Building an Analog Geiger Counter

Hackaday reports on a builder who went old-school with an analog Geiger counter. The device uses a large J306 beta tube that puts out about eighty-eight counts per minute at normal background levels, and runs off a single AA battery stepped up to four hundred volts for the tube. An analog dial shows the reading across two ranges, and the builder jokes that if the needle pegs the scale, he'd rather run than measure exactly. It's a throwback to Cold War-era radiation detectors, for those who prefer needles over digital readouts.

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