Dave wrote:
Many thanks to all who replied, both here and by email.
They sound like a great tube for LOTS of purposes. My
favorite suggestion was building a regen, using each
half in place of the 6AQ5's called for in the ARRL handbook
design from the 50's!

How about an oscillator / amplifier for HF, running low
plate voltage for a relatively low RF output? Seems they
should be able to do that - and having a separate oscillator
stage it wouldn't be prone to runaway and exessive crystal
current. And it would look VERY cool!

If I recall, the 829 is one of the tubes with the cathodes tied
together to a single pin, isn't it? This reduces the utility for
such things.

What sort of plate caps were used? There are just pins, and
it looks almost as if there would have been a ceramic gizmo
like a tube socket to have bridged the two of them....

They are little ceramic clips. You can use Molex pins in a pinch.
--scott

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

That's right on! The rig was the Collins ARC-1. It used one in the final and one
in the modulator. The thing was for 100-156 MHz. Later conversions for the
airlines in the late 40's added 50 or so channels (sort of like the ARC-3 and the
ARC-49).



snip-
I was looking at doing something like that years ago, using a homebrew
output transformer, but I never finished it. I do know that the 829
was used in some of the modulation decks for aircraft band transmitters
at one point, so they should be fun at AF.
--scott

That's right on! The rig was the Collins ARC-1. It used one in the final and one
in the modulator. The thing was for 100-156 MHz. Later conversions for the
airlines in the late 40's added 50 or so channels (sort of like the ARC-3 and the
ARC-49).



snip-
I was looking at doing something like that years ago, using a homebrew
output transformer, but I never finished it. I do know that the 829
was used in some of the modulation decks for aircraft band transmitters
at one point, so they should be fun at AF.
--scott

Dave, as I recall there was a design in one of the ARRL books..... maybe VHF
manual that included an 829B. I also recall Motorola using this in a very
old radio, don't remember exactly. Anyway I think it's good for 40-50 watts.
I wouldn't mind having them if your looking to part with them.

Clay


"Dave" wrote in message
news.com...
Hi all,

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I
must have got them in a box of stuff at a ham fest at one time.
A check on Ebay shows they're pretty much worthless for the sake
of dollars, but they're so COOL! With the two plate caps that are
actually just stiff pins, they look like little Martians.

I put a pair on my office credenza just to look geeky cool. Fresh
out of the box as NOS they look amazing - just like they were made
yesterday. It's a pity they have no value - maybe as a homebrew
project??

So can someone tell me what they would have been used for?
Something tells me they're a VHF power tube.

Any application as a one-tube QRP rig of any sort? Any stories
about using them in the past? I've built a lot of little rigs over the
years, but never knew about the 829

Thanks,

Dave

Dave, as I recall there was a design in one of the ARRL books..... maybe VHF
manual that included an 829B. I also recall Motorola using this in a very
old radio, don't remember exactly. Anyway I think it's good for 40-50 watts.
I wouldn't mind having them if your looking to part with them.

Clay


"Dave" wrote in message
news.com...
Hi all,

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I
must have got them in a box of stuff at a ham fest at one time.
A check on Ebay shows they're pretty much worthless for the sake
of dollars, but they're so COOL! With the two plate caps that are
actually just stiff pins, they look like little Martians.

I put a pair on my office credenza just to look geeky cool. Fresh
out of the box as NOS they look amazing - just like they were made
yesterday. It's a pity they have no value - maybe as a homebrew
project??

So can someone tell me what they would have been used for?
Something tells me they're a VHF power tube.

Any application as a one-tube QRP rig of any sort? Any stories
about using them in the past? I've built a lot of little rigs over the
years, but never knew about the 829

Thanks,

Dave

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I

snip

So can someone tell me what they would have been used for?
Something tells me they're a VHF power tube.

Any application as a one-tube QRP rig of any sort? Any stories
about using them in the past? I've built a lot of little rigs over the
years, but never knew about the 829


The datasheet is he

http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/f...049/8/829B.pdf

A lot of The Radio Amateur's Handbooks of the '50s and '60s had 892B
projects in them. The 1953 edition, immediately to my left as I write this,
has "A 100-Watt RF Amplifier for 50 and 144 Mc." on page 405. It runs
push-pull class-C, up to 120 Watts CW or FM, and 100 Watts AM.

And the following fellow has gone to an awful lot of trouble to use two
829Bs in parallel single-ended triode mode in a stereo amplifier:

http://www.pmillett.addr.com/829b_amplifier.htm

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I

snip

So can someone tell me what they would have been used for?
Something tells me they're a VHF power tube.

Any application as a one-tube QRP rig of any sort? Any stories
about using them in the past? I've built a lot of little rigs over the
years, but never knew about the 829


The datasheet is he

http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/f...049/8/829B.pdf

A lot of The Radio Amateur's Handbooks of the '50s and '60s had 892B
projects in them. The 1953 edition, immediately to my left as I write this,
has "A 100-Watt RF Amplifier for 50 and 144 Mc." on page 405. It runs
push-pull class-C, up to 120 Watts CW or FM, and 100 Watts AM.

And the following fellow has gone to an awful lot of trouble to use two
829Bs in parallel single-ended triode mode in a stereo amplifier:

http://www.pmillett.addr.com/829b_amplifier.htm

In article fmCUb.12231$gl2.8324@lakeread05, " Uncle Peter"
writes:

"Dave" wrote in message
tnews.com...
Hi all,

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I
must have got them in a box of stuff at a ham fest at one time.
A check on Ebay shows they're pretty much worthless for the sake
of dollars, but they're so COOL! With the two plate caps that are
actually just stiff pins, they look like little Martians.

They are WWII military tubes. As you surmised, mostly for VHF
work. The smaller cousin was the 832B tube, used in the
SCR-522 transmitter (driver, PA stages). A very popular conversion
for 2-meter AM through the 50s and early 60s. The modern
version of the 829 is the 5894 power tube.

The 829 was the final amplifier in the AN/TRC-1 and AN/TRC-4
VHF radio relay transmitter that was first fielded in Europe in 1943.
70 to 90 MHz, crystal controlled, phase modulation at a low
frequency, multiplied many times. Probably designed about 1941
but no data on that. Dual pentode with common cathode, plates
brought out to heavy pins on the envelope top. Pushed and
operating at maximums, it can put out about 75 W at 6 Meters.

TRC-1 and TRC-8 (high VHF) radio relay equipment was on 24/7
"hot spares" service for landline coupling backup at Army station
ADA in Tokyo up to 1954. Had literal hands-on with those. :-)
Those TRC-1 transmitters ran for hours and hours and hours without
fail, 40 to 50 Watts RF output.

A small tale on Lubriplate from Hank Kolesnik's mention in another
thread: The old radio relay equipment had separate receiver and
and transmitter cases and the TRC-1s had brushless shaded-pole
fan motors in the lids. While very cheap, those shaded-pole motors
are quite reliable. They have a (felt?) lubricant pad for sleeve
bearings; no appreciable load to require ball bearings nor high speed.

A well-intentioned newbie on one shift decided to "improve motor
performance" with Lubriplate (then a very new product in 1954) and
loaded the lubricant pads with it. While Lubriplate is a very good
product, it is a SLOW-SPEED thing. The shaded-pole fan motors
would seize up eventually, their normal light oil lubricant displaced by
the Lubriplate. For about three months it was SOP for all shifts to have
the "VHF man" check all the fans. Any fan with low or no flow meant
a bothersome job of removing the fan, replacing it with a spare, then
soaking the lubricant pad for several hours in solvent, saturating it
afterwards in the proper light oil, checking it out, keeping it as a
spare for the next stopped fan. Really put a kink in my magazine
reading on the night shifts...:-) Lubriplate is a fine lubricant for dial
drives and shaft bearings but should NOT be used in motor bearings.

Other than one incident with a blown fuse in one transmitter, the
dozen-plus AN/TRC-1s and TRC-8s ran and ran and ran reliably.

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person

In article fmCUb.12231$gl2.8324@lakeread05, " Uncle Peter"
writes:

"Dave" wrote in message
tnews.com...
Hi all,

I just found several 829B tubes - believe it or not in my garage - I
must have got them in a box of stuff at a ham fest at one time.
A check on Ebay shows they're pretty much worthless for the sake
of dollars, but they're so COOL! With the two plate caps that are
actually just stiff pins, they look like little Martians.

They are WWII military tubes. As you surmised, mostly for VHF
work. The smaller cousin was the 832B tube, used in the
SCR-522 transmitter (driver, PA stages). A very popular conversion
for 2-meter AM through the 50s and early 60s. The modern
version of the 829 is the 5894 power tube.

The 829 was the final amplifier in the AN/TRC-1 and AN/TRC-4
VHF radio relay transmitter that was first fielded in Europe in 1943.
70 to 90 MHz, crystal controlled, phase modulation at a low
frequency, multiplied many times. Probably designed about 1941
but no data on that. Dual pentode with common cathode, plates
brought out to heavy pins on the envelope top. Pushed and
operating at maximums, it can put out about 75 W at 6 Meters.

TRC-1 and TRC-8 (high VHF) radio relay equipment was on 24/7
"hot spares" service for landline coupling backup at Army station
ADA in Tokyo up to 1954. Had literal hands-on with those. :-)
Those TRC-1 transmitters ran for hours and hours and hours without
fail, 40 to 50 Watts RF output.

A small tale on Lubriplate from Hank Kolesnik's mention in another
thread: The old radio relay equipment had separate receiver and
and transmitter cases and the TRC-1s had brushless shaded-pole
fan motors in the lids. While very cheap, those shaded-pole motors
are quite reliable. They have a (felt?) lubricant pad for sleeve
bearings; no appreciable load to require ball bearings nor high speed.

A well-intentioned newbie on one shift decided to "improve motor
performance" with Lubriplate (then a very new product in 1954) and
loaded the lubricant pads with it. While Lubriplate is a very good
product, it is a SLOW-SPEED thing. The shaded-pole fan motors
would seize up eventually, their normal light oil lubricant displaced by
the Lubriplate. For about three months it was SOP for all shifts to have
the "VHF man" check all the fans. Any fan with low or no flow meant
a bothersome job of removing the fan, replacing it with a spare, then
soaking the lubricant pad for several hours in solvent, saturating it
afterwards in the proper light oil, checking it out, keeping it as a
spare for the next stopped fan. Really put a kink in my magazine
reading on the night shifts...:-) Lubriplate is a fine lubricant for dial
drives and shaft bearings but should NOT be used in motor bearings.

Other than one incident with a blown fuse in one transmitter, the
dozen-plus AN/TRC-1s and TRC-8s ran and ran and ran reliably.

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person

"Dave" wrote in message
news.com...
Many thanks to all who replied, both here and by email.
They sound like a great tube for LOTS of purposes. My
favorite suggestion was building a regen, using each
half in place of the 6AQ5's called for in the ARRL handbook
design from the 50's!

How about an oscillator / amplifier for HF, running low
plate voltage for a relatively low RF output? Seems they
should be able to do that - and having a separate oscillator
stage it wouldn't be prone to runaway and exessive crystal
current. And it would look VERY cool!


I'd think running the 829 in parallel for a HF PA, with another
829 as a P-P modulator would be a neat project.

Pete