Florence, Colorado Detections

EDIT:
ARRRGH!!!! Okay, what the heck? This is the second time I've tried to post in the Alerts/Detections section, and it's somehow wound up in the news section... I triple checked and made sure I was in the right section (Detections for this one) and went to have a look, and here it is in news...
I hadn't even looked at the news section today, for that matter.. does anyone have any idea how in the world this happened? The first time I chalked it up to a brain fart on my part, but I'm sure that's not what happened this time. Very frustrating!!!
I'm too tired to mess with it right now, so I'll try to scoot it over where I wanted tomorrow, but, I cannot for the life of me figure out how it got here or how to DELETE this one -or the previious one that decided to go into News instead of Alerts, for that matter-
Please, please, pretty please HELP!

Original post intended for the DETECTIONS section of the forum follows:


So, I take the Geiger around into town etcetera now and then, and I often get high readings in certain areas. The Post Office is one area that's definitely hot. Breeze or not, _something_ is highly radioactive in that area. It varies somewhat, but not by much.
Also, I often take readings outside my house. Sometimes high, sometimes pretty normal.

No sense in spamming up the alert section for the hot spot. It's always hot, near as I can tell. No sense in reporting high readings from outside my house unless they're really high, soooo...

I'm just going to post stuff like that in one place unless it's substantially higher than usual. It'll make it easier for me to keep track, and have something to refer back to, and easier for anyone who'd like to know what it's like outside here on a given day to know where to go (dunno if anyone's interested but what the hay... Mule... hay... get it? )
Hope that's okay. Not sure about forum rules or whatnot, so gimme a nudge if I'm goofin' up

I took a reading from the Post Office hot spot today, so I'm sticking an image in for it with the log thing and a map.



P.S. Where the stars are on the log screen is the text I added to clarify what stuff means. Meant to mention that before I posted

That's worrying. I think if you go back and you're seeing similar readings you should take your concerns to the authorities. It could be something or nothing, but it would be then up to them to decide.

If you're wrong - big deal. If you're right - you've just done your community a great service.

Before jumping to conclusions, verify with EPA RadNet at the closest monitoring station and check your detector for issues with connections, interference, moisture on tube, etc. Even a hot medical source in the post office would be only reading that dose at a few feet from the package. Want to give you the benefit of the doubt but this is the second spurious reading from your detector.

OldMule wrote:

EDIT:
ARRRGH!!!! Okay, what the heck? This is the second time I've tried to post in the Alerts/Detections section, and it's somehow wound up in the news section... I triple checked and made sure I was in the right section (Detections for this one) and went to have a look, and here it is in news...
I hadn't even looked at the news section today, for that matter.. does anyone have any idea how in the world this happened? The first time I chalked it up to a brain fart on my part, but I'm sure that's not what happened this time. Very frustrating!!!
I'm too tired to mess with it right now, so I'll try to scoot it over where I wanted tomorrow, but, I cannot for the life of me figure out how it got here or how to DELETE this one -or the previious one that decided to go into News instead of Alerts, for that matter-
Please, please, pretty please HELP!

Original post intended for the DETECTIONS section of the forum follows:


So, I take the Geiger around into town etcetera now and then, and I often get high readings in certain areas. The Post Office is one area that's definitely hot. Breeze or not, _something_ is highly radioactive in that area. It varies somewhat, but not by much.
Also, I often take readings outside my house. Sometimes high, sometimes pretty normal.

No sense in spamming up the alert section for the hot spot. It's always hot, near as I can tell. No sense in reporting high readings from outside my house unless they're really high, soooo...

I'm just going to post stuff like that in one place unless it's substantially higher than usual. It'll make it easier for me to keep track, and have something to refer back to, and easier for anyone who'd like to know what it's like outside here on a given day to know where to go (dunno if anyone's interested but what the hay... Mule... hay... get it? )
Hope that's okay. Not sure about forum rules or whatnot, so gimme a nudge if I'm goofin' up

I took a reading from the Post Office hot spot today, so I'm sticking an image in for it with the log thing and a map.

P.S. Where the stars are on the log screen is the text I added to clarify what stuff means. Meant to mention that before I posted

Do you have an update for us? As suspected, is it just a spurious reading?

Sorry it's been a while folks! RA flare triggered a fibromyalgia flare, which turns my brain to mush. I get to where I can hardly string 3 words together. Finally doing a little better (not great, but better!), thank goodness!
Thanks to y'all for bearing with me!

I haven't been down to the P.O. with the Geiger again since this, near as I recall, but then the last week I've had cotton candy in my head... it's all a blur o.o
I _have_ taken several readings in that area over the time I've had this thing, and it's not just a one-off. There's definitely a hot spot in that area somewhere.
I was across the street from the P.O. when I took this. Easier to get in and out from that side.
What has occurred to me is that, though recessed away from the street, there is a mortuary on that side. Can't help but to wonder how many folks they've burned up there that'd had some kind of radiation treatment shortly before death... can't rule out the mortuary as a possible source. I'll be going through town again on Tuesday, so I'll try to get another reading from the P.O. then, if not sooner.

It's too late for me to get this post out of the news section. I really dropped the ball there! Soooo, guess I'll just keep it right here unless and until a mod can move it.
Oh, moisture on the Geiger is definitely not a consideration for this or nearly any other reading. High desert, average humidity's around a whole 16%, and it'd been particularly dry when that was taken. I also keep the Geiger in a ziplock most of the time to keep it a little safer. Don't want crud getting into it, or to get the screen scratched up!

As a side-note, NETC is showing high rads pretty much across the board today, and my current outdoor reading is ranging from around 386CPM to 512CPM (~1.93uSv/h - 2.56uSv/h). My last indoor reading before disconnecting the Geiger to check the outside rads was a mere 15.9CPM (~0.079uSv/h), so as usual for around here, it looks like it'd have to be Beta radiation giving the higher count, since that's the only thing that my Geiger can read that wouldn't be able to penetrate through the walls (no Alpha on this model).

Could you repeat your testing of this area with another Geiger counter, perhaps one that also tests for alpha?

This would put to rest any concerns that you have a malfunctioning counter.