Re: 5000 Climate control vacuum tubes

[Igor Kessel <e6941tb@ix.netcom.com>]

Jeffrey J. Goggin wrote:
> 
> >>You must have one of the older units.  The new ones are solid state, vacuum
> >>tubes having too long a warm-up period in the colder climates.
> >>
> >>[With apologies to younger readers, on whom this attempted humour will have
> >>been lost.]
> >
> >Ahh - but to a purist, there's nothing better...
> 
> Thermionics forever!  I once had a vacuum tube car stereo amplifier (Milbert
> BaM-230) ... not very practical for someone living in Arizona but it sure
> did sound nice.  Heck, I'm still using a vacuum tube tuner at home (modified
> Dynaco FM-3) along with a vacuum tube amp (Jadis JA-80) and preamp (ARC
> SP-15 mkII) and I've still got an ancient desktop-sized calculator that uses
> Nixie tubes -- remember those? -- stashed in a closet.
> 
> BTW, I recall a lecture in an Intro to Electrical Engineering course I took
> back in 1978 where the professor held up a vacuum tube and said "This is a
> vacuum tube ... that's all you need to know about these."

Sweet memories. In the 70s I built several low frequency amplifiers on them 
pentodes. They had horrible noise characteristics (emission currents-induced) and 
gave me my share of 280v shocks.

The last time I dealt with vacuum tubes was in the Spring of '76. I and my school 
mate built a pair of walkie-talkies each based on a couple of tiny (*finger* 
type) triods.
The range was <100m, the sound was crappy, the batteries lasted for 15 min and 
the whole thing was totally illegal.

It was fun, tho.

-- 
Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ - 18psi (TAP)
'98 A4TQ - on order...again. For the third time and counting.
Philadelphia, PA
USA