On Fri, 13 Apr 2007, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Straydog wrote:

You might want to think about the tube evolutions: the very early tubes
are harder to find and more expensive and particularly the tube sockets.

I just want to say that if you want to build your own tube gear, you
should look seriously at compactrons. Designed for consumer electronics
use, they have some excellent specifications and a lot of elements in
a package. And they are absolutely dirt cheap because there is no demand
for them on the surplus market at all.

Well, I'm already committed to 7 & 9 pin miniatures, and 8 pin octals,
have plenty of sockets, and more than enough tubes for my lifetime.

Once, long ago, I had a filament battery portable AM radio. About half the
size of a cigar box. Four tubes, one D cell, one 90 v B battery, and lift
up the cover, and it goes on in about 1/2 second, and sounded good. If I
have time, I'd like to build that (if I can't find a replica, or a similar
set [I think the old Zenith trans-oceanic had battery filament tubes, too,
might be interested in one of those instead]). Just for nostalgia.

Some of these things are absolutely wonderful performers and available
free for the asking. 12 pins good!
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."