Russian neutron detector??

[jrbpyro101]

Hey guys,

I bought what I thought to be a geiger counter about 7 months ago for 50 bucks while on vacation. After getting back I decided to try it out to see exactly what type of radiation it detected and what type of counter it may be. After pulling out some radium compasses and such, I turned it on and it started counting, but only about 5 to 10 counts a minute and only when the sources were in close proximity.

The detector tube is about a foot and a half tall and about six inches in diameter. It seemed to be rather large to be a GM tube but a sensible size for a scintillator, but after getting so few counts when the sources were right next to it, it kinda ruled out that option. I tried to 'dissect' the detector tube to see what kind of electronics and detector were on the inside but after unscrewing a couple screws to take the jacket off all I came across was a metal tube riveted to an internal metal structure with no electronics of any type visible.

Most of the buttons and knobs are average things like start, on, count and things like that, but there is a knob in the middle that translates to calibration and maybe is supposed to act as a threshold adjustment. I also cant determine what unit of measurement it reads in.

There are NO other markings indicating a make or model other than РКП-306 on the front panel and the company I bought it from said they bought it brand new from a Russian company about 10 or 15 years ago and its sat on their shelf since.

Ive ruled out that it could be a scintillator, and is almost definitely not a GM tube. I suppose it could be a specialized gamma detector, but the counts seem to low when I can detect gamma radiation from my radium compasses that I used to test it with through 5 inches of lead. So it kind of rules out that possibility, unless its made to detect a certain energy range.

So my only question is, what on earth is this thing? Could this actually be a Russian neutron detector?

**********************************************************************************************************
One thing to note about the pics are that the counts that are on the meter are from it running for about an hour before the picture was taken.
**********************************************************************************************************

-Joshua Baptist

[David D Speck MD]

Nice unit. Cool retro Numiton incandescent display.

If it's a big empty metal can, then it's an ionization chamber detector. Probably intended for pretty high intensity radiation fields. Might respond to the X-ray output of a busy fusor, though. I don't think it would specifically detect neutrons. Neutrons need a moderator and something with lots of nuclei to absorb them. An empty metal can isn't going to do that. .

If your not up on your Russian, the legends are:

BD on probe cable

A.I on knob below probe cable ?High voltage adjust?

VKL ("Vikluch"), literally "Key", -- power switch.

Korrektsia -- "Correction" probably zero set knob below meter

K, R, T -- legends at LEDs -- ?count, rate, time?

Pusk / Opusk -- Count / not count

Post it on the Geiger counter enthusiasts list on Yahoo -- someone may have an English translation of the manual.

GeigerCounterEnthusiasts@yahoogroups.com

Dave

[jrbpyro101]

I did forget about the possibility of it being an ionization chamber, which I suppose could be a reason for such a large detector tube.

Im going to throw together a crude low output neutron source and get a moderator to test it with this evening and see, if by chance, it can detect neutrons. But you are probably right about the ionization chamber, I have a friend who has a large xray tube I can go test it with.

Thanks for all the other info and Ill get around to posting it on the geiger counter enthusiasts sometime this weekend.

-Josh

[Alexi Hammond]

From what little information I could find on the web, this instrument is a three-channel geological gamma spectrometer for measurement of concentrations of K, U and Th (K-P-T) or K, U and Cs (K-P-Ц).

ПУСК - "start" - starts measurement
ОПРОС - "poll" - selects which one of three measurements is displayed

Alex

[lutzhoffman]

If it is not hollow like an ion chamber, and filled with PE, then maybe it could be a "slow" neutron measuring probe, from an Am-Be neutron soil moisture testing machine?

If it is, then your real lucky, and it WILL be a nice Christmas for you after all : )