AJ Lake wrote:

Bob wrote:

I've designed /commercial/ solid-state receivers, and there's just *no*
*way* to get results as good as can still be obtained from valves in
crucial parts of them!

The rest of the transceiver industry (other than you) apparently
thinks tube embedded HF transceivers are quite obsolete for a wide
variety of reasons. Else they would be manufacturing and selling them.

They still do, in /professional/ receivers, though it's becoming rare due to
the component cost. I also find that it's much easier and cheaper to go
QRO with valves than it is with semiconductors. TV sweep tubes powered
many of my HF amplifiers over the years!

Even ham magazines print mostly solid state articles using modern
solid state parts, which is right since hams should learn to use
modern technology. When they do print a tube article it's usually
described as nostalgia.

Most of them are scared that they'll get sued when some know-nothing-numpty
gets bitten by the HT! I use semiconductors where they're appropriate and
use valves when they are the best way to get the results I want. I really
don't care about your perception of nostalgic engineering - I get better
results with my hybrids than are /possible/ with semiconductors alone.

I'm not prejudiced at all -

You used the term "Rice Box" to describe your dislike of a whole range
of several hundred ham transceivers. Different manufacturers. Different
models. Pure prejudice. Logically you should judge equipment on its
individual merits, not by the race of the people who made it.

Believe me, I've tried most of them, and some are actually quite good.
However, they simply don't match up to the performance of the receivers I
have here - I've got my own hybrids, a Plessey PR 155 (probably the best of
its genre), a couple of Eddystone boxes and a couple of "Sailor" marine
rigs. There's /nothing/ that's come from Asia that can match /any/ of
them!

I'll continue with what I consider to be the real essence of
our hobby, and build the gear myself!

Building is but *one* facet of the hobby. Professional engineer hams
capable of designing and building transceivers are a but very very
tiny part of the hobby...

Not over here! Many Hams here are disappointed with the high-priced junk
that comes from Asia, and find that it's very satisfying to build and
operate proper home made gear. We also have a lot of QRP operators (mostly
under 1 Watt) that simply won't be heard by those equipped with the Asian
black boxes!

Not at all - they [Asians] /still/ can't make a good mobile phone! 8-)

As I said prejudiced...

Oh dear. Perhaps you can't understand what's been said: The Asians are
great at making stuff smaller and cheaper (I used to design for Panasonic),
but they're *not* innovators, and everything's made _down_ to a price
rather than _up_ to a specification. I find that attitude to be
frustrating, and many companies I work for have abandoned that paradigm,
and want to produce the best equipment, whatever the cost. That's why
Nokia and Motorola make the best mobile phones, and Sony had to buy
Ericcson in an effort to play catch-up!

There's no actual prejudice involved at all, just a simple statement of
facts!

Bob

Bob wrote:

I also find that it's much easier and cheaper to go
QRO with valves than it is with semiconductors.

Yes tubes are still quite valid in ham amps.

TV sweep tubes powered many of my HF amplifiers over the years!

Remember those sweep tube KW amps? What was it, 6 tubes in parallel?

I think my old Swan 350 (nicknamed Swan 3-drifty for good reason) used
sweep tubes. Kept within specs they lasted a long time but they didn't
seem to take much out of resonance abuse.

And my Heath mono-banders, wasn't that a sweep compactron?

Yes I was a sweep tube fan also...

Believe me, I've tried most of them, [Rice Boxes]

You've tried *most* of hundreds of models and brands? That seems to be
another unsupportable exaggeration.

We also have a lot of QRP operators (mostly
under 1 Watt) that simply won't be heard by those equipped with the Asian
black boxes!

Now you're being funny. Cause you can't be serious, can you...

"AJ Lake" wrote in message
...
Bob wrote:

I also find that it's much easier and cheaper to go
QRO with valves than it is with semiconductors.

Yes tubes are still quite valid in ham amps.

TV sweep tubes powered many of my HF amplifiers over the years!

Remember those sweep tube KW amps? What was it, 6 tubes in parallel?

I think my old Swan 350 (nicknamed Swan 3-drifty for good reason) used
sweep tubes. Kept within specs they lasted a long time but they didn't
seem to take much out of resonance abuse.

And my Heath mono-banders, wasn't that a sweep compactron?
Yup

Yes I was a sweep tube fan also...

At one point, sweep tubes were available cheaply at TV shops so the designs
were at the edge of meltdown. It was neat to have a 350w pep radio, but
that was asking way too much. I saw a lot of Swans and others that would
break into oscillation with the least provocation. I knew one guy who was a
regular customer of the Radio Shack Lifetime tubes. Give me a set of
6146s any day. Conservative designs yet economical. I can always follow up
with 811s for more power. Those guys are still cheap and seem to last
forever. If you have to plug it in the wall anyway, might just as well be
tubes.

"JB" wrote:

At one point, sweep tubes were available cheaply at TV shops so the designs
were at the edge of meltdown.

I worked in a TV shop after high school for gas money. Sweep tubes
were very expensive as tubes went in those days. But I got mine and
most of the rest of my ham parts from old discarded TV sets.

Swans and others that would break into oscillation

My Swan was drifty as I said. It was a heat problem with the VFO coil
compartment. The osc was solid state, the only transistor in the whole
rig. I solved it by building an external VFO.

I knew one guy who was a
regular customer of the Radio Shack Lifetime tubes.

In the 50s there was a tube company called Major Brand Tubes. They
were mail order and had a lifetime tube guarantee. Their tubes seldom
lasted more than a month in a TV, and they were good to their word.
Send them the old tube and they sent you a new one free, you paid
postage of course. Well after 5 or so replacements most people finally
gave up. A real racket.

Give me a set of 6146s any day.

I built a single tube 6146 transmitter. I used a voltage quadrupler
direct from the 110V for the high voltage (no HV transformer needed).
It was a simple high powered xtal controlled oscillator. I used it as
a Novice. I don't remember the exact power input now, but it was
probably around 50 watts. I just had to be careful which way I plugged
it in the wall socket. Wrong way and fireworks...

AJ Lake wrote:

Believe me, I've tried most of them, [Rice Boxes]

You've tried *most* of hundreds of models and brands? That seems to be
another unsupportable exaggeration.

Not at all - I used to examine equipment for a well-respected ham magazine.
Most of the Asian gear is junk.

We also have a lot of QRP operators (mostly
under 1 Watt) that simply won't be heard by those equipped with the Asian
black boxes!

Now you're being funny. Cause you can't be serious, can you...

Funnily enough, I worked a Canadian last night on 14 MHz, with each of us
using less than 5 Watts. His signal was entirely inaudible on the
extremely expensive Rice Box I've just repaired for a friend, but was
clearly audible despite fierce adjacent Italian QRM on my hybrid RX (and on
the Plessey).

C.