Neutrometric greetings: seeking a replacement Troxler

[Luis Gurovich]

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[This post was sent in October, but never made it out to sowacs, so here it
is again... Please see if you can be of help to my friend Luis. Bruce]

Dear Bruce:

I am facing a bitter complication in my research work, and perharps you can 
give me a hand: after 20 consecutive years of intensive use, my Toxler 
Neutrometer model 3330 decided to get an early retirement. Nor the company 
representing Troxler in Chile, nor Troxler USA can service it, because they 
do not carry any more the electronic and electric blueprints for this 
antiquitÈ. So, no matter that Americiumn has an half-life of a couple of 
thousand years, the instrument is now unusable and must be disposed 
properly, as the radiactivity by-laws define.

The problem does not end there: I do no have any budget to buy a new 
neutrometer, and chances to get funds for this instrument are nil, due to 
the world current situation, that is affecting deeply all our activities in 
this country. I wonder if you can help me with contacts in a few 
Universities or companies that possibly have used neutrometers no longer in 
use, that can be donated to our University in Chile; shipping costs and 
custom taxes can be paid by the Luis Gurovich Foundation, a private 
organization with no capital, headquarters nor secretary, but full of 
enthusiasm to do research and to teach every year 200 students what is a 
neutrometer, and how it is used for irrigation scheduling.

For the time being, at my rather mature (frankly speaking, old is the 
correct word) I have been forced to go backwards 50 years, depending on 
soil sampling and drying to go on with my work.

See you,


Luis Gurovich


(I hope you still remember me, the guy from Chile you hosted in 
Pietermarisbourg in 1996.

I have followed very closely your brilliant professional activities, 
through SOWACS. My students in Irrigation Science and Plant - Soil - Water 
Relationships (Agronomy) and Irrigation & Drainage Engineering (Civil 
Engineering)courses, MUST read your Internet page and browse through the 
different sensors you have reviewed on it. The first examination each 
semester on these courses include ALWAYS the following question: What is 
SOWACS all about, and what kind of proffesional information can be obtained 
from it?.)

[Thanks for the compliments, Luis :) Bruce]