Today was a good day. (wait, that's an understatement) Cold war tech image heavy

[XOIIO]

Well, checked my tracking number, and the package was delivered on the very first day of the delivery period

What is it you ask? Well...








YUP! Super happy to have this finally, (couldn't even wait to get home to open it), unfortunately it's a newer one made by lionel, not by victoreen, couldn't tell from the listing, but it's still pretty sweet Came with the original box, headphones, strap and manual as well. The headphones worked for a bit, but then cut out, so I had to fix them, I'm going to toss images and a guide up on the repair forum after posting this and link it here.

I'm not exactly sure when this unit was made, Maybe in '84 since that is stamped on it, and that is the cal date.

Also, here is the manual scanned:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/3m25y923gbzda3a/CDV-700%20Manual.pdf

[XOIIO]

Headset repair post over here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/cdv-700-headset-repair/

[XOIIO]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation :/ Aside from the test source I can't find anything, my grandmother has no old clocks or watches that might have radium dials, no uranium glass, nothing around.

There is a military surplus store and an auction house but they have nothing, they have little bits of hardware like nuts and bolts at the auction house, the other place just has like, hiking stuff and clothing.

Yet another reason why I wish I lived in America, especially seeing the scrap yards and surplus stores that they go to on mythbusters 

Oh well, and man, dave would love the smell of this thing 

[brabus]

Cool!

p.s.: delete the address of your friend from the photo!

[XOIIO]

Cool!

p.s.: delete the address of your friend from the photo!

Oh man didn't see that his address was there. Just bought it from a guy off ebay, he was very friendly though, but the letter surprised me.

[pickle9000]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation :/ Aside from the test source I can't find anything, my grandmother has no old clocks or watches that might have radium dials, no uranium glass, nothing around.

There is a military surplus store and an auction house but they have nothing, they have little bits of hardware like nuts and bolts at the auction house, the other place just has like, hiking stuff and clothing.

Yet another reason why I wish I lived in America, especially seeing the scrap yards and surplus stores that they go to on mythbusters 

Oh well, and man, dave would love the smell of this thing 

Go to your local welder / welding shop and get a thorium welding rod. Or crack open an old smoke detector.

[XOIIO]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation :/ Aside from the test source I can't find anything, my grandmother has no old clocks or watches that might have radium dials, no uranium glass, nothing around.

There is a military surplus store and an auction house but they have nothing, they have little bits of hardware like nuts and bolts at the auction house, the other place just has like, hiking stuff and clothing.

Yet another reason why I wish I lived in America, especially seeing the scrap yards and surplus stores that they go to on mythbusters 

Oh well, and man, dave would love the smell of this thing 

Go to your local welder / welding shop and get a thorium welding rod. Or crack open an old smoke detector.

Well phoned the 3 antique shops I could find in town, one guy says he should have some uranium glass somewhere around, other two are out. Didn't think about thorium welding rods, but I do recall reading that those work. The smoke detector we have isn't old enough, it probably uses americium or however you say it which as far as I know only puts out alpha radiation.

[free_electron]

capacitors in MEGAfarad ? and 20.000 ohms per volt voltmeter ...

this thing dates from the galvanometer era...

[Kjelt]

I hope you never ever seriously have to use this device.
And I would be glad that it is hard to find something radioactive. It would not be nice if that thing went of in your backyard now would it. Maybe you should book a trip to Tchernobyl if you want to test it 

[XOIIO]

I hope you never ever seriously have to use this device.
And I would be glad that it is hard to find something radioactive. It would not be nice if that thing went of in your backyard now would it. Maybe you should book a trip to Tchernobyl if you want to test it 

I actually would like to visit Chernobyl someday, of course in the right gear and only for the safe amount of time.

But yeah, it's almost like there's a negative stigma about radiation or something 

lol.

[ampdoctor]

head over to our direction and pay a visit to Ottawa IL. They call it radium city. Your meter will peg the scale anywhere you go. It's like a little slice of Chernobyl right in our own back yard.

[XOIIO]

head over to our direction and pay a visit to Ottawa IL. They call it radium city. Your meter will peg the scale anywhere you go. It's like a little slice of Chernobyl right in our own back yard.

Really? That's both awesome and scary. Conveniently closer though 

I would still love to get some soil from Chernobyl though.

[ampdoctor]

Yeah really. It used to be the home of the Radium Dial corporation. When they demo'd the factory, people scooped up lumber and fixtures and plumbing parts etc and used it in their houses. The whole town is red hot! Google it and do some reading on the town or watch the documentary. It's just scary.

here's the link to a 1987 documentary on the place.
http://youtu.be/zLS6NCZPiSY

[XOIIO]

Oh, if anyone knows a place to get the headphone connector let me know, I know that anythingradioactive sells adapters, but I would like to just wire an old speaker up to it.

[zapta]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation :/ Aside from the test source I can't find anything, my grandmother has no old clocks or watches that might have radium dials, no uranium glass, nothing around.

I have a small radiation detector. Took it once to the dentist and it beeped whenever he operated his XRay machine. This was at the time he was still using film, not those digital sensors.

[pickle9000]

And for those who haven't seen it.

The Radioactive Boy Scout, quality is not great.

[N2IXK]

Is the built-in check source on the side of the unit not working?

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/civildefense/checksources.htm

[SeanB]

Grab a pack of gas mantles and you will find a little radiation above background. Chose the cheapest Chinese made ones, as there are made from rare earth oxides that contain radioactive material.  A box is cheap.

Otherwise a hand of bananas is a little above background level..

[XOIIO]

Is the built-in check source on the side of the unit not working?

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/civildefense/checksources.htm

It is, but I'd like something else to use.

Also, I'm not really sure if the meter is decently in call or not, it seems to read really high, on the x10 scale, if I have it close it can max out the meter, usually reading around 4 mr/h. I don't think the test source can really get more radioactive, so I guess the meter is high? Wondering if I should tweak the calibration myself until I can afford to get it properly calibrated. I'm not sure it if should still be between 2 and 3 all these years later.

[cimmo]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation

Do a search on evilBay for "Fiestaware". You can find vendors selling broken up chunks of Fiestaware plates. I have a one square inch chunk and I get well over 3000CPM with it sitting on a SBM-20 G-M tube.

[XOIIO]

Man, why is it so hard to find a source of radiation

Do a search on evilBay for "Fiestaware". You can find vendors selling broken up chunks of Fiestaware plates. I have a one square inch chunk and I get well over 3000CPM with it sitting on a SBM-20 G-M tube.

Yeah, I'm just trying to find local sources so I don't have to wait so long to get it.

[N2IXK]

Salt substitute (KCl) is somewhat hot (contains some Potassium-40) , and should be available at grocery store.

The Am241 source out of a smoke detector is a possibility. They put out some low energy (~60 keV) gamma, as well as all the alphas.

Have any old vacuum tubes available?  Some types (not common TV types) contain uranium glass seals, thoriated tungsten filaments, or other radioisotopes.  Stuff like Ni-63, Kr-85, Co-60, Cs-137, and Ra-224 were all used in tubes of one type or another over the years. Many of them go wanting for bids on eBay.

[Macbeth]

I hope you never ever seriously have to use this device.
And I would be glad that it is hard to find something radioactive. It would not be nice if that thing went of in your backyard now would it. Maybe you should book a trip to Tchernobyl if you want to test it 

I actually would like to visit Chernobyl someday, of course in the right gear and only for the safe amount of time.

But yeah, it's almost like there's a negative stigma about radiation or something 

lol.

Totally. I am intrigued by the "Elephants Foot / Medusa". I would love to camp down there and use the foot as my pillow. Radiation is cool, there are too many negative people spouting rubbish about it.

[dexters_lab]

A very good friend of mine has a Radiac Survey Meter (uk meter used until 1982, also known as the RSM 2)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Defense_Geiger_counters#Radiac_Survey_Meter

It looks brand new, i will be posting a video about it in my youtube channel one i get back from japan

[XOIIO]

Well, got contacted by someone who saw my ad looking for watches with radium dials or whatnot, and he has a vial of (what I think) is radium paint! Could be radium or tritium, he didn't mention which, he wants 25 for it, might be able to get it for a bit cheaper. I wonder how uncommon/rare these sorts of things are.