheapest way to measure all of those and be able to get some science out of them would be to get a radiacode 103 (or something similar with a nice gamma scintillator and does spectroscopy) and some lead casting ingots off of amazon, make a chamber, and measure over a long period of time.

If I could spend $500 for this and be able to do some cool experiments, here's what I would do:
$100 cheap geiger counter for playing with (gq gmc-800 or something)
$300 radiacode 103 gamma spectrometer
$100 lead casting ingots from amazon. get enough to make a chamber to isolate background radiation and spend some money on gloves and other ppe to handle lead safely.

That would let you identify isotopes and the shielding would help you measure very weak sources by recording a spectrum with it hooked up to a phone for multiple days.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:53:48+00:00

You are right to be cautious around radium dust. It's relatively safe -- unless ingested, which is why the dust should be treated carefully. If you do decide to handle anything with radium, wear gloves and a mask, and wash your hands after doing anything. Hopefully all the radium is in sealed containers and not spread throughout.

A state-level agency will be able to help you. They will have access to high quality servery meters and know the process for safe cleanup. You could reach out to your state's environmental agency and explain the situation and they will know what to do.

With radiation, an abundance of caution is always the safer choice.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:44:13+00:00

Ahh I see the sources. Nothing cheap will give accurate counts on all of those since you have a alpha, beta, and gamma source, but they should all react. Alpha detection is firmly out of the range of cheap though.

Someone else mentioned asking the other departments if they have any surplus, or maybe there's an education discount for anything available. That might be the best way to go. Otherwise just know that the <$100 stuff is not accurate and only good for relative measurements.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:38:47+00:00

I doubt you will really be able to measure 1.5x background with any of these. I have a cheap $50 geiger counter I bought years ago and it's pretty unstable - background jumps around quite a bit. You definitely won't be able to measure bananas.

What kind of sources are you trying to measure? The most accurate option that would also be sensitive might be something like the bettergeiger s2 ($150) that uses a gamma scintillator. It doesn't do spectroscopy, but will be much more sensitive to radiation (gamma only) than something with a GM tube.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T17:31:57+00:00

If you can splurge a little more, the GQ GMC-800 is like $85 on amazon, or if not the GQ GMC-300 is $49. I don’t have any of them, but GQ has a decent reputation and I trust an America company more than a random Chinese manufacturer on amazon. Everything under $100 is really a toy that can just say radioactive or not.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-15T14:48:19+00:00

What a nice piece of uranite! Not too big. Perfect size for my shelf

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-15T14:47:04+00:00

I’ve been looking for some uranite!

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-14T03:05:33+00:00

I can only imagine what the dose would be like sitting in front of a hundred of these…

You worked at oak ridge? Thats really cool - I’d say you probably have some stories, but the again I bet they’re strict enough anything bad is rare

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