GeigerGraph for Networks is a program created by a company called Mineralab. It is distributed through a subsidiary called GeigerCounters.com. GeigerGraph is used to create a network of automatic monitoring stations on a volunteer basis for reading and uploading counts per minutes Geiger counter readings. The main focus is on the continental United States but there are additional monitoring maps for Alaska and Hawaii, Europe, Japan and Australia. Anyone who wants to can purchase a compatible Geiger counter, purchase the software, connect to the network, register their station and begin uploading data. There is a demo that will allow you to check out the software before you purchase. GeigerGraph for Networks is available at http://www.geigercounters.com/NetworkVersion.htm%20.
Using a data cable, connect a compatible Geiger counter to a serial port on your PC computer with Window 98 or later operating system. Download the software and install it on your computer. The first thing that you will have to do is to sign up for the monitoring site, www.radiationnetwork.com.
There are fields to enter your name, country, city, state, latitude, longitude, altitude, a name you chose for your station, a personal password, model of Geiger counter, and other notes you want to add.
The main screen shows the counts per minute of radiation detection on the vertical axis and the time of the readings on the horizontal axis. It reads second to second for a minute and displays the data points on the graph. There is a display above the graph that gives additional information about your readings:
There is also a menu to set alert levels above the chart:
First you can set the level in counts per minute. Then you can have a line displayed on the graph which will show the alert level. If you enable the Alert Pop Up, a red box will appear on the screen when the alert level is exceeded.
The Advanced tab on the Alert menu has addition parameter setting for handling alerts:
You can trigger a program on your computer to execute when an alert is generated.
Set the alert level and either type in the path and name of a program to execute or browse your system to select the program. When the CPM level accedes the threshold you set.
Another tab on the Advanced screen allows you to set up your system to trigger an external device through a relay connected to a serial port:
There is a tab that will let you test the alert sound generated by your system when the threshold is exceeded.
Finally, there is a tab that lets you configure how you want alerts generated by your system to be relayed to the rest of the network.
The Paging Dialing tab takes you to a screen where you can enter a whole set of people to be page if there is an alert.
The E-Mail Notification tab takes you to a screen where you can set up email parameters and a list of people to email if there is an alert on your system.
The Join Radiation Network tab will allow you to download readings from other stations to your map.
Finally, the Web Program tab will let you set up a program on a web server that will trigger whenever there is an alert or trigger each time the CPM level is updated from you system.
