[R-390] R-390A meters

[Dave and Sharon Maples]

All: I thought Harry's note on the residual radioactivity of the meters was
certainly useful to know.

He mentioned a $50 cost-savings figure.  Has someone made replacement meters
for the R-390A in that price range?  If so, who is the company?  As much of
a pain in the neck a typical meter repair job is (and with such little
guarantee of success in the end), $50 is not anywhere near too much to pay
to just replace the things.

Presuming that there is NOT an easily-obtained replacement, I'm sitting here
thinking about how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the meters without
letting any particulate matter loose.  This sounds just like asbestos
removal to me, and just about as much fun as a dental drill with no
anesthetic!

Thoughts run toward disassembling the meters in a bowl of Freon-TF or
similar degreaser, cleaning out the movements, and then sealing up the
debris in a suitable container and getting rid of it. Boy, that's a lot of
work, and how do I deal with trying to find a place that will handle
disposal of potentially radioactive waste (mebbe the local radiology or
nuclear medicine department at the hospital)?

I've got a set of three Harris URC-94 SSB transceivers that use basically
the same meter style.  Since those are illuminated (and about 20 years
newer) I suspect they DON'T have the same problems, but one never knows
(sigh).

Ah, well, when I was a kid I was the happy recipient of a number of science
kits, courtesy of Mom and Dad.  One of them had to do with a cloud chamber
and radioactivity, and there was a bag of what I believe was pitchblende
included in the kit, as well as some film.  I never built the cloud chamber,
but did manage to leave the bad of pitchblende on top of the film, and as I
recall it got well and truly fogged.  I have probably had more radioactivity
from that than I will ever get from the R-390A meters...

Dave Maples, WB4FUR