Geiger Counter at Uranium Mine tailing pile in Moab

This was taken at a uranium mine in Moab Utah, right off Kane Creek Road. This piece of uranium ore is not really hot, but it was fun to watch the geiger counter jump. This radioactive sample was not touched and was left behind.

There are some more videos that I uploaded of the geiger counter.

The geiger counter was bought from e-bay for about 20 bucks, it was a CDV-700 unit that is a relic of the cold war and was issued to the Civil Defense Fallout shelters. The external speaker is an Radio Shack Piezo Transducer Speaker, part #273-073A, wired to the headphone jack.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• cdv-700
• civil
• defense
• geiger
• counter
• uranium
• moab
• 4x4

[budw84]

I live in Durango, CO where homes are notorious for radon buildup. also, I've been told that there has been uranium mining in this town back in the day. I would love to get a hold of a CD geiger counter and find out what readings I can get.

[omegaman316]

Radon gas is not very radioactive from what I understand. All the Geiger counter is going to do is pickup a higher background radiation level. Or that is what I am thinking.

You are looking for a CDV-700 model. They are fairly cheap on ebay. Any other model like the 715 and 717 are worthless because if you can get a reading with those, you are in deep poopies.

Just keep an eye open on e-bay and after a few weeks, a good deal will appear.

Google Civil Defense Museum for more info.

[BigNoseMusic]

can you tell me why you would look for radioactive things?

[omegaman316]

Because it is cool! And I do not have a metal detector and I hate the beach.

What would you do if you have a gigercounter? I bet you will run all over the house, trying to find things to make it click!

I was in Moab, had the a gigercounter and a 4x4 truck. Can you blame me?

[Thefirstspectra]

Is this at the Mivida mine?

[omegaman316]

It is not Mi Vida Mine. I do not really know what mine it was. I know it was reopened recently because there is now a brown trailer next to the mine and the gate was closed and locked.

[antiprotons]

Nice. I collected lots of rocks in AZ. I need to take my GM to them and see if they give off anything.

[FSstudios1]

@omegaman316 omg im going to buy one on ebay and run around the house looking for stuff lolol

[DopeyBovineMan]

How do you calibrate these?

[vmelkon]

@DopeyBovineMan I bought my CDV700 this summer and it was 35$. Inside was very clean. The meters surface is plastic so it was scratched and dirty. Works great.

[clubfilms]

I'm surprised you got a cdv700 for 20 bucks, they're upwards of 50 now

[DopeyBovineMan]

Where could I get one of those geiger counters? The ones on ebay aren't calibrated and are all bashed around.

[amourdutigre]

@tressis2

Not much, save for some irritation due to having something in your underwear. U is really not all that radioactive. In this video, though it is cool, the geiger counter was not really picking much up, thought it was above the normal daytime background (for here in the lower elevation midwest). I suggest finding a surpluss or making a scintillation detector (google "paint can scintillator") and you will have much higher counts. Makes collecting samples much easier!

[tressis2]

hmm.... i wonder what wil hapend if you put some uranium in your underwear for a few days XD

[colliertng]

There are Radon Sampling Kits on the market & have to be sent in for analysis.