[R-390] METERS What To Do?

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Jon & Valerie Oldenburg wrote:

> Your treading into a potential dangerous area here. Most of the meters where
> marked with radium on their faces. Even if they no longer glow, they will
> still be "hot". Maybe the best route is to just leave them as is rather than
> risk inhaling any radium loaded dust. Jon AB9AH

Interesting that this subject has just come up. I'd always wondered about the
meters in my R-390A and older R-390. Last night I'd been doing a little work in
the radio room with lights on, then left for a while. I thought to take a small
flashlight and go back in (thinking I'd need to charge the radium again) for a
look. Well, the room was dark and the meters were glowing well enough that I
could see the scale separations. The A model is a Teledyne, so I'm guessing
early 60s for it. The R-390 is a Collins, probably early 50s?

Whatever the case, the radium is still very active. Don't think I'd care to dig
into them for the sake of glass-cleaning, either.

~Boomer,  KA1KAQ