Category: NBC

Hello Jim – Fantastic Blog – I am a little late to the party and just discovered SurvivalBlog last week working some survival related searches on Google. I read your novel [“Patriots”] too, years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My questions: I have searched around and can not find much practical information on Faraday Cages, especially directions for constructing them at home. What design is effective? What is not? Should they be grounded? etc. I know this information is out there, and I’ll bet that more than one reader of the Blog can help – and I’ll also bet that …

Prussian Blue (“PB”) is a safe treatment for ingested radioactive isotopes that a person may have been exposed to from a dirty bomb or nuclear explosion. It does not protect against radiation, nor treat radiation sickness (there are supplement and drugs that help, see below.) It does not protect against all known radioactive substances (i.e., you would want to take Potassium Iodide (KI) as well to protect against radioactive iodine from a nuclear explosion.) It isn’t a substitute for evacuating out of the path of fallout, or for taking shelter from fallout in a protected place. It’s just one useful …

Mr Rawles: I got a chance to tour the P-10 self-contained fallout shelter that you have mentioned a couple of times here on your blog and wanted you to know that it is as advertised in apparently really good shape. The smart money would be on this one with a complete system checkup while it is being reinstalled. I have dealt with Ready Made Resources in the past always with good results and I think he will help anyone who wants this shelter have a positive experience with its purchase. If it were not poor timing for me this shelter …

James: RE: > I also didn’t buy the use of a smoke detector to test a CDV survey meter so I checked it out. Didn’t show squat since that meter is relatively insensitive. Oh, I also tried a smoke detector with my Digilert-100 from http://www.seintl.com . This detector reads Alpha, Beta, Gamma and X-rays. Nada. BTW, the Digilert has available some neat software that I use to track background radiation on a daily basis. Normal background here in Colorado is between 20 and 39 counts per minute. The unit also has an alarm level that can be set to any …

Mr. Rawles, I’m very suspicious of the information from “Ole Rad” that you could test a Civil Defense field survey meter with the radiation that comes from a smoke detector. Several things in his post don’t add up: 1) Smoke detectors use Americium-241 as their source and the radiation at 1 meter distance is “less than 1/1000th of that from background radiation” (source: http://www.arpansa.gov.au/is_smkdt.htm). 2) The CDV-777-2 is the radiation detection kit which contains a field survey meter, dosimeters, and a dosimeter charger. The kit might also contain a CDV-700 geiger counter, but that has it’s own beta check source …

Hi James, Regarding the post from Wednesday about the old rad meters for $60, they were about the only thing easily available before Y2K. At that time the conventional wisdom, (which I am almost certain goes back to Bruce Beach, since he was selling piles of old Canadian ones for 50 bucks) is that the ionizing chamber can deteriorate over time and to be safe you must multiply by a factor of four when using it. If it reads 5 R, figure it is 20 R. If it reads 20 R, figure it is 80 R. This should definitely keep …

Mr. Rawles: The following is an excerpt from an interesting string of conversation on Survival Forum about calibrating a survey meter. I don’t know this as fact, but if true. It would useful info. I should say that the poster that posted this has been reliable in the past, and well-documented. I asked Ole Rad ’bout the calibration of me CD 777-2 survey meter. Says he– “1 microcurie of Cesium 137 should cause a defection.” Purty cool, huh? Turns out 1 microcurie source of Cesium 137 is a common smoke detector— that only took me two days ta find out. …

Hi James, Just wondering if you have a recommendation for or warning against this surplus (but “brand new condition”) CDV-720 portable radiation detector from the Sportsman’s Guide Catalog: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=256259 It looks snazzy, but I thought (with the exception of the Kearny Fallout Meter) that viable radiation detectors ran in the hundreds of dollars…? – David in Pleasanton, California (One of your $100 contributors) JWR Replies:  A CDV 720 is a Civil Defense surplus survey meter. If it is truly working, then at $60 it is a bargain. I recommend that you go ahead and order one. When it arrives, immediately …

Hi Jim, Boy, is your blog the “cream of the crop”! I’ve read it daily, almost from the very beginning, and am always amazed by the breadth of knowledge within. Great job! I fully recognize the need for a suitable fallout shelter for my family in these trying times. By suitable I mean more than just an expedient shelter. We may need to be sealed off for several weeks in a worst case scenario. Don’t get me wrong, an expedient shelter will save lives but may not be the most desirable conditions for a wife and toddler. In doing much …

Jim: The IM-179 is a really neat little meter unless you need to measure background, but there are other meters for that. I’ve been using the following as replacement batteries for my IM-179: #1 [Replacement for Mallory BA1312U]: Batteries Plus: ALK 1.5V/325Mah Cat # DURPC640A Were $2.99 each UPS #041333040431 Batteries Plus -91 On the battery it says: PC640A China (Ha!) Alkaline #2 [Replacement for Mallory BA1318U]: Batteries Plus DANTR164A Batteries Plus #90 Were $11.99 each On the battery is says: Excell A32 . A164 6.0V Alkaline PX32A EN164A PC164A Hope this helps. Isn’t it amazing how common pieces of …