Gamma Dog - Performance

 So how does the Gamma Dog perform? 

The short answer is - fantastic! 

I am really happy with the performance. Charles and I have been testing our instruments inside and out and they work great - sensitivity is excellent so as the ease of use. The operation is a complete joy and a fun user experience just to go out in the field and hunt for radioactive minerals with the Gamma Dog. We seem to have nailed all of our design goals and there isn't anything I can think of to improve the instrument further.

Here is just a small fraction of the specimens I have collected with my Gamma Dog.

This little Euxenite crystal (on top of a US Dime for scale) I found under 2-3 inches of silt and sand in a wash near the pegmatite at White Signal, NM

This is the haul of Euxenite crystals over a couple of days Charles and I found in a single "honey" pot at White Signal, NM. 

I found this gigantic Euxenite crystal, one of the biggest I've seen - it wasn't difficult to find though, with an with activity of almost 8000 CPS, the Gamma Dog was howling. Charles found an unusually high-activity area and started digging a hole but then he attributed the activity to the "mass-effect". I decided to give the hole a second chance and it produced this fantastic crystal.

Another interesting Euxenite - the "corner" void was caused by a weathered quartz crystal which crumbled and disintegrated when I pulled it out. I guess the radiation onslaught over millions of years was too much for it.

A very interesting crystal habit of Euxenite (White Signal, NM) - I found the one on the left with my Gamma Dog and Charles found the one on the right. Both crystal are in the collection of Charles now. 

Picture by Charles David Young.

Allanite-(Ce) crystals I found over a couple of hourd with my GD at the Kingsman Feldspar Mine, Kingsman, AZ

Closeup of one of the Allanite-(Ce) specimens from Kingsman, AZ

Quartz with Copper ore and black Uraninite inclusions from the Green Monster Mine south of Las Vegas, NV.

Uraninite (the two on the left) crusted with secondary minerals (Gummite) and Zircon? (on the right) from the Biermann Quarry, Bethel, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Collection of Samarskite-(Y) crystals, I managed to find within a few hours at Dollar Bill claims, Little Rincon Mountains, Pima County, Arizona 

I found this nice doubly terminated and fairly large for the locality (2.5cm x 1.5cm x 1cm) Euxenite-(Y) crystal at the Dollar Bill claims, Little Rincon Mountains, Pima County, Arizona

(picture credit: Charles David Young)

Charles Young did a quick XRF of the crystal above, showing that the Uranium peak is smaller than the Yttrium peak - characteristic signature of Euxenite-(Y).

Prospecting at the Dollar Bill Claim, Mescal, Arizona.

Another great video by Charles David Young.
The Gamma Dog makes it all possible - I can't imagine ever going back to any other detector for this application.

A quick overview of the Gamma Dog.