Military-surplus scintillation probes meant for the detection of plutonium contamination are widely available in the surplus market. The DT590A/PDR-56F “Plutonium-239 Contamination X-Ray Probe” was used with the PDR-56 Radiac Set (radiation detection and measurement instrument), that has been obsoleted by the US Air Force. The probe is designed specifically for detecting the 14 to 21
d.i.y. Handheld Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) based on 16F877 PIC Microcontroller and LCD
Some time ago I was developing a medical instrument which required histogramming, which got me in the mood to retake my own PIC MCA project(http://home.comcast.net/~prutchi/index_files/scint.htm ). I used the variable RAM in the microcontroller (16F877), so I limited the number of channels to 95 and let the histogram run until some channel reaches 240 counts
We Received The First Copies of Our d.i.y. Quantum Physics Book!
Today we received the first two copies of our new book! It is a do-it-yourself book on Experimental Quantum Physics, and was published by John Wiley & Sons. From the back cover: “Build an intuitive understanding of the principles behind quantum mechanics through practical construction and replication of original experiments. With easy-to-acquire, low-cost materials and
d.i.y. Moon Camera for EME and Radio-Astronomy Mounted on Space Communications Antenna Array
Our space-communicationsantenna array includes a camera that looks in the direction that the array is pointing. This camera helps us check that we are aiming directly at the moon during EME attempts. In addition, when it lets us see airplanes that may be the source of interfering signals when we conduct radio-astronomy observations.
Crazy Pacemaker Hack: d.i.y. High-Speed Photography
This is a hack that combines three of my favorite passions: pacemakers, photography, and coffee! I took this photograph by feeding the output of an infrared barrier to the atrium input of an old DDD pacemaker, setting an appropriate AV delay, and using the ventricular output to trigger a camera flash (via a optoisolator). In
Compton Scattering Experiment
Spectrum Techniques of Oak Ridge, TN – a top supplier of Exempt Quantity radioisotope sources and nuclear measurement instrumentation – released today our tutorial: “Experiment Note: Exploring Compton Scattering Using the Spectrum Techniques Universal Computer Spectrometer”
Radiation-Hardened IC Testing
Lately I’ve received many inquiries about the paper on radiation-hardness testing of implantable integrated circuits that I published with Dr. Larry Stotts (now Executive VP R&D at Biotronik), and the late Dr. John Prince. This is because the effects of medical diagnostic and therapeutic radiation are becoming an issue of concern to physicians who often
Nuclear Pacemakers, Pu-238 RTGs, and Betavoltaic Cells
I am placing information about nuclear-powered pacemakers, including RTG and betavoltaic power sources under my www.implantable-device.com under the “Nuclear Batteries” Category.
Pictorial Instructions for Modifying ENI CD V700 into David Prutchi’s CDV700 Pro Geiger Counter
We modified a surplus Civil Defense V-700 radiation survey meter made by Electro Neutronics Inc. (Model 6-b) into a very capable radiation counter capable of working with both Geiger-Müller and PMT scintillation probes. We modified the front panel to accommodate the new switches, connectors, and panel light. In addition, we placed a Veeder-Root count totalizer
Errata for “Design and Development of Medical Electronic Instrumentation”
Errata for: D. Prutchi and M. Norris, Design and Development of Medical Electronic Instrumentation – A Practical Perspective of the Design, Construction and Test of Medical Devices, ISBN: 0-471-67623-3, 450 pages, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, November 2004. Pages 86, 87: October 18, 2005 – Bob Higgins brought the following to my attention:
