On 2/18/2014 3:00 PM, gareth wrote:
"Michael Black" wrote in message
news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1402181359580.14557@darkstar. example.org...
On Tue, 18 Feb 2014, gareth wrote:
There was a time, back inthe 1920s and 1930s, that any active device
(valves in them thar days, tubes for the leftpondians) would cost nearly
a week's wages for the average working man, and so it was good economical
sense to try and use it as many ways as possible simultaneously.
Times have changes, and active devices with performance into the tens
of MegaHertz are now ten-a-penny, so what is achieved by competitions
such as the "Two Transistor Challenge" where it is the costs of switching
(manual, relays) which would be the major outlay?
Not carping, just curious.

There have always been "contests" like that, though sometimes they were
about "build a whole receiver using the same transistor type", or "build a
receiver without any ICs" after ICs had come around.

What I find intriguing is the realisation that valves ("tubes" to you?) can
be operated with only 12V on the anode.



I remember back in the 70's we had radar sets with ZERO volts on the
magnetron's anode (DC ground). Of course, there was -3KV or so on the
cathode

I haven't done anything with radar in well over 30 years, so I don't
know if they still do it or not. But I wouldn't be surprised. At first
glance it sounds crazy - but it made for a very simple and efficient way
to couple the output of the magnetron to the waveguide.

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