Your favorite meter?

[navynukedoc]

What is your personal favorite meter to use? Make, model, and reason why???

[Sun Dog]

What is your personal favorite meter to use? Make, model, and reason why???

I think the Kestrel 4000 is my favorite.  It is inexpensive to own and operate, light weight, accurate, multifunctional, user friendly, fits in my back pocket and runs on just a couple of AAA's.

What more could you want?

[Mike McFarlin]

Old school Teletector.

[navynukedoc]

Old school Teletector.

Reason why??

[jkj]

Reason why??

 If you have to ask, then you probably won't like the answer 

[93-383]

Fluke 287, the trend logging feature nice for trouble shooting intermittent problems, hook it up set to record and lock up inside the pannel so it dosn't walk out the front door in the middle of the night.

[Laundry Man]

Old school Teletector.

Also one of my favorites. 
LM

[Marlin]

http://alcoholcontrols.com/kegmeter.html


 

[Already Gone]

I don't know how useful they are for normal RP purposes, but I think the Exploranium GR-135 is a cool tool.

[Marlin]

I don't know how useful they are for normal RP purposes, but I think the Exploranium GR-135 is a cool tool.

Looks very usefull for DOE remediation/demolition work. Anything to short cut sampling times for characterisation.

[retired nuke]

Old school Teletector.

Cuz it lets me know what's over "there" without me having to go over "there" 

 

[Sun Dog]

Cuz it lets me know what's over "there" without me having to go over "there" 

 

Kind of like a Jr.

[navynukedoc]

http://alcoholcontrols.com/kegmeter.html
 

Love it!

Kind of like a Jr.

lmao!!!!!!!!


To be honest I spent 99 bucks on an OBD II meter at wal mart. Man that little thing works great! My wife bought a used navigator before we got married, it only got 8 miles to the gallon and the check engine light never went off as long as she had it, and of course all these "shops" just charged her ridiculously to reset it only to have it come back on. Since then we get 14 mpg and I have used that thing on my truck, mom's car and my brother has used it for a few of their vehicles!

[Brett LaVigne]

AN PDR 27. It is a beautiful shade of Army green, it has a nifty window for beta, and you can expect it to work normally even after a fall to the bottom of a Dry Dock.

[Mike McFarlin]

Reason why??

If you have to ask, then you probably won't like the answer 

Well said!

[GLW]

I don't know how useful they are for normal RP purposes, but I think the Exploranium GR-135 is a cool tool.

Looks very usefull for DOE remediation/demolition work. Anything to short cut sampling times for characterisation.

Crystal's too small, energy deposition suffers, LCD is hard to read in certain light conditions, many folks need the manual with them constantly to use it in the field as it does so much with different toggle combinations, when folks are constantly stopping to refer to the manual they tend to get frustrated and frustrated technicians are lousy for staying focused on DQO's,....

IF you can become proficient without having to open the manual and you are in a multi-energy field searching for a dirty bomb it has some utility,...

IF you are curious concerning what's in my basement today, or over in that warehouse, or in this unmarked package that just came in the mail and you suspect no pure alpha or beta emitters are present in any of these locations or items, or,....

It's a cool toy, with all the expected limitations of a small volume, MCA type,  machine,...in the hands of a good technician it can tell you what you are most likely dealing with, in the hands of a novice technician;

@#%$&^*(%)@!&$%#&*!!!

DQO's,.....always those DQO's,....

[HydroDave63]

AN/PDR-63, it even comes with its own solar power battery recharger!

[Marlin]

Crystal's too small, energy deposition suffers, LCD is hard to read in certain light conditions, many folks need the manual with them constantly to use it in the field as it does so much with different toggle combinations, when folks are constantly stopping to refer to the manual they tend to get frustrated and frustrated technicians are lousy for staying focused on DQO's,....

IF you can become proficient without having to open the manual and you are in a multi-energy field searching for a dirty bomb it has some utility,...

IF you are curious concerning what's in my basement today, or over in that warehouse, or in this unmarked package that just came in the mail and you suspect no pure alpha or beta emitters are present in any of these locations or items, or,....

It's a cool toy, with all the expected limitations of a small volume, MCA type,  machine,...in the hands of a good technician it can tell you what you are most likely dealing with, in the hands of a novice technician;

@#%$&^*(%)@!&$%#&*!!!

DQO's,.....always those DQO's,....

Wow tell us how you really feel. 

   In the characterasation of a large Manhattan Project building that has been used for who knows what for the last 65 years a field screening to guide your DQO or even to be be part of them to limit the more costly sampling downstream would seem beneficial. Using collimated NaI detectors and other instrumentation to guide the use of the more expensive NDA equipment in areas with multiple radiological and chemical contamination would seem to make sense. We already use a small hand held instrument that is smaller than the Exploranium GR-135 but as you say not much resolution. I would not use this for a final numbers and certainly not for Marrsim application but for field use it looks promising enough to at least try.

That's just my opinion I could be wrong.  D.M.

[HousePuke]

Old school Teletector.

  Along with the good old RO-2.  Like Timex, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.  I loved the old Teletectors.

[MacGyver]

Here's my favorite "multi-meter"

[thenukeman]

The mind and not necessarily mine.  If I do  not know I ask some one, even if I do I may ask to clarify.

See some real life scenario's I  have been in below.
GR-135 Exploranium how have you failed  me,  You told me I had Cesium and cobalt, I believed you I really did until I was informed that is not possible because the part I surveyed came from a cyclotron ( No Fission Products<  Therefore Cesium not possible)  I took a piece of this to a HPGE gamma spec and found it to be silver and Cobalt.  Silver gamma peak 658, close to Cesium gamma peak of 662 but no cigar.

Oh Exploranium how  have you failed me.  I  find a piece of material reading 5mR/hr and you tell me you do not know.  The spec looks like Cobalt and a positron emission. Why do you not tell me anything.  Why do you at least say Cobalt maybe with 1 clear peak and one marginal. Oh well back  to the mind again. Take apiece of this to a HPGE gamma spec and it says Zinc 65 and Cobalt 60.  Well it appears the Zinc 65 peak overwhelmed the  lower Co-60 peak and made it lower by incorporating it in its peak.  The Exploranium does not have a Zinc 65 peak in the library.

Oh Pancake probe how have you failed me.  A HP is sent out to check material finds nothing.  Tells his supervisor.  A load of  this same material comes out.  They send me.  Knowing that the alarm is a gamma alarm, I still check with pancake probe but I find nothing, but with the pancake probe being only about 1/3000 efficient for gamma, I check with a bicron.  Only 25 micro R/hr  but since this is activated and most betas shielded, no betas for the pancake and  since the dose is low not many gammas, so lets say this was 10 counts over background on a pancake that would equate to 30,000 dpm.

Oh Pancake how have you  failed me.  I was told  to  survey junk somewhere over the rainbow with a possibility of highly enriched uranium, so I do a full 100 percent  pancake check, 10 percent alpha.  I go back and check one piece with a pancake, nothing then I check with the Alpha and it goes off.  The efficiency for your pancake for alpha being very low, that is what  I expect.  What was really bad out of about 200 pieces this was the only piece and since I found this one piece I had to survey 100 percent for alpha also.

And of course remballs for neutron,    Would not want Ion Chambers to check 150 R/hr , use teletectors etc.    So I go with mind.

[cincinnatinuke]

Kind of like a Jr.

LOL!

[thenukeman]

Jr. Nice for Cavity Decon!!  Dose Sponge No Pants.   The No pants is when they come off after Decon for you rookies.

[rumrunner]

RO-2 or RO-2A.  Rock solid readouts and built like a 58 Buick.  Drywell tested!

[thenukeman]

Glad I had a RO-2A instead of RO-2.  I was told when we pump this sludge we believe the dose will go to about 50 mR/hr .  Being a good HP I had alarming dosimeters set to 100mR dose and dose rate.  Soon as pump  turned on, the alarms went off, I was waken from my fat dumb and happy slumber to see my RO-2A pegs at 50 mR/hr, I say oh well go up a scale, go to  500 mR/hr,  it slams my meter, then I am unhappy, I flip to 5 R/hr another slam,  then my hand starts shaking cause I know I only have one more scale left on my RO2A, RO-2 would have already been pegged. Now its the 50 R/Hr scale.  It goes to 15 R/ Hr.  I said get the F(())) out.   Thanks RO2A

Bad thing about  DOE as compared to Nuke plants, sometimes they do stuff they have never done before, unlike most power plant where there is a frame of reference from most work or outages.

[diliigaf]

    That question is far too vague... It depends on the job being covered as well as what you are dealing with..
 Pu, U, etc... Ro 2,s and teletectors have little use with Pu, curium tru, etc.

[navynukedoc]

   That question is far too vague... It depends on the job being covered as well as what you are dealing with..
 Pu, U, etc... Ro 2,s and teletectors have little use with Pu, curium tru, etc.

Not a vague question. It is a meter. They're not to be specified to RadCon or anything else. Just a meter you like to use. Diversify my friend. We all learn from each other!

[diliigaf]

  To answer your weak question, I love an ro-2/2a but,,,, it does me no good in an alpha plutonium facility..
  nor would I choose over a tele in say,,, a core barrell, inspection lift... i.e. what is the environment in question,,, diversify that...

[HydroDave63]

  To answer your weak question, I love an ro-2/2a but,,,, it does me no good in an alpha plutonium facility..

If there is a LOT of Pu, it might show up on the RO-2...   

[thenukeman]

Autoranging Teletector when doing very high doses after a crud burst.  No flipping through scales and looking at the meter to calculate the dose.  The digital read out of an autoranging teletector should be required at all Nuke plants because of ALARA, I think they are alot faster. Also I  think the accuracy is better. Hard to do a miss calculation when you read the digital read out instead of a needle and a times scale. Have  only the primitive ones that you flip scales as  emergency backup.

[RTRT]

  To answer your weak question, I love an ro-2/2a but,,,, it does me no good in an alpha plutonium facility..
  nor would I choose over a tele in say,,, a core barrell, inspection lift... i.e. what is the environment in question,,, diversify that...

An Eberline Black Widow CP works on Gamma, Beta and Alpha. Haven't seen one since the 70's though......

[thenukeman]

Position Sensitive Proportional Counter, ( Surface Contamination Monitor)  Nice, takes thousands of readings and converts them into a picture a truly genius machine. Here are some maps I have done with it and the machine.   Pancake  and most other probes are so 1940.   I put together a map that represented  16 acres of floor space. This is 21st century.  A company not to be mentioned did surveys side by side with us.  They only found about 10 percent  of what the machine found.  We eventually had to redo their work.

See picture page right here on Nukeworker. There are about  10 pictures there that show it and the surveys. You can even tell if a person  forged a survey.  I show a YOUR FIRED picture and you can  click it and see why.  I also like the grid map where you can see the areas that exceed 100 cm2  criteria and Meter square criteria. SWEET!!!! For Decon

http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/thumbnails-410.html

This has been bought  out from Shonka Research by Millenium Nuclear who now has it.

[LaFeet]

For durability - the An/PDR - 43

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/southrad/im125bpdr43.html

[BigBri]

AN PDR 27. It is a beautiful shade of Army green, it has a nifty window for beta, and you can expect it to work normally even after a fall to the bottom of a Dry Dock.

I too loved the AN-PDR 27 ...though mine was a nice haze grey.