RadioBanter - View Single Post - can a picture tube be used as an RF amplifier?

December 14th 05, 12:30 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew

wrote:

Hi,

I get a lot of broken TV's for scrapping from time to time, and it
seems that just getting
rid of the tube in the trash is a shameful waste. But I do know that
these are about the
only remaining vaccum tubes still in manufacture in this country. I
understand that most
of the power is supposed to go through the electron gun of the tube,
but I wonder if the
electron gun could be reconfigured as a linear final? Bad idea?

The Eternal Squire

Don't bother with the CRT, look for the drivers instead. These was typically
a penthode PL509 tube or the US equivalent. These makes very nice linear
pa's and was often parallell connected. Four of them made a good 500Watts
pa when fed with 1300Volts. The power supply for these pa's is normally
made by doubling the mains power... very nasty but also very very cheapo!

Cheers

M0DFI / Dan