Making our own valves (Tubes for the Non-English-Speaking Yanks)
 

As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back their
if ever it needs repair)?

If you'd like some beryllium oxide to get you started please let me know..

Steve H
"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back their
if ever it needs repair)?

a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists


Don't worry transistors are just a passing phase........

If you are serious, you might wanna snag-up all the tube mfg. equipment
going for cheap-cheap in Russia and China, before New-Sensor does.

--
Gregg t3h g33k
"Ratings are for transistors....tubes have guidelines"
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca

There is a bloke in London who makes his own design of valves in his shed.

I've seen him making them. Amazing!

Airy R. Bean wrote:

As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

Expensive yes. Rare - not so - just expensive!

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Sounds good to me.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Well - there could be a market in this - though would the 'tooling up'
be more of an outlay than you would reap back?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back their
if ever it needs repair)?

Was there any need to mention 'CBer' in this posting? Totally uneeded
and unrelated.

Airy R. Bean wrote:
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back their
if ever it needs repair)?



Why stop there? Why not make your own capacitors, resistors, crystals
etc. If you replace the valves (tubes) in your old TX with your shiny
new "home made" ones, what happens when some other component fails? Do
you pop down to your local electronics supplier (shop)and buy one of the
shelf, Just like a CBer? Or will you make your own?

Anyway as far as I can see you couldn't make a "bloody mess" without
buggering it up!

A *Real Radio Ham* would make his own Universe.

Cheers,

Micky

Airy R. Bean wrote:

As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back their
if ever it needs repair)?




Maybe you would like to buy my wire. I have one spool of wire marked
"Grid Wire" and another
of Tungsten (filament wire ?). I picked them up from surplus and don't
know who threw them out.

Bill K7NOM

it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

================================

A rather dramatic statement!

Google will be with us for ever.

"Bill Janssen" wrote in message
...

Maybe you would like to buy my wire. I have one spool of wire marked
"Grid Wire" and another
of Tungsten (filament wire ?). I picked them up from surplus and don't
know who threw them out.


Unfortunately for Mr Bean, I'm almost certain, Social Security would not
wish to pay for them.

Regards
tox

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Don't you have the interlect to do anything original? All you seem to do is
follow or criticise better men, neither of which you do very well.

Or is this your latest money making scheme?

(After seeing the financial status of your company from HULLY's link I see
you need one.)

Tell us, did your foray into AI not make you heaps of money?

Quote made by you on 1998/11/19

"My main side-interest is to get an understanding of consciousness
(Iwant to make heaps of money in AI & robotics!) mainly through
introspection; it is with some shock that I realise for how long
this has been going on; my philosophy notebook dates back 12 years."

That study is now 18 years advanced! (Even longer than you've studied DSP!)

Any return yet? No?

Maybe this introspection is the problem. Had you thought of studying someone
with some real intelligence?

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 21:29:06 -0000, "Nimrod" wrote:

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?

Don't you have the interlect to do anything original? All you seem to do is
follow or criticise better men, neither of which you do very well.

Or is this your latest money making scheme?

(After seeing the financial status of your company from HULLY's link I see
you need one.)

Tell us, did your foray into AI not make you heaps of money?

Quote made by you on 1998/11/19

"My main side-interest is to get an understanding of consciousness
(Iwant to make heaps of money in AI & robotics!) mainly through
introspection; it is with some shock that I realise for how long
this has been going on; my philosophy notebook dates back 12 years."

That study is now 18 years advanced! (Even longer than you've studied DSP!)

Any return yet? No?

Maybe this introspection is the problem. Had you thought of studying someone
with some real intelligence?


I wonder if the AI products made by that company had any "interlect"?
:-)

"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...
it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated
craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

================================

A rather dramatic statement!

Google will be with us for ever.

Thanks for not passing on my message to Gary, Reg.

Dave

But have all the craftsmen posted their knowledge?

Perhaps some of them do not use the Internet?

"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...
it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated
craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

================================

A rather dramatic statement!

Google will be with us for ever.

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 12:02:01 -0000, "Airy R. Bean"
wrote:

But have all the craftsmen posted their knowledge?

Perhaps some of them do not use the Internet?

Perhaps some, like you, won't follow urls.
--
from
Aero Spike

TW wrote:
On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 21:29:06 -0000, "Nimrod" wrote:


"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...

As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then consider
manufacturing our own?


Don't you have the interlect to do anything original? All you seem to do is
follow or criticise better men, neither of which you do very well.

Or is this your latest money making scheme?

(After seeing the financial status of your company from HULLY's link I see
you need one.)

Tell us, did your foray into AI not make you heaps of money?

Quote made by you on 1998/11/19

"My main side-interest is to get an understanding of consciousness
(Iwant to make heaps of money in AI & robotics!) mainly through
introspection; it is with some shock that I realise for how long
this has been going on; my philosophy notebook dates back 12 years."

That study is now 18 years advanced! (Even longer than you've studied DSP!)

Any return yet? No?

Maybe this introspection is the problem. Had you thought of studying someone
with some real intelligence?



I wonder if the AI products made by that company had any "interlect"?
:-)

Good name for a website! www.interlect.com

:)

Airy R. Bean wrote:
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

snipo
Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body
of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then
consider
manufacturing our own?


You really are a prize fool. The invention of the Thermionic Vacuum
Valve (tube) held up the development of transisters by around 20 years.
They were **** in the 30's and are still **** today. Just think what we
could be doing now, 20 years further down Moores Law curve.
You are living in the past Bean.
- a32ws

Airy R. Bean wrote:
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

snipo
Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body
of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then
consider
manufacturing our own?


You really are a prize fool. The invention of the Thermionic Vacuum
Valve (tube) held up the development of transisters by around 20 years.
They were **** in the 30's and are still **** today. Just think what we
could be doing now, 20 years further down Moores Law curve.
You are living in the past Bean.
- a32ws

It was my understanding that some of the tubes from Russia were in fact
made by hand. I would like to know how you progress in this.
In regards to a previous negative comment, what compels someone to
write a derogatory comment about someone for their technical ideas? In
the Xtals crystals society there is a book on building a crystal set
from scratch, headphones and all without purchasing any built
electronic parts. More power to people who do it!!!

Airy R. Bean wrote:
As time passes, valves of the sort and size that we use in our TX's
are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

There is nearly a century of folklore and industrial craft in
producing
valves and overcoming problems thereto, and it seems to me that now
is the
time to gather together this expertise before all the associated
craftsmen
and industrialists go to the grave and their knowledge becomes lost
forever.

Armed with such a body of knowledge, could we Radio Hams, as a body
of
technically-motivated and technically-inspired aficionados, then
consider
manufacturing our own?

Is it not, after all, our pride in such technical activity that sets
us
apart from
the CBer who buys all his gear from a shop (and even sends it back
their
if ever it needs repair)?

m005kennedy wrote:
It was my understanding that some of the tubes from Russia were in fact
made by hand.

You may have given too much credence to rumours about tubes like the
GS35 (photo on my website).

The anode cooler only *looks* like it was made by some be-whiskered
traditional Russian coppersmith, on a side bench in People's Samovar
Factory No 23. The grid only *looks* like it was hand-knitted by his
wife.

The latter is definitely not true. It's made from a tea strainer.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

G1LVN wrote:
The invention of the Thermionic Vacuum
Valve (tube) held up the development of transisters by around 20 years.

How exactly could transistors have been developed if tubes weren't
already around?

Manufacturing semiconductors involves induction heaters to melt the
silicon/germanium during the refining process. Large induction heaters
to this day still use big honking TUBES to generate RF power.

Not to mention all the tubes in the test equipment that was used to
develop transistors....

Bob Weiss N2IXK

Was it not the case that the principles of the FET were
established in the early 1900's?

As to test eqpt, surely a red herring, for where did the
valves (tubes to the non-English-speaking Yanks) come
from to make the test eqpt to test the first valves?

In any case, ISTR using transistor test rigs that consisted
of meters, resistors and batteries only. (In the days when
we got hold of manufacturer's rejects and had to sort out
the still-usable ones)

"Bob Weiss" wrote in message
news:oniFd.12984$4b.8634@trndny09...
G1LVN wrote:
The invention of the Thermionic Vacuum
Valve (tube) held up the development of transisters by around 20 years.
How exactly could transistors have been developed if tubes weren't
already around?
Manufacturing semiconductors involves induction heaters to melt the
silicon/germanium during the refining process. Large induction heaters
to this day still use big honking TUBES to generate RF power.
Not to mention all the tubes in the test equipment that was used to
develop transistors....

Of course we all know the Truth is out there............

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/article...ndroswell.html
73s de G1LVN
www.g1lvn.org.uk