Semiconductor free Geiger Counter

Tried searching the keyword “geiger counter” on Google, or even better, on YouTube? Now, how many of them contained a multitude of transistors, analog microchips or even digital microprocessors, and no shielding at all? Well, whatever the count is, a majority of them – if not all – are going to fail miserably, due to a huge electromagnetic pulse, when the… [more]

X-rays with a Beryllium-window tube

While lurking on eBay on a nice spring day of 2012,  I have been lucky to obtain a real gem, for a very cheap price indeed: a special micro-focus X-ray tube, with a Be window on the beam port, mostly for spectral analysis or fluoroscopic scanning purposes, for up to 150 kilovolts with forced oil cooling at high powers; made by a now-defunct American EG&G Astrophysics company… [more]