ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Radiacode 103 is a radiation detector available from Amazon for $325. Everytime you’ve extra modest desires, 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 really like using know-how to current me superpowers, significantly all through the case of enhancing my senses. Trendy tech presents unimaginable devices that let us see components in one other case invisible to the naked eye.
From thermal cameras to night vision to a weird plastic sheet that’s reactive to magnetic fields, I really like with the pliability to uncover hidden components of the world spherical me. These superior utilized sciences open up new dimensions of notion, making the invisible seen and remodeling our interaction with our environment.
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In my quest to harness know-how for superhuman experience, I simply currently purchased a Geiger counter — nonetheless not merely any Geiger counter. The Radiacode 103 nuclear radiation detector is an ultrafast delicate scintillation detector designed for searching and measuring Gamma, X-ray, and laborious Beta radiation in precise time. With this high-performance instrument, I can exactly detect and analyze pretty only a few kinds of radiation, extra rising my talent to uncover hidden components 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 choice: 8.4% ±0.3% (FWHM) for Cs-137
- Vitality fluctuate: 0.02 – 3.0 MeV
- Present: Monochrome graphic LCD, 128 x 48 pixels, 34 x 13 mm
- Battery: Lithium-polymer 3.7 V, 1000 mAh as fairly a bit as 200 hours on single value (charging takes roughly 2 hours)
- Dimensions: 124 x 35 x 20 mm
- Connectivity: Bluetooth and USB-C
- Weight: 65 g
- Mud and moisture security: IP64
The Radiacode 103 is a top-tier transportable radiation detector, dosimeter, and spectrometer, utilizing a very delicate scintillation detector for precise environmental radiation analysis. That’s presently the highest-spec unit obtainable from Radiacode, although the company is planning to launch a mannequin that makes use of a specific detector — generally known as the Radiacode 103 G — in June.
Versatile and user-friendly, the Radiacode 103 capabilities as a standalone unit or might be associated to iPhone or Android devices by way of Bluetooth. The Android app presently presents extra choices as in distinction with its iOS counterpart. In Radiacode’s safety, the iOS app has been receiving essential updates simply currently, suggesting it’d rapidly align extra intently with the Android experience.
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What can the Radiacode 103 do? This superior system presents 4 distinct modes to cater to pretty only a few radiation detection desires:
- Monitor mode: Gives real-time dose value and rely value measurements, very similar to the acquainted clicking Geiger counter. This mode ensures widespread monitoring of radiation ranges, offering you with fast solutions on environmental circumstances.
- Dose mode: Reveals cumulative dose measurements, reworking the system into a personal dosimeter. This mode helps you observe your long-term radiation publicity.
- Search mode: A graphical mode exhibiting rely value in each CPM (Counts Per Minute) or CPS (Counts Per Second). This mode is nice for pinpointing sources of radiation with precision.
- Spectrum mode: Gives a graphical present of the flexibility spectrum of gamma radiation on a linear or logarithmic scale. This mode is used to hunt out out specific radioactive provides exactly.
I’ve been wandering spherical throughout the hunt for components to substantiate, and one state of affairs that I found to primarily set off the Radiacode was tritium vials for glow tags (do you must have to know the science behind why these try this, try this informative Stack Exchange post), which pushed the counts so extreme that it set off an alarm.
I moreover dwell in an residence the place there are fairly a couple of components of granite rock, and, by extension, radioactive radon gasoline, so it has been attention-grabbing to wander about from place to place watching the background radiation fluctuate.
Appropriately, attention-grabbing for me.
On account of the Radiacode 103 has a spectrum mode, it’s finest to position it to utilize to hunt out out radioactive substances, which pushes it far behind what a cheap Geiger counter can do, and into the realms of good scientific fashions.
ZDNET’s looking for suggestion
I’m the first to admit that not all people desires a radiation detector. For these merely curious, there are cheaper — albeit fairly a bit rather a lot a lot much less succesful — units obtainable, such due to the GQ GMC-800 (steer clear of a funds, no-name producers, they’re principally garbage).
For those who’d like an exact superpower and want a very succesful unit that goes accurately earlier merely detecting radiation publicity, nonetheless, the Radiacode 103 is accurately value considering. It’s among the many many most attention-grabbing pocket radiation detector I’ve used, full of superior choices that far surpass main fashions. With the Radiacode 103, I’ve beloved uncovering components I was fully blind to sooner than, making it a helpful instrument for anyone important about radiation detection and exploring the surrounding setting.