DIY and nuclear strike on the UK

Jun 18, 2022 Last reply: 4 years ago 5 Replies

Ahhh....'Dekatrons', that brings back memories. I used them at International Aeradio in 1959 for pulse counters.

I often wondered if one could pick something like it up these days. Seems the ideal Christmas present for the person who has everything. You need to be careful though exactly what the sensor responds to, as many used to go berserk if you held them near to the dial of one of the old Trimfones, and I somehow doubt if such a device emitted dangerous gamma rays, more likely alpha or beta from the little luminous tube under the digits to make them glow. Brian

Tritium dials with a beta decay and half life ~12.5 years. I have a couple of watches that would set off alarms in monitoring equipment.

Alphas and probably betas would be blocked by the tube's glass.

In the spirit of DIY:

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