MILITARY COLLECTORS GROUP POST (MCGP) RADIOACTIVE DISCUSSION RADIOACTIVE RADIOS One thing working many years at the Nevada Test Site tought me about was ionizing radiation :-). Our society has been so blasted by the media about ionizing radiation that it engenders more fear then it should. Handling radiation is similar to handling fire. In fact, heat from fire IS radiation; it's just at a different wavelength. Ionizing radiation deserves the same respect as fire and can be thought-of in similar ways. A small radiation source is like a small fire and a large one is like a large fire. You wouldn't run screaming from a lit match, but neither would you stick your finger on it. This is like a "small" source, such as an RBZ or TBX. On the other hand, I would certainly get away from a few grams of, say, Cobalt 60. That's a LARGE source and should be treated like a forest fire- meaning RUN! ;-) There is no need to be nervous if you arm yourself with the proper knowledge and respect, just as you would for fire. The radiation levels on this gear are not threatening in normal use or sitting on a shelf, even in close proximity. To give you perspective-- the "hottest" rig I have is the thick radium paint on the BC-9 meter. It's about 10 millirem/hour contact, which means right slam-up against it. Every inch away from it reduces that level drastically. 10 millirem/hour means if you put it in your pocket so it was against your skin and carried it for an hour, your leg would receive ten thousandths of a REM dose. Assuming non-ingestion, it takes a 100 REM whole-body dose (100,000 millirem) to a human population for 50% of the people to show any effect, and that is detectable only through blood tests (change in white cell count). 90%+ of those detected will recover without proven lasting effects. There are people who will argue theory about injury from small doses, but my data comes from real-world evidence. People in Denver receive much higher whole-body doses all their lives with no detectable increase in disease in the overall population. That having been said, the important threat is inhaling or ingesting the stuff. This is a real danger that should not be taken lightly. Radium lodged in the lungs or digestive tract means a serious increase in the chance for cancer, because it sits there for a long time bombarding the same set of cells. The best way to handle radium paint that isn't flaking is LEAVE IT ALONE. However- Hams have a genetic inablity to keep screwdrivers out of things, so there are times you might need to open your RBZ and do some work. We handled this problem at The Site by using ventalition tables and by paint fixatives. When handling small items, we put them on a table that had vent holes in the surface and a vent hood on top. A steady current of air carried any loose particulates up the vent and into a filter system to trap them. Down in the tunnels, if there was any fear of active particulates, we'd spray the walls and surfaces with a paint fixative to trap them on a surface. Again- casual contact on a surface won't hurt you; injestion will. We hobbiest don't have vent tables available, so here are my guidelines for working on this stuff: 1. NEVER eat, drink or smoke while working with radioactive items. 2. Work only in a well-vented area like a garage with the big door OPEN. DON'T work in the house where people can be exposed. 3. Place a fan blowing *gently* ACROSS your work area toward the outside. This will blow any particulates away from your lungs. A fast breeze will just create eddie currents. Make sure the path to the door is clear so no eddie currents carry particles back to you. Radium is heavy and wants to sink to the floor. Let it. If you don't want to do this, I very much recommend at least a painter's cloth breathing mask. 4. Wash your hands with soap and water when you're finished. 5. The best way to clean a radium-painted surface is DON'T! But people will. Remember that any brushing, wiping or scrubbing you do WILL pick-up particulates. You now have a radioactive cleaning cloth. Good luck with it. 6. DON'T attempt to remove the paint to "get rid of the problem." You'll end-up with LOTS of particulates and run a serious risk of contaminating yourself and everything around you, not to mention creating a waste product for which, were you to throw it in the garbage, you could go to jail. Sealing exposed radium paint on surfaces like the TBX or Wireless 19 sets with clear-coat should be a good idea. I've never personally had to do this. I would ask the experts because, if you use the wrong paint, the clear-coat could eventually flake off the aluminum and carry the radium with it. 73 DE David Stinson AB5S arc5@ix.netcom.com ================================================================== MORE RADIO ACTIVE RADIOS Dave Stinson recently wrote a very useful note about radioactive markings in boatanchors. In that article, he expressed a desire that someone publish a list of known radioactive equipment. Here is a list that I have compiled over several years. Some information is from personal knowledge and other data has been contributed by list members and others. TBX Meter faces and markings TBY Meter faces and markings TDZ Telephone channel selector dial ATD BC-620 Meter face BC-654 BC-659 Meter face BC-1335 Gibson Girl(various,maybe) R-174/GRR-5(maybe!) R-390 Meter faces (original meters) R-390A Meter faces (original meters) R-392 Meter faces (original meters) T-195 Knobs Many military knobs have a radioactive marking Switches Ends of some toggle switches are radioactive Tubes 0A2, 0A2WA 0A3 0B2 OC3 0E3 (5783WA) 85A2 372A 395A (5823 gas triode) 5651, 5651A 6081 6143 MPT47, MPT47B Note that tube radioactivity is internal. They are safe unless broken. Some tubes are radioactive in military versions only. Aircraft Instruments - Virtually all older aircraft instruments are radioactive. This probably includes all instruments manufactured through the sixties and, perhaps, well into the seventies. In general, it is not necessary to have a radiation monitoring instrument to determine which markings are radioactive and which are not. Radium paint is much thicker than the normal printed or silk screened markings. It is also, typically, light yellow with an occasional slight greenish tint. Older markings tend to turn brown. Do not be fooled by markings which do not glow in the dark! Old radium paint looses its capacity to fluoresce but does not lose its radioactivity. Radium i226 is a gamma and alpha emitter and has a halflife of 1622 years so it won't go away soon. Modern military equipment that glows in the dark uses tritium sealed inglass vials. Tritium is a beta emitter with a half life of 12.26 years. It is safe unless you eat the glass vials being sure to chew each bite like your mother taught you. Lennox Carruthers carruth@swbell.net ======================================================================= RADIOACTIVE RADIOS It should be noted that NOT ALL variants of the above listed radios will have radio active attributes. Some might distinguish between early and late war examples of the TBY and TBX. But there is no clear dividing line. Versions of both early and late production radios exist that have been found to be radio active, others not. Canadian Mod.19 MK III sets usually are not radio active, yet some versions of the U.S. MK II are. The use of radio active materials was not limited to WW-II or even 50's vintage equipment, but persisted on into at least the late 70's. The paint (or actually Paste) used on WW-II vintage dial markings is now badly oxidized in most cases, and can be dissolved with water, or even wiped off with your hands. So cleaning these surfaces is a very risky undertaking both in the area of personal danger, and permanent cosmetic damage to the radio itself. It is also not a good idea to try to use any type of clear coat over these dial face markings in an attempt to preserve or render them harmless. This because if a brush application is used, you will often wipe off the markings your trying to protect. Even if you attempt to use a spray application the subject markings might be dissolved making a rather nasty mess. It's probably best to just leave all suspect items alone, and treat them with the respect they deserve. The Governments of European countries are far more restrictive of both these perceived dangers and ownership of military radio equipment in general. The Netherlands for instance require collectors be issued permits to own military radios, and with that an inspection of said equipment by a government official. These inspections include a test for radioactivity. For this reason, European collectors should be very cautious about the equipment they import, least it be confiscated and disposed of at great personal expense. Not to mention the possible loss of a rare and valuable item of historic significance. Personally, I like radios that glow in the dark whether or not power has been applied, and feel that there is much worse in this world to worry about. Some more radios that are inclusive: The Navy RBZ(all versions) Original Panel meters of the GRC-106 Toggle switches can be identified by a plastic insert at the tip of the bat handle. Dennis Starks; Collector/Historian Midwest Military Communications Museum email: military-radio-guy@juno.com ================================================================================ RADIOACTIVE TBX/TBY I think you could safely and confidently say that TBYs with the pushbutton operated front panel lights (TBY, no suffix) did not have radium. TBX, the versions with whiteface meters, the early sets with #34 tubes and manual breakin, did not have radium. Hue Miller ================================================================================ RADIOACTIVE TBX/TBY Again, there is still no clear dividing line, I know of several late war TBX-8's (the last of the series built) that have been tested, and are not radio active. Dennis Starks; Collector/Historian Midwest Military Communications Museum email: military-radio-guy@juno.com ================================================================================ WW-II Japanese Radio-Activity, Almost all the Japanese radios of WW II vintage are radioactive. Bill Howard THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM e-mail wlhoward@gte.net ================================================================================ *********************************************** The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher or this group are included. For more information concerning this group, the use of our mateial, or membership contact Dennis Starks at, . A list of selected articles of interest to members can be seen at: http://www.softcom.net/users/buzz/backmail.html ***********************************************