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2.GQ Geiger Muller Counter

Verification - DO NOT leave power on through TSA

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[quote][i]Originally posted by desertengineer[/i]
[br]Yes, I can attest the guidance is accurate.  I had an older model pancake unit a couple of years ago.  Loved taking it on high-altitude flights watching the CPM skyrocket.  On an international flight, a flight attendant was very curious and I showed her the numbers, explaining this is picking up a shower of various particles produced when cosmic rays hit the upper atmosphere, that I do worry about flight crews who do this 5-6 days a week.  Turned out, she was a ranking member in their legislative union engagement team, and I ALMOST got an appointment, (as a scientific advisor - Engineer with radiation training), to an advisory council.  Was cool to get a call from a person IN THE WHITE HOUSE.  But it was at the end of the Obama administration, and they were mostly focused on what party you were on, not the scientific merit.

But I digress.  On the final journey of this GCM model, I ACCIDENTALLY left the power on as it went through the TSA X-ray scanner.  When I pulled it out of the bag on the plane, it was DEAD.  Zero CPM.  I can only surmise the applied electric field on the tube, combined with the intense X-rays, either destroyed the tube, or destroyed the board.

In any case, it was an excuse to buy a new 600+ I had my eye on.  But take this as a lesson, travelers.  If you are flying, VERIFY the unit is powered off before letting it go through airport X-ray machines.  Mine became E-waste in a couple of seconds.
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desertengineer	Posted - 04/25/2024 : 19:38:41 Yes, I can attest the guidance is accurate. I had an older model pancake unit a couple of years ago. Loved taking it on high-altitude flights watching the CPM skyrocket. On an international flight, a flight attendant was very curious and I showed her the numbers, explaining this is picking up a shower of various particles produced when cosmic rays hit the upper atmosphere, that I do worry about flight crews who do this 5-6 days a week. Turned out, she was a ranking member in their legislative union engagement team, and I ALMOST got an appointment, (as a scientific advisor - Engineer with radiation training), to an advisory council. Was cool to get a call from a person IN THE WHITE HOUSE. But it was at the end of the Obama administration, and they were mostly focused on what party you were on, not the scientific merit. But I digress. On the final journey of this GCM model, I ACCIDENTALLY left the power on as it went through the TSA X-ray scanner. When I pulled it out of the bag on the plane, it was DEAD. Zero CPM. I can only surmise the applied electric field on the tube, combined with the intense X-rays, either destroyed the tube, or destroyed the board. In any case, it was an excuse to buy a new 600+ I had my eye on. But take this as a lesson, travelers. If you are flying, VERIFY the unit is powered off before letting it go through airport X-ray machines. Mine became E-waste in a couple of seconds.
4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
GBG12	Posted - 05/21/2024 : 18:26:29 I'm glad my kit GM tube did not fail in the X-Ray machine on one trip. I had to demonstrate to some foreign customs inspectors what the suspicious device was before they let me in the country. The life of a GM tube is generally a function of the counts it gets, so EOL is more likely in an X-ray machine.
Bobakman	Posted - 05/03/2024 : 14:33:22 Power off or power on x-ray, energy, a.k.a. gamma at exceedingly high energies can damage electronics but from what I�ve read with TSA machines these use very low energy back scatter x-rays see article below.. I personally have had mine powered on for at least four different flights with no issues. I was more concerned with the pressurization of the aircraft being lost and causing it to pop the mica on the LND 7317 pancake GMT. Just my thoughts. Bob https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3936792/#:~:text=The%20doses%20of%20ionizing%20radiation%20emitted%20by%20these%20backscatter%20x-ray%20scans%20is%20exceedingly%20low%20-%20so%20low%20that%20it%20is%20really%20not%20known%20whether%20there%20is%20any%20potential%20for%20causing%20harm.%20The%20TSA%20considers%20the%20risk%20for%20causing%20harm%20trivial.%20Even%20though%20the%20doses%20are%20low%2C%20the%20cancer%20risk%20merits%20consideration%20given%20there%20are%20750%20million%20passenger%20enplanements%20a%20year%20and%20even%20a%20small%20risk%20per%20person%20could%20potentially%20translate%20into%20a%20significant%20number%20of%20cancers.
desertengineer	Posted - 04/26/2024 : 05:31:50 I�m not saying the flights are a problem. The TSA X-RAY SCANNER is! I left the power on accidentally and the machine killed it dead.
ullix	Posted - 04/25/2024 : 22:57:54 This is NOT generally true! Attached pic is an example flight recording of CPS with a GMC-600+. Note that I applied log scale in order to make the flight data visible in the presence of the monster X-ray scan peak of CPS=3603! There are several more examples in the forum of users happily using their GMC-600 on flights.

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