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A relic from the Cold War nuclear jitter, a Geiger Counter's manualRadiac Set AN/PDR-27F
by Jim ClineBackground: Circa 1980 I bought an old surplus Geiger Counter, made in 1954. Although theover-hundred-volt batteries for it were no longer available, I was able to create a virtualbattery for the high voltage for the vacuum-tube instrument by stacking 15 of the conventional9 volt batteries together, and was able to use the instrument to measure the radiation in myenvironment. There seemed to be a high energy source of some kind occasionally toastingmy immediate environment, source or type unknown. Unfortunately I was not able to have theGeiger Counter running at any time and place when the "energy beam" was toasting thingsincluding parts of me, so was not able to confirm its nature re nuclear energy sourcing orperhaps misuse of a structural inspection X-ray generator, or high intensity microwave beam.I recall using a similar instrument during my training to be a Radiation Monitor back in themid-1960's. The training taught how to use the instrument to locate areas of lesser radiation incase of a nuclear blast nearby that one had happened to survive. Part of training graduationwas for all trainees to share in eating from a can of beans that had been subjected to severeradiation from our radiation sample used in the training course, to show we were confident ofthe edibility of contents of sealed canned goods, an important bit of knowledge in case thingshave been smashed all around your area. If I can find my copy of handouts of how to build afallout shelter depending on circumstance material and time availability, I will add it to theseHistorical Items pages. People nowadays do not usually have the sense of any moment beingbombed by a nuclear weapon, and how to deal with it rationally to optimize long termsurvivability of self and others.The instrument is still in my possession (as of April 25, 2008; the world has gotten weirdagain, my belongings keep disappearing, so who knows of tomorrow here) although the oldGC instrument is not currently working. Perhaps its manual's pages would be of historicalinterest to others, however; and so below are some representative pages from the manualand other related written material. Enjoy.(Ref:http://www.escalatorhi.com/JimDabblingH/gcmid1960s.html)
 
Cover of the manual for the "Radiac Set AN/PDR-27F" Geiger Counter.
 
First page of the Table of Contents
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