Radex RD1706 dosimeter

A new addition to my lab, the RADEX RD1706 dosimeter is a low-end yet very compact and functional dosimeter with some interesting specs that made me purchase it. You can get it on ebay, here.

First, the best feature that made me purchase it were the two Geiger Muller tubes this device is using for enhanced sensitivity.
The second feature that draw my attention was the ability to detect low level energy x-ray radiation. Here are some of the specs:

Scale range ambient dose rate equivalent: 0.05 … 999 μSv/h
Range of registered energy 1) gamma radiation, 100KeV to 1.25MeV
2) X-ray radiation, 30KeV to 3.0MeV (!!!)
3) beta radiation, 250KeV to 3.5MeV
Time of calculations 1-26 seconds
Time of indication continuous
Power elements 1 or 2 AAA batteries
Overall dimensions 105x60x26 mm
Weight (w/o batteries) 0,09 KG

Here’s the box and the dosimeter:
P1040298 radex rd1706 radex rd1706 terra-p

As I said, this is a very sensitive device. I was able to use it to detect the gamma radiation from my uranium glass marbles. See the following video:

Compared to the Terra-p that I’ve presented here , the Radex RD1706 is better, in terms of sensitivity, see the next video for a comparison:

And here is a video showing the background radiation level as detected by the Radex and the Terra-p:

All in one, a very sensitive device, probably because of the twin Geiger Muller tubes, that I’m sure will perform reasonably well for detecting soft X-rays.