[R-390] Level/VU meter luminous phosphor type?

[Tom M.]

 There is a movie on Netflix about girls in NYC who died of radium poisoning.  They worked for American Radio painting watch dials.
See the trailer here:
"RADIUM GIRLS" 2020 OFFICIAL TRAILER

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"RADIUM GIRLS" 2020 OFFICIAL TRAILER


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    On Friday, February 26, 2021, 1:45:52 PM CST, Fred Moore <fred_moore at usa.net> wrote:  
 
 During WW II there was a contractor in LaCrosse WI that labeled aircraft
instruments with radium-containing paint.  They were possibly sub-contracting
for Astronautics, a Milwaukee WI aircraft instrument manufacturer.  One of
their workers was a ham radio operator, who came up in a conversation I had as
a child with the local group of veterans who took up ham radio after the war. 
They explained to me that he had died of radiation poisoning shortly after the
war ended.  

The R-390 manuals explain that the glass in front of the meters is enough to
stop the radiation emitted.  Therefore, one should never disassemble the
meters.  

At present, a number of people who are more than a few decades old are
immune-suppressed, in order to treat chronic health conditions or as
transplant anti-rejection therapy.  In such an individual, does the "threshold
effect" hold?  I wouldn't want to do that experiment myself. 

Next, the type of phosphor.  With radium mixed in that phosphor is
continuously excited.  There is another type of phosphor that, when 'charged'
with visible light, will continue to glow for up to a few hours.  But this
later type is rarely used, except on front panels of some equipment used in
the field.  

The phosphors themselves are toxic. 

-Fred

------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 26 Feb 2021 05:16:39 AM GMT
From: Chris Farley via R-390 <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
To: fred_moore at usa.netCc: Collins R-390 HF Receiver List
<r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [R-390] Level/VU meter luminous phosphor type?

A probably weird inquiry for the brain trust..  
Is anybody aware, or aware of a doc/spec denoting what phosphor type(s) were
used for these meter indicators?  Obviously this would not be unique to the
R390 family of equipment, and differing blues and greens are seen.  The
question is also raised how instrument luminescence was called out or
qualified.  
I've long been morbidly curious exactly how the old radium paints were
actually made, and what phosphor types were used.  I've done some brief
searching over the years and never really came up with anything conclusive. 
Regards, Chris 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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