EK COLE METER SURVEY RADIAC No 2 RADIATION METER, 1955

The scale is not calibrated, The range switch has 4 positions 0 - 3 r/hr / Scale Indicator White (shown)
0 - 30 r/hr / Scale Indicator Blue
0 - 300 r/hr / Scale Indicator Red
Set Zero / White Scale Indicator
The meter can be read while in the carry case and a side flap opens to allow access to the controls.
Measures Gamma - Detects Beta
Beta detection is accomplished by removing the base plate and a barrier plate inside. The unit was used by the Civil Defence Post War. Although referred to as Geiger counters, most CD devices were radiological survey meters capable of measuring only high levels of radiation that would be present after a nuclear event. Required 2X 1.5Volt 1X 9Volt and 1X 30Volt Batteries. The Radiac Survey Meter No 2 or RSM was a 1955 meter which counted the particles produced by radioactive decay. This meter suffered from a number of disadvantages: it required three different types of obsolete batteries, it also contained delicate valves that were liable to failure and it had to be operated from outside the protection of the post.
These were favoured as they had been tested on fallout in Australia after the Operation Buffalo nuclear tests, and remained in use until 1982 by commissioning a manufacturer to regularly produce special production runs of the obsolete batteries.

Your comments:

• There was also a training version of the meter that produced readings that could be reported back to base via radio during simulated reconnaissance missions. Civil Defence training involved a small team setting out in a Land Rover towards the site of the nuclear blast. At intervals we would stop and report back the ‘radiation readings’ from our ‘demo’ Radiac Survey Meter’. The attraction for me as a teenager was the prospect of getting to drive the Land Rover. But I never did!
  .......... Tim Watson , Nottingham , 22nd of January 2023
  
  
• I used these in Civil Defence in the mid '60s. The detector is an ionisation chamber. By removal of a screw plug in the end below the meter, the instrument would detect an alpha radiation sorce placed in the hole. I believe this was for test purposes. The same case was used for the later MD.3 which was used in the forces until at least 2003! I bought one off eBay, where it was incorrectly described as a "Geger Counter". This has solid state electronics and ranges of 0-3, 0-30 & 0-300 centiGrays/hour. Interestingly the battery positions are still labelled LAMP & FIL (the latter refers to the filament of the original valve type of instrument. The unit no longer uses an HT battery, but 2 D cells.
  According to the test certification I got with my MD. 3 it was tested at the Institute of Naval Medicine, Gosport and then used at RAF Akrotiri.
  .......... Steve Cook, Richmond/Surrey, 20th of February 2011
  
  

A1300