[Milsurplus] radioactive meters? how to tell?

[Patrick Jankowiak]

Hello all,

I would like to be able to tell whether the meters on my GRC106's 
are the radioactive kind or not. They are safe enough certainly 
unless that glass is broken or the material is otherwise freed up.

In case I were to have to dispose of a meter, however, or in case 
I break one, it would be good to know.

All the knobs, and most of the meters have the familiar greenish 
yellow glow of simple phosphorescent paint, easily excited by 
black light. These glow for a while, and fade out completely 
after many minutes.

The other meters, however, are not excited by black light, nor is 
their glowing affected by it. They have a definitely blue glow, 
quite faint and not like the green-yellow you see on the other 
meters nor like the green from a tritium element's phosphor.

So, what about these meters with the very dim but persistent blue 
glow? Any other reason why they would glow persistently and at 
the same level?

(personally I am not alarmed by it, and prefer the radioactive 
ones because they are the original types.)

I have no instrument sensitive enough to check them with. My most 
sensitive detector, a Nukalert key fob, only goes down to 0.1 R/Hr.

BTW see www.nukalert.com, quite nice..

Patrick