Hello all,
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...

Thank you very much in advance for your advice.

Ross, NS7F

NS7F wrote:

I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...


IMHO what you should do is go to a library and find where the major
"houscleaning" was done and then get the previous edition. For example,
I have a 1995 (blue) edition, and it was much better IMHO than the
1996 (red) which I also have.

In any case, collecting a set of them may not be of much use to you.

Tubes have not changed much in a long time, so getting an early edittion
with lots of tube data and then copies of articles you want may be
a much better use of money and space.

73.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

I have the 1964 and 1966 versions and there is VERY LITTLE difference between them.

They have designs for 4 simple transmitters with power that range from 10 watts
to 100 watts. Also, they have a fairly good 'teaching' on transmitter and power
amplifier design techniques [for tubes of course!].

I agree with the post that responded that they are quite similar within a basic
technology. So, if vacuum tube simple transmitters are your passion, [desire,
wants, likes, etc.] any of the ARRL handbooks from the late 50s to mid 60s
should meet your needs.

NS7F wrote:

Hello all,
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...

Thank you very much in advance for your advice.

Ross, NS7F

"NS7F" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all,
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver Ross, NS7F


Forgo the handbooks and look for QST magazines from the
40s thru the early 60s. Many larger libraries have the bound
editions... At worst, look for some used QST on CD editions
from that era.

Pete

On Apr 11, 4:37 pm, "NS7F" wrote:

I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...

Ross,

If you're interested in hollow-state technology, there are
lots of *free* resources on the 'net:

First up is Pete Millett's excellent book site:

http://www.pmillett.com/tecnical_books_online.htm

There are many excellent reference books online there,
free for the download, including ARRL Handbooks from
1936 and 1941 (IIRC). The files are often large but if
you have DSL or better they only take a few minutes.
With dialup they become a late-night hit-the-download-button-and-go-to-
bed thing.

He also has tube data online:

http://www.pmillett.com/hb-3_tube_manual.htm

The Glowbugs website has lots of downloadable info:

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbugs/index.html

including some good manuals and articles on WW2 military surplus:

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbug...__Surplus.html

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbugs/PDF%20files/

On the Glowbugs website are instructions on how to
sign up for the Glowbugs email reflector. Lots of good
folks trading info on their projects.

"Bunker of Doom" site with lots of stuff:

http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/

Transformer catalogs and other data:

http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/xfm/index.html

Another good site:

http://www.antiqueradioarchives.com/archives_index.htm

If you want the actual books, I would recommend
ARRL Handbooks from about 1954 to 1965, and RSGB
Handbooks. IMHO the RSGB Handbooks go into more
depth on technical subjects, and have better construction
articles, but the use of European tubes and other
unobtanium parts makes them difficult to duplicate.

Also be on the lookout for the ARRL publication "Understanding Amateur
Radio" (1st edition) ,
which has some good lowcost projects and well
written explanations.

Sign up for the Glowbugs reflector now!

--

73 de Jim, N2EY

google my call for a shack picture

If you are interested in tube gear then the ARRL handbooks from the
early 1950s would be good. By the 1970s, the trend was toward solid-
state gear. Of course, the 1940s handbooks are good too, but I like
the ones from the 1950s best.

--Ed

On Apr 11, 2:29 pm, (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote:
NS7F wrote:
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...

IMHO what you should do is go to a library and find where the major
"houscleaning" was done and then get the previous edition. For example,
I have a 1995 (blue) edition, and it was much better IMHO than the
1996 (red) which I also have.

In any case, collecting a set of them may not be of much use to you.

Tubes have not changed much in a long time, so getting an early edittion
with lots of tube data and then copies of articles you want may be
a much better use of money and space.

73.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog athttp://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Right. So far, I am looking at the 40th ed (1963), as it has several
good tube projects.

On 11 Apr 2007 13:37:47 -0700, "NS7F" wrote:

Hello all,
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions?

My 'old' ARRL Handbooks are the 1936, 1947 and 1963 editions. I am
still looking for an inexpensive mid-fifties edition. Having one
edition from each decade seems to make the most sense as they do not
radically change from year to year.

73 de n4jvp
Fritz

See below...

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007, NS7F wrote:

Hello all,
I have discovered how much fun tubes can be, and am in the process of
planning one or more transmitters to go along with my 2-tube
regenerative receiver. Now, I'm only 23 years old, so I'm in the
process of researching hollow state technology. Could you please put
together a short list of the "best" ARRL handbook editions? I have 99
and 05- I'm just looking for a few years to watch for on amazon, etc.
Of course, recommendations for other books would be appreciated, too,
but I'm on a tight budget...

Thank you very much in advance for your advice.

Ross, NS7F


I am 63, and retired, and am also having a ball building my own tube gear.

Generally, solid state began to take over all the low level circuitry
in the ARRL handbooks in the 1960s and particularly afterwards. There was
a blend (between tube and solid state) at some interval but I don't look
at the later handbooks at all any more. My handbooks are from early 1960s
and go back.

The "Radio Handbook" by Bill Orr, also has editions going back, annually
or almost annually, for a long time and has a different flavor but also
good, and alternative presentations including very nice schematics and
photos. The Radio Society of Great Britain (I think) also sponsored ham
radio handbooks but I think may also be geared to European tube types
which are different (at least to some degree) than US "valves" (as they
call them), but you might try to do some research on that.

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.

Around the 1940s we had mostly octal base (key plus 8 pins) and they are
easy to find from tube supliers, but many were metal (not good if you
like to see those filaments light up). If you like battery filament types
(1.4 v for single C cell, 2.0 v for lead-acid cells, and 2.8 v, for two C
cells in series) you have a small variety of nice 7 pin tubes (eg. 1T4,
1U4, etc), and a few 8 pin octal tubes (eg. 1A7, 1H4, etc). Prior tubes
had poorer specs and the sockets are hard to find. The so-called Loctal
tubes (very thin pins and special 'click in' keys)..you just about can't
find sockets for and they would be the hardest to build homemade sockets
for, and, they themselves are not easy to find, either (I think they were
mostly for car radios). Most of these tubes will run plate voltages on a
handful of 9 volt batteries you can get at Dollar Tree for two for a buck,
and you hook them in series with each other since the connectors are all
male-female and otherwise don't need much to hold them together if you
just lay them on the table and hook aligator clips to the terminal
negative and terminal positive. A lot of the earlier tubes have difficult
to find sockets (but Radio-Daze, in New York, has a lot of sockets).

Public libraries can be a resource but be aware that most smaller ones
"discard" their older holdings and replace them with newer versions. Your
best bet is to ask at the reference desk to find out how you can find
which library has the older editions. The _central_ or _main_ branch (in
your state) may be the only one that keeps older editions but you should
be able to arrange an inter-library loan where you can borrow the book
for, say, two weeks, and then if you like it, look for a copy on
Amazon.com or www.addall.com or www.bookfinder.com or www.abe.com or
www.alibris.com where you will find used copies at generally very
reasonable prices. To find booksales where used books are very cheap, go
to: www.booksalefinder.com

Good luck.

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.

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."