Air filter to catch radioactive particles - suggestions please

Hi All.

I notice that BlackCat Systems produces an air filter for use with its GM-45 model. Does anyone know of an air filter which could be used to catch airborne particles for testing for radioactivity?

One site I was looking at ( http://www.amazon.es/Honeywell-HA-010E-Purificador-de-aire/dp/B004WIPL8C/ref=pd_sim_sbs_60_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XG88VPJ4PFWN23EN967 ) suggested the Honeywell HA-010E air purificator as the filters (2 stage, first carbon then HEPA) are easily removed for testing purposes and then can be washed and reused almost indefinitely. But at 85 euros delivered, it's a bit on the expensive side.

Any suggestions for either ready-made or home-brew solutions?

Stephen

I have seen a photo of a homemade setup by one member at netc.com, using a table-top size HEPA filter fan with the GM tube detector placed against the edge of the inlet filter. It was the "holmes air purifier" from amazon. I can't now find that photo on their forums, but I think it belongs to a user in northern Illinois USA.

Update: The owner describes his filter setup in a post yesterday (near bottom of page): https://www.netc.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=203&start=90

Thanks for the link.

I'm going to see if I can grab a bargain from Amazon's Prime/Premium day this coming Wednesday. If not, I'll be looking in my local electrical stores for a suitable bit of kit.

Well, maybe something with a mixture of lead dust and carbon dust might do?
It "might" achieve your goal.
As far as I know it has not been tested yet by consumers, yet I think perhaps the military uses it?
This suggestion got a thumbs up from a nano-chemist.

The US EPA uses this technique to concentrate outdoor airborne dust to measure Beta radiation, and a few members of the netc.com site have copied this. Those sites showed spikes earlier this month; presumably due to the forest fire smoke drifting south from Canada but not confirmed (see https://www.netc.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1244 ). It appears from their discussions that the simple HEPA filter action of capturing and concentrating small particles is the way they increase sensitivity for this measurement. Periodic cleaning seems to be required.