RadioGuy wrote:

The thought came to me the other day whle thinking about the cost of 6JB6's
nearly $100 for a set; I paid $18.00 for a matched set of three at AES back
in the 1970's and I got plenty of spares. Why did Drake use those cheap ass
sweep tubes in their final instead of the old standard 6146 to begin with?

If you have all that gear in that kind of shape,
$100 invested in the correct tubes seems like a very good idea.

David Stinson wrote:
RadioGuy wrote:

The thought came to me the other day whle thinking about the cost of 6JB6's
nearly $100 for a set; I paid $18.00 for a matched set of three at AES back
in the 1970's and I got plenty of spares. Why did Drake use those cheap ass
sweep tubes in their final instead of the old standard 6146 to begin with?

If you have all that gear in that kind of shape,
$100 invested in the correct tubes seems like a very good idea.

Yes, but his point is that originally they were a few bucks each at the
drug store. These aren't exactly the most robust tubes around, and nobody
today would EVER think of using one in a new design.

Back in the seventies, people were rebuilding old surplus gear to take
sweep tubes because they were so cheap and plentiful. Today people are
rebuilding ham gear built for sweep tubes to take transmitting tubes.
It all goes back again.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."