ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Radiacode 103 is a radiation detector available from Amazon for $325. Whenever you’ve additional modest wants, the marginally lower-spec Radiacode 102 is only $255.
- It’s a inconceivable, versatile, terribly acceptable nuclear radiation detector.
- The potential of the iOS app is behind that of the Android app.
I truly like utilizing know-how to present me superpowers, considerably throughout the case of enhancing my senses. Fashionable tech presents unimaginable gadgets that permit us see factors in another case invisible to the bare eye.
From thermal cameras to night vision to a weird plastic sheet that’s reactive to magnetic fields, I truly like with the flexibility to uncover hidden elements of the world spherical me. These superior utilized sciences open up new dimensions of notion, making the invisible seen and reworking our interplay with our surroundings.
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In my quest to harness know-how for superhuman expertise, I just lately bought a Geiger counter — nonetheless not merely any Geiger counter. The Radiacode 103 nuclear radiation detector is an ultrafast delicate scintillation detector designed for looking out and measuring Gamma, X-ray, and laborious Beta radiation in exact time. With this high-performance instrument, I can precisely detect and analyze fairly just a few sorts of radiation, additional rising my skill to uncover hidden elements of the world spherical me.
Radiacode 103 tech specs
- Detector: Thallium doped cesium iodide (CsI:TI) 10 x 10 x 10 mm crystal and solid-state photomultiplier 6 x 6 mm
- Vitality decision: 8.4% ±0.3% (FWHM) for Cs-137
- Vitality fluctuate: 0.02 – 3.0 MeV
- Current: Monochrome graphic LCD, 128 x 48 pixels, 34 x 13 mm
- Battery: Lithium-polymer 3.7 V, 1000 mAh as quite a bit as 200 hours on single worth (charging takes roughly 2 hours)
- Dimensions: 124 x 35 x 20 mm
- Connectivity: Bluetooth and USB-C
- Weight: 65 g
- Mud and moisture safety: IP64
The Radiacode 103 is a top-tier transportable radiation detector, dosimeter, and spectrometer, using a terribly delicate scintillation detector for exact environmental radiation evaluation. That’s presently the highest-spec unit obtainable from Radiacode, though the corporate is planning to launch a model that makes use of a selected detector — known as the Radiacode 103 G — in June.
Versatile and user-friendly, the Radiacode 103 capabilities as a standalone unit or is probably related to iPhone or Android gadgets by means of Bluetooth. The Android app presently presents additional decisions as in contrast with its iOS counterpart. In Radiacode’s security, the iOS app has been receiving important updates just lately, suggesting it’d quickly align additional intently with the Android expertise.
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What can the Radiacode 103 do? This superior system presents 4 distinct modes to cater to fairly just a few radiation detection wants:
- Monitor mode: Offers real-time dose price and rely price measurements, very just like the acquainted clicking Geiger counter. This mode ensures common monitoring of radiation ranges, providing you with quick suggestions on environmental circumstances.
- Dose mode: Reveals cumulative dose measurements, remodeling the system into a private dosimeter. This mode helps you observe your long-term radiation publicity.
- Search mode: A graphical mode exhibiting rely price in every CPM (Counts Per Minute) or CPS (Counts Per Second). This mode is good for pinpointing sources of radiation with precision.
- Spectrum mode: Offers a graphical current of the ability spectrum of gamma radiation on a linear or logarithmic scale. This mode is used to seek out out particular radioactive supplies precisely.
I’ve been wandering spherical within the hunt for factors to confirm, and one situation that I discovered to mainly set off the Radiacode was tritium vials for glow tags (do you have to need to know the science behind why these do that, do that informative Stack Exchange post), which pushed the counts so excessive that it set off an alarm.
I furthermore dwell in an home the place there are quite a few parts of granite rock, and, by extension, radioactive radon gasoline, so it has been attention-grabbing to wander about from place to put watching the background radiation fluctuate.
Correctly, attention-grabbing for me.
On account of the Radiacode 103 has a spectrum mode, it’s best to place it to make use of to seek out out radioactive substances, which pushes it far behind what an inexpensive Geiger counter can do, and into the realms of nice scientific models.
ZDNET’s trying to find suggestion
I’m the primary to confess that not everybody wants a radiation detector. For these merely curious, there are cheaper — albeit quite a bit a lot much less succesful — devices obtainable, such because of the GQ GMC-800 (keep away from a funds, no-name producers, they’re principally rubbish).
If you’d like an precise superpower and need a terribly succesful unit that goes correctly earlier merely detecting radiation publicity, nonetheless, the Radiacode 103 is correctly price contemplating. It’s among the many most interesting pocket radiation detector I’ve used, stuffed with superior decisions that far surpass primary fashions. With the Radiacode 103, I’ve beloved uncovering factors I used to be completely blind to earlier than, making it a useful instrument for anybody essential about radiation detection and exploring the encompassing setting.