I don't recall the 6146 was that expensive. We could find them at the
hamfest, surplus and they were routinely given away from one ham to
another... heck,

What you say is true for a ham in need of just replacing a pair of =
tubes. But it would not have been true at all for Drake.

A company producing ham gear cannot depend on tubes found at a good =
price here and there. They have to place a contract with a tube =
manufacturer who can guarantee delivery in time and in the required =
quantities. Prices are then market prices, not surplus prices.

73

Antonio I0JX

Antonio Vernucci wrote in message
...
I don't recall the 6146 was that expensive. We could find them at the
hamfest, surplus and they were routinely given away from one ham to
another... heck,

What you say is true for a ham in need of just replacing a pair of tubes.
But it would not have been true at all for Drake.

A company producing ham gear cannot depend on tubes found at a good price
here and there. They have to place a contract with a tube manufacturer who
can guarantee delivery in time and in the required quantities. Prices are
then market prices, not surplus prices.

73

Antonio I0JX

Well, the tube (6146) was in constant production during Drakes operation
(about 30 years) so it would imply that they were very common and
cheap---practically every other amateur equipment manufacturer was using the
6146. Large numbers were used by the military and commercial services. My
gosh... if Heath was using them they certaintly couldn't have been that
prohibitive to design with. So it begs the question why Drake was using
them.

RG

I agree. There is little, IF ANY, correlation between the "consumer" price
of components and the commercial (manufacturers') pricing. Besides the
quantity discount, there are other factors: One is that Drake may have, and
probably did, buy other tube types from the same supplier (which may not
have been the tube manufacturer!) That can leverage prices downward on one,
a few, or all types. Other components come into play too, for different
tube types may not use the same sockets, and may require different designs
for stability, etc so that a particular tube might require, say, a more
expensive bypass capacitor (just an example). Then there might have been
power supply consideratons involving the different voltages/currents for the
different types. These decisions are made in the early stages of design,
and usually revolve around what is the cheapest way to achieve the desired
result. Even if, at a later date, experience factors dictate using a
different tube, I doubt that (in this discussion case) the cost/benefit
tradeoff would favor going to the 6146. In order to know whether Drake was
smart, we need to know all the decision factors and conditions at the time.
Of course, hindsight always has 20-20 vision.

In the good OLD tradition of Hamming, those who so desired could do their
own engineering redesign. Yank out the sweeps and associated
circuitry/components if you didn't like 'em and build out with 6146s.

73,
Dube K4DWW






"RadioGuy" wrote in message
...

Antonio Vernucci wrote in message
...
I don't recall the 6146 was that expensive. We could find them at the
hamfest, surplus and they were routinely given away from one ham to
another... heck,

What you say is true for a ham in need of just replacing a pair of tubes.
But it would not have been true at all for Drake.

A company producing ham gear cannot depend on tubes found at a good price
here and there. They have to place a contract with a tube manufacturer who
can guarantee delivery in time and in the required quantities. Prices are
then market prices, not surplus prices.

73

Antonio I0JX

Well, the tube (6146) was in constant production during Drakes operation
(about 30 years) so it would imply that they were very common and
cheap---practically every other amateur equipment manufacturer was using
the
6146. Large numbers were used by the military and commercial services.
My
gosh... if Heath was using them they certaintly couldn't have been that
prohibitive to design with. So it begs the question why Drake was using
them.

RG

You mentioned that Heathkit used 6146's in virtually all of their
gear. That is a valid statement, but they used 6GE5 sweep tubes in
the lower price-point HW-series monobanders, including the ones for
MARS/CAP. It was a purely a matter of economics, I think. Retail
price aside, there had to have been more manufacturing volume on the
sweep tubes, because just about every family had a TV set.

I now have a 4B-line, and also a bunch of HW-series rigs. The 6GE5's
are fairly inexpensive even today, compared to 6146A's or W's or the
later GE 6146B's that Heathikit blessed.

73,
Ted KX4OM

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:37:15 GMT, "RadioGuy"
wrote:


Antonio Vernucci wrote in message
...
I don't recall the 6146 was that expensive. We could find them at the
hamfest, surplus and they were routinely given away from one ham to
another... heck,

What you say is true for a ham in need of just replacing a pair of tubes.
But it would not have been true at all for Drake.

A company producing ham gear cannot depend on tubes found at a good price
here and there. They have to place a contract with a tube manufacturer who
can guarantee delivery in time and in the required quantities. Prices are
then market prices, not surplus prices.

73

Antonio I0JX

Well, the tube (6146) was in constant production during Drakes operation
(about 30 years) so it would imply that they were very common and
cheap---practically every other amateur equipment manufacturer was using the
6146. Large numbers were used by the military and commercial services. My
gosh... if Heath was using them they certaintly couldn't have been that
prohibitive to design with. So it begs the question why Drake was using
them.

RG

Ted Bruce wrote in message
...
You mentioned that Heathkit used 6146's in virtually all of their
gear. That is a valid statement, but they used 6GE5 sweep tubes in
the lower price-point HW-series monobanders, including the ones for
MARS/CAP. It was a purely a matter of economics, I think. Retail
price aside, there had to have been more manufacturing volume on the
sweep tubes, because just about every family had a TV set.

I now have a 4B-line, and also a bunch of HW-series rigs. The 6GE5's
are fairly inexpensive even today, compared to 6146A's or W's or the
later GE 6146B's that Heathikit blessed.

73,
Ted KX4OM

Yup... for sure... I forgot about those monobanders. I even had one
myself---the HW-32A.

Well, you raise the question that's been on my mind for quite awhile---just
what was the production on the 6146? I don't have the slightest idea how to
find that tidbit. They were well in production before TV became
commonplace---maybe 10 years or so. Just what was the production figure on
the 6JB6? To be honest the 6JB6 doesn't sound like a common tube. I recall
the horizontal deflection amplifier tubes like the 6DQ5 and 6DQ6 but looking
in my 1961 RCA tube handbook I don't seen the 6JB6 listed.

I recall, Kenwood had 6146's in their TS-520, correct me if I'm wrong but
wasn't it a 6146 of Japanese production ( I remember they had the shiny
chrome finish on the metal surfaces that typified some of the Japanese
parts)?

RG

Hi, Gang

The 6146 was introduced by RCA in Jan 1952 QST (full page ad).
It was advertised as the big brother to the 2E26, which had been around
since about 1946.

73,
Ed Knobloch


RadioGuy wrote:
Well, you raise the question that's been on my mind for quite
awhile---just
what was the production on the 6146? I don't have the slightest idea how to
find that tidbit. They were well in production before TV became
commonplace---maybe 10 years or so.

RadioGuy wrote:
Well, you raise the question that's been on my mind for quite
awhile---just
what was the production on the 6146? I don't have the slightest idea how
to
find that tidbit. They were well in production before TV became
commonplace---maybe 10 years or so.

Well here is how you find stuff

Go to this URL:
http://www.google.com/

Type in 6146 vacuum tube (Web Search)
Get several responses -- weed thru them
In the second down is Issue 6 Articles
which sez
the type 6146, was new in 1952.

Wanna see a photo of a 6146
Use google and search images for 6146
Wanna see a pinout
use google and search images for 6146 vacuum tube


Please make a note of it. Google that is -- can find damn near anything.
Including you -- see search groups

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !

Caveat Lector wrote in message
news:ZzG1e.1302$k57.230@fed1read07...

RadioGuy wrote:
Well, you raise the question that's been on my mind for quite
awhile---just
what was the production on the 6146? I don't have the slightest idea
how
to
find that tidbit. They were well in production before TV became
commonplace---maybe 10 years or so.

Well here is how you find stuff

Go to this URL:
http://www.google.com/

Type in 6146 vacuum tube (Web Search)
Get several responses -- weed thru them
In the second down is Issue 6 Articles
which sez
the type 6146, was new in 1952.

Wanna see a photo of a 6146
Use google and search images for 6146
Wanna see a pinout
use google and search images for 6146 vacuum tube


Please make a note of it. Google that is -- can find damn near anything.
Including you -- see search groups

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !

Dear CL

Thank you sincerely for confirming my search procedure on the 6146
thermionic valve.

True to your word, I have already found the data that you mentioned in your
reply. I also managed to download the relevant pages from the RCA tube
handbook (1964) concerning the 6JB6, 6JB6A and 6146 for later study at my
leisure.

I still have yet to find the production data of the 6146 (how many
manufactured)---my two hour long Google search still has come to naught.
Similarly, production data for the 6JB6 (how many manufactured) has escaped
me as well and would be of additional interest in this running thread.

I agree most heartily, I have made a note of the Google search engine---as a
matter of fact, I have made it my home page for nearly ten years!

Fraternally yours,
RG

Edward Knobloch wrote in message
news:gXF1e.23644$I16.22572@trndny03...
Hi, Gang

The 6146 was introduced by RCA in Jan 1952 QST (full page ad).
It was advertised as the big brother to the 2E26, which had been around
since about 1946.

73,
Ed Knobloch

Thank you Ed for the information. I knew the 6146 went back to the early
50's or so but I didn't know it was 1952; I did find tube specifications
dated May 1952 though. I had absolutely no idea that the 2E26 went back to
1946---that is interesting!

I remember those RCA ads on the back of QST; they probably would look real
nice in the radio-room after being mounted and framed. I recall one that
proudly advertised the 5763, 2E26 and 6146 as the ideal tube line-up for a
transmitter.

RG

On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:53:06 GMT, "RadioGuy"
wrote:


Edward Knobloch wrote in message
news:gXF1e.23644$I16.22572@trndny03...
Hi, Gang

The 6146 was introduced by RCA in Jan 1952 QST (full page ad).
It was advertised as the big brother to the 2E26, which had been around
since about 1946.

73,
Ed Knobloch

Thank you Ed for the information. I knew the 6146 went back to the early
50's or so but I didn't know it was 1952; I did find tube specifications
dated May 1952 though. I had absolutely no idea that the 2E26 went back to
1946---that is interesting!

I remember those RCA ads on the back of QST; they probably would look real
nice in the radio-room after being mounted and framed. I recall one that
proudly advertised the 5763, 2E26 and 6146 as the ideal tube line-up for a
transmitter.

RG


RG, Check out my response to you on the topic of "Drake Finals".
Actually, you've probably deleted that...see Glen Zook's page at
http://home.comcast.net/~k9sth/

Ted KX4OM