Magic Moonbeams are invisible, or as they’re more commonly known – radiation, so how do you visualise this wonderful invisible world. There’s all sorts of devices that can tell you what’s going on around you.

Dosimeters, radiation detectors, Geiger counters and general devices that go clickety click are easily available online. There’s also army surplus, or you can even make your own. Some of the commercial ones are extremely sensitive, able to pick up normal everyday levels of background radiation. Other more personal items such as dosimeters are designed to measure your day-day exposure to radioactivity and provide a warning when you may be encountering harmful levels. The typical radiation detector that you might be familiar with from movies is the CDV-700 it’s from the cold war era, and can detect alpha, beta, and gamma radiation.

A wide selection of geiger counters are available from www.anythingradioactive.com with the majority under £100 of course there’s also an Ebay search. If you’re feeling more adventurous there are guides online too.

The Eton FR 350 offers almost everything you might need. It’s a wind up radio  of course multi-channel SW/AM/FM and just 30 seconds of winding gets you enough power to listen to the latest broadcasts. As It’s an emergency radio – it comes with an extremely loud siren, and a Red high visibility flashing  LED (it’s a bit like the white LED but it’s bright red…. and flashing). It even comes with a cell phone charger socket, and a variety of adaptors just in case the cellphone network is still available.

Of course, in any emergency situation it would be great if you had more than just a wind up signal light, siren, or multi-channel radio. Here’s where the very latest Eton FR-1000 comes into play..

The Eton FR 1000 incorporates GMRS (general mobile radio system) and includes alerts such as weather reports. The range on the 2-way radio is said to be up to 2 miles. It has an LCD display, alarm clock and external speaker and micrphone sockets as well as cell charger sockets like the FR 350 but almost $100 extra, for the luxury of 2-way radio and the LCD screen. Perfect when calling for help.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The FR 1000 is available from many US suppliers such as Campmor.com but so far we haven’t seen a UK supplier. It’s younger brother the Eton FR-350 is available from Ethicalsuperstore in the UK for £37.99

Don’t worry it’s ok, you’re fully prepared having bought your radiation suit from Demron, Safer America has a hazmat suit for sale going for a bargain $1,350. Of course if you’re a little more frugal there’s always Ebay the poor mans alternative, where a cheapo charcoal lined rad suit can often be picked up for less than £20, and AnythignRadiactive.com has them for sale for £14.99 inc p&p.

Warning: They’re strictly non re-useable, so don’t try putting your suit on again after going outside and playing with all those magic moonbeams. Sadly radiation doesn’t tend to go away if you ignore it.