Talk:Civil Defense Geiger Counters
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The British instruments should be moved to another page as this one was specifically created for "Civil Defense" geiger counters - i.e. the name (proper) of the branch of the American government during the cold war period.
Anonymous- I agree that this page is focussed on American equipment. However, at least the PDRM82 (which is a purely civil defence instrument, orange colour, as compared to the PDRM82M which is military) is worth including as it was manufactured in large numbers. Approximately 20,000 units of each of the major types of British instrument were made, which makes Britain second after America (which I believe manufactured 500,000 survey meters plus a larger number of dosimeters, etc.). British Civil Defence used Radiac equipment which was designed jointly by the Civil Defence department of the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Some technical details of the PDRM82 from the manufacturer, Plessey Controls:
"The PDRM 82 is a portable, lightweight, water resistant gamma radiation survey meter to measure radiological dose rate in the range 0.1 to 300 centigrays per hour in air. The Geiger Muller (G.M.) tube detecting unit is energy and polar response corrected. The radiation level is displayed on a Liquid Crystal Display. The microcomputer corrects for the non-linearity of the G.M. tube response. The instrument is powered by three international C size batteries giving typically 400 hours operation in normal conditions. The dose rate meter PDRM 82, designed and selected for the United Kingdom Government, has been fully evaluated to satisfy a wide range of environmental conditions and is nuclear hard. The construction enables the instrument to be easily decontaminated. The instrument is designed for radiation surveys for post incident monitoring. Used in a mobile role, it enables radiation hot spots to be quickly located.
"Range 0-300 cGy/h in 0.1 cGy/h increments. Over-range to 1500 cGy/h indicated by flashing 300. Accuracy +/-20% of true dose rate for 0.1-100 cGy/h, +/-30% of true dose rate for 100-300 cGy/h. Energy Response for 0.3-3 MeV, within +/-20% (Ra-226), for 80 KeV to 300 KeV, accurate to within +/-40% (Ra-226). Detector: energy compensated Halogen quenched Geiger Muller Tube. Controls: combined battery access and ON/OFF switch. Batteries: 3 C cells. Weight: 560 grams. Operating Temperature Range -30 C to +60 C. Indicators: high contrast 4 digit LCD, battery low indication - typically 10 hours battery life remaining, flag indicators indicate dose rate Rising/Falling. Fault indication - 'FAIL' display. Size: 175 x 135 x 50mm." 172.213.16.160 15:39, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
