The IM174/PD (Radiacmeter) Lives!
Mandatory post to inform readers where to get them while they are still out there somewhere.
I feel obligated to tell people about this piece of gear because I have a sinking feeling they are going to vanish in the next few years or so and survivalists should know where and how to acquire them before they pass into legend. I bookmarked the last few remaining suppliers across the globe the past 20 years and they have each winked out and vanished one-by-one, the stores either closing down or removing their websites from the internet. Nothing sinister, simple attrition it looks like to me.
(I don’t know Oatley or have any interest in selling these things nor do I get kickbacks. As a collector I believe I have located the only place left on Earth you can get one of these Cadillacs of geiger counters and I don’t know how much longer it is going to be available. If I could buy his entire stock and sell them here so there’d always be a supply I would. I think Oatley may be retiring soon.)
A serious shelter has to have one. You might be able to live without a nixie clock or an atomic timekeeper but if you ever wanted to know for sure if the interior is receiving too much radiation, this is the one you want permanently mounted inside your shelter forever. It represents a “source of truth” to give you security. This will almost certainly be a VAULT-SYS module to connect to it but it will be limited appeal because there may be few people who have one. It’s always been my dream to make this integration one of the default connections on the dashboard. I have permanent unique IDs hardcoded into VAULT-SYS to recognize some devices in plug-n-play and this is the first one with a table constant that identifies it.
This device looks like it came straight out of the game FALLOUT and it has a unique retro electronics look to it that likely will never be duplicated during our lifetimes. Our government doesn’t make things this cool anymore. They don’t even have the know-how if they desperately wanted to. You couldn’t even 3D print something this tough if you tried to create it as a reproduction.
It is built like a boat anchor of machined solid iron that could easily stop a small arms round by the quality engineers of the U.S. military in the late 50’s as the last gasp of serious tech for surviving World War III. It bolts from the bottom to a shelf anywhere with an insulator to keep it from moving during ground shock from a nuclear weapon detonating nearby. The internal electronics were tested to survive real EMP in magnetic chambers and the meter itself was custom commissioned to run error-free until the end of the world and beyond. This is all GAMMA RAYS detection, none of those diversified multisensor pooncey “alpha” and “beta” detectors. There is no sensitivity switch - just a calibrator because this thing is designed to detect GAMMA like you’d expect in a nuclear war. This thing measures fallout and maybe the Incredible Hulk trying to break into your shelter and nothing else.
I was once assigned to run self-diagnosis for the meters on thirty of them in storage in the Army and every one of them passed, in addition upon opening the case I discovered the interior dry, blemish free and absolutely intact. These are not consumer electronics, they are military grade designed to keep out bugs, moisture, spiders, fungus and rot forever without any leaks in the case to the outside air. After 20 years sealed most of them gave off a distinct “whish” when opened, signaling just how good the seal is on them.
Anybody who read the old Vault-Co blog probably knows just how excited I was when through a curious turn of events, the Australians discovered a premium supply of pristine Radiacmeters that were still in the box in some ancient Cold War warehouse undisturbed, AS-NEW tech that had never been opened! Left on Australian soil - likely intended to assist the Australians when they dropped the bomb!
The place was called Oatley Electronics and over a 19 year period I ordered 5 of these rigs with modification kits, schematics and manuals to switch to more modern battery setups. These were so important to me that I dragged all of them back to America when I returned and I am shocked they didn’t sink a cargo ship because of how heavy they are.
Oatley Electronics did a little research and discovered how to add new batteries to replace the now-rare former models and then they discovered how to interface them to digital outputs. Using their initial circuit I was able to modify it slightly to share the analog signal to the meter with a Modbus sensor and for the first time integrated it into VAULT-SYS as just another input device. At that point I was sold on the unit as the best internal shelter monitor you are going to be able to source. I expect a lot further research and programming in the future to really make it an integral part of 24/7 monitoring for the VAULT-SYS network.
Oatley Electronics - Search “Geiger” at front menu to find the variations on their main kit for the IM174/PD and digital boards that connect to them. As far as I know, they are one of the last places left where you can get AS-NEW stock for this geiger counter.
I thought for most of my life the CD-700 / CD-715 was the true workhorse of the Civil Defense corps but after using both I reckon I would want the IM174/PD on the inside and use the CD-7** series to sweep the staging areas, do survey outside and spot checks wherever required. I think I would feel safest with the IM174 dinosaur on the inside because it is self-calibrating and built much better than even the CD lines. This was mostly due to its perceived environment in the military with tougher manufacturing and performance characteristics.
I am glad to put this up on my stack as a guide where to acquire them and what you can do with them to modify and adapt them to modern monitoring systems. I’m sad to say I have not formalized that process at this time but once I get the first version out of my software this will be a high priority project because it also demonstrates how to take an analog Modbus sensor and connect it to just about any analog device to get a reading, even a panel meter output. Success in that regard will translate to a wide range of other devices that provide all kinds of useful measurements and interfacing … like a PH meter for hydroponics or a signal strength indicator for a radio.
Regards, Tex
I just ordered two kits from them that include the old thing and the new insert electronics.
Very cool! Thank you~
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