BNC SAM 935 Portable Gamma Spectroscopy System - Manual (Page 12)

8 SAM 935™ Instruction Manual
3. Configuring the SAM 935
This chapter describes in detail how to set up the SAM 935 for daily operation. Most of the setup takes
place in the Utilities menu.
Summary of Steps to Take:
1. Connect the hardware as described in the previous section.
2. Power on the SAM 935 and let it self-test and start up.
3. Perform a recalibration of the SAM 935: (a) a coarse adjustment, (b) a background spectrum, and
if using a new detector, (c) a fine energy calibration. To complete all three calibration steps, you will
need a Cs137 source and an Eu152 source.
N OTE : When you first install the SAM 935 and whenever the temperature changes drastically, you must
perform a coarse adjustment with Cs137 and a background spectrum. You MUST do a recalibration
with both sources (including a fine energy calibration) if you change the detector.
4. Configure the dose rate units of measurement and alarm trigger.
5. Configure any other settings found in the Utilities menu (for details, see Section 6).
3.1 Starting Up the SAM 935
After connecting the hardware as described in the previous section, press the white power on/off switch to
turn on the SAM 935. It will automatically perform a self-test before starting up. The examples below show
the different self-test results that you may see.
The SAM 935 display screen has a backlight that will come on automatically when a key is pressed, unless
the default settings are changed.
A successful self-test will look something like this:
Note: If you just performed a memory reset, you will be prompted to select a detector before
the self-test screen appears. See Section 6.18 for more information.
Note the battery condition here
Note the type of detector(s) installed here.