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 ID 1:EB5A139C - South Beloit, Illinois 
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Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:40 pm
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Location: Illinois
With the current Canada fires burning and U.S. states around me under health advisory due to the smoke from those fires, I failed by not checking/replacing my outside air purifier filter. After looking online and seeing my stations readings lower than what I believe to be expected with the burning fires and smell outside, I seen my filter looked too old. After going to the store to buy another and just now (around 7:30 a.m. CST) I found a bunch of live gnats were caught inside of it too. Not the machine, only the filter.

It has been replaced with a new filter now and I fully expect as the outside radioactive particles continue to collect in the filter, my station will likely go in to ALERT within a hour or two.

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MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C


Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:40 am
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It'll probably take a while for the particles to build up again after a filter change.

Take a look at the beta stations that are back online now, they all show lower reads due to recent servicing... Although fort wane shot right back up as did toledo.

...It's kinda a mis read on the actual environment and will be for a little while as these small particles have to build up for a real world reading, kinda like a guy that just got off the plane from say Australia. It takes a while for him to breathe the particles into his lungs after arriving...

Looks like almost every beta station was serviced in the last 24 hours or so, even Charlotte is back on the map today.

So expect lower readings even though the environment has not changed that much (and may even be worse) at any given beta station location.

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Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:00 pm
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EB702D3F wrote:
It'll probably take a while for the particles to build up again after a filter change.


No it does not take long at all for the radioactive particles to build up and show on my graph as a pattern of rise or fall in levels. I know this because I have used this same system/setup for over two years. I have tested it in my basement and when testing this air purifier/geiger/NETC setup I could tell within five 1-minute counts a rise or fall pattern from when I would turn on my furnace fan vs. shutting off my furnace fan. I once had a radon problem in the basement and when I turned on my furnace fan, the radon gas would be sent throughout the house while air with less radon gas would be sent downstairs both causing the recorded levels to drop and show me this pattern within five 1-minute counts.

With all of that said, yesterday my graph does show an increase after I changed the filter but nothing like I expected. Now today I see it hit 80 CPM in the a.m. and looking at my history, most of my higher readings come in the a.m. when the temps get cooler overnight which pushes the particles from the upper atmosphere down. Now 80 CPM is above normal for me and I truly believe those elevated readings are a result of the Canada fires. Currently looking at the fast drop in my graph, the particles seem to be decaying away fast so I believe it passed for now.

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C


Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:13 am
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I was referring to the proven facts surrounding beta sites. I don't know anything about your setup as I have no hands on experience with that sort of monitor...

EPA sites have documentation and the behaviors are well known by all in the know.

However, I do find it strange that your reads were so high this morning while the others in your area were not. Any idea why this is?

Can you please tell us what (if anything) you were doing at the time(s) they were so high?

I should probably put together one of these stations and see what I get from it. I'll definitely do that when time allows.

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you...

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Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:10 am
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EB702D3F wrote:
However, I do find it strange that your reads were so high this morning while the others in your area were not. Any idea why this is?

Can you please tell us what (if anything) you were doing at the time(s) they were so high?

I should probably put together one of these stations and see what I get from it. I'll definitely do that when time allows.

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you...


I have mentioned before that higher readings are expected in the a.m. because the cooler night air brings the upper atmosphere down to the ground which in turn brings more particles down too. I recently replaced my outside radiation stations HEPA filter so it is receiving the highest airflow possible which will result in the best possible (for my station) collection of any present particles. This explains how I can currently have these readings.

You mentioned that my station is elevated but others are not. Here is a screen shot of the EPA Madison WI beta station and it shows it does have elevated readings within the same timeline as mine. Of course though we can't match up the CPM with each other, we use different systems.


Attachments:
Screenshot 2015-07-09 at 9.52.17 AM.png
Screenshot 2015-07-09 at 9.52.17 AM.png [ 46.65 KiB | Viewed 55768 times ]

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C
Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:09 am
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Location: Illinois
At 6:30 am my station hit a 6 month high, reaching 130 CPM.

Again it is hard to say for sure where this radiation came from (Handford, Fukushima, St. Louis landfill fire, WIPP, Canada fires) or what exact isotopes they are. What is most important is that it did reach my outside radiation station and at levels above my areas normal levels. This is why we never leave our windows open at night, I would rather run the AC overnight than chance this happening. It is mostly breathing in of hot alpha & beta particles that is feared most, not so much the gamma while inside the house. At least not at these elevated levels. While my GMC-200 does not detect alpha particles, I believe some alpha particles may decay in a chain that turns in to beta particles.

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C


Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:10 am
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Yea I have to agree with the AC thing...

The water that condensates in the coil cleans allot of stuff out of the air indoors. I guess that's why they call it air conditioning...

Smart move keeping windows closed and it should be recommended (by anyone else that's following this)! Full time AC/windows closed for everyone that's in the cross hairs of this smoke...


As for Madison, WI beta station...

I've been following all the beta reads since I found out about the fires and you are "spot on" correct when it comes to the reads. I was referring to the stations @ Saint Charles, IL, (that showed a high spike but at a different time) Since it's a similar station to your's It's particularity relevant as are the stations at Rochester MN, Middleton WI, Waterford MI...

...All are Gm's.

The EPA Beta stations show it (higher reads) in spades and we all should be taking precautions (don't be running or working hard outside when the reads are high like this)...

Looking forward to putting one of these (GM/air filter unit) together soon. Time is the problem right now...

...stay in touch!

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Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:06 am
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Yes, St. Charles Illinois private NETC radiation station is a setup like mine but the readings can be different. While there are many times that St. Charles station does match patterns with mine, there are many factors that can and do prevent St. Charles station form matching mine. We are about 67 miles from St. Charles Illinois and while that is not too far away, if you followed weather patterns from this area you would see that often times St. Charles gets storms that I do not. Then there is the direction that his unit faces. His station is often downwind of the Byron Nuclear plant. How long his HEPA filter has been in service is also a factor, ideally we should change them at the same time.

:idea: If your interested in a setup like mine, I recommend you get a Holmes air purifier. This model uses the same size filter as many older models and you will always find replacement filters at Walmart.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Holmes-AER1-Desktop-Air-Purifier/22176444
I used wire cutters and cut out the honeycomb in the cover to center my GMC-200. This allows for particle collection all around the geiger counter. I then ran the power and data wire out the corner of it. The angle of the grill keeps the geiger counter from falling out when the purifier is turned off, although when turned on the suction holds it firmly against the filter. Don't forget to use a thin sandwich bag to protect the geiger counter from the rain & snow.

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C


Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:59 pm
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Location: Illinois
I want to share a subscription member screen shot with everyone. I am so happy to see how well NETC works, the owner Harlan & his programmer have done a great job.

This screen shot shows my station in South Beloit Illinois, the St. Charles private NETC station (both outside HEPA air filter stations) and the EPA gamma & beta stations. Clearly it can be seen that NETC does a great job showing the elevated levels between all of these stations. While these stations have different CPM readings, NETC and its algorithm sees the relationship between them and shows that using the appropriate NETC alert status symbol/icon.

I only wish more people would see the value in this system and setup their own radiation station.


Attachments:
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_IMG_000000_000000.jpg [ 483.16 KiB | Viewed 55441 times ]

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C
Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:24 am
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Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:40 pm
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Location: Illinois
Today August 13, 2015 I replaced my outside HEPA air purifier filter with a brand new one at 3:30 p.m. CST

I expect that the plume from China's recent explosions in the northern city of Tianjin will likely reach me through the jetstream in about 5 days. If so and there is anything radioactive in that, I want to make sure I have a new filter already in.

Here is a good video of the explosion. Please watch the complete video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVnnr9AusSQ

_________________
MY OUTSIDE RADIATION MONITORING STATION:
South Beloit, Illinois - GMC200 Outside on HEPA air purifier, ground level, facing West.
http://netc.com/chart/view.php?n=1%3AEB5A139C


Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:41 pm
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