The 6146 was originally designed by RCA in response to George
Grammer, W1DF,
QST technical editor, so it came about because of amateur radio, but
it
was used in large numbers in GE and Motorola VHF 2-way radios.

I've never heard that before. Where can I read more about this?

73,
Mike, KK6GM

In article .com,
Mike Silva wrote:
The 6146 was originally designed by RCA in response to George
Grammer, W1DF,
QST technical editor, so it came about because of amateur radio, but
it
was used in large numbers in GE and Motorola VHF 2-way radios.

I've never heard that before. Where can I read more about this?

73,
Mike, KK6GM

Mike,
I read it in a QST from sometime in the late 60's -- it wasn't a feature
article but a "Stray", I think, about the millionth 6146 (or some
other notable number, I think it was a million) produced by RCA. I
just did a quick search of the QST article database on the ARRL website
with no luck, but if I find the article, I'll post something.

I don't know if there are any other cases of a tube being introduced
especially because of an amateur need (although RCA certainly marketed
the 6146 to land-mobile and other markets right away). It was envisioned
as a sort of "modern 807" in function, although it's obvious that it's
a scaled-up 2E26 if you look at the tubes.

73,
Ted, W1XO