0 is a number, too!I would too, if there was any thing in it!
It's a lot like the old fashioned elevators with mechanical selectors, relay logic and AC/DC motor generator sets.Most of my early shipboard technician life was spent working on vacuum tube technology equipment. I didn't love tubes then and I don't love them now. Try maintaining a room filled with 390 receivers, a tasks group src20 set or a spa-8 in the tropics with minimal or no AC in the room. Love is not the word I would use for that experience.
So do I!I love vacuum tubes
Tube are not obsolete but are (thank goodness) no longer general purpose devices for electronics.For the record --- Only at such time as EUV through 'hard' X-Rays (to at least 100 MeV) may be produced via semiconductor devices (composed of stable nuclides/isotopes) might one argue that electron tubes are wholly obsolete -- Then too, such indispensable (and ubiquitous) instruments as EMs, MSs and, indeed, all manner of particle accelerators, are, in essence, 're-entrant' electron tubes...
I bench pressed a LOT of R-390s into racks....singlehandedly. And I STILL love them!Most of my early shipboard technician life was spent working on vacuum tube technology equipment. I didn't love tubes then and I don't love them now. Try maintaining a room filled with 390 receivers, a tasks group src20 set or a spa-8 in the tropics with minimal or no AC in the room. Love is not the word I would use for that experience.
I've had ALL of those!Tubes were great in digital test equipment, try lugging these guys around.
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/edte/HP520/
My principal 'gripe' with 6BK4s (and their ilk) was the @#$% 'integral shielding' --- That said, 80keV shines on through quite nicely! -- No kidding! 6BK4s and 6EN4s will 'take' upwards of 100kV (cold 'cathode' inverse polarity) sans internal flash-over (following Ca. 1 hour 'pre-seasoning' in normal, forward operation [i.e. ≈ 20kV @ 5mA]) --- Needless to say, said off-label operation requires immersion in dielectric oil -- To my erstwhile youthful perspective, the apalling focal geometry was adequately compensated by economyTube are not obsolete but are (thank goodness) no longer general purpose devices for electronics.
I'm still the 'tube' guy.
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/tube-creep.113198/#post-880679
Hey! --- I've yet an entire complement of 1Lxx series SA plugin units -- and, I daresay, a few 525 'mainframes' somewhere...I remember lugging around those old Tektronix scopes.
I remember the (happy) day we junked all but a few of the R-390s and replaced them with the R-1051. (that still had two tubes LOL)I bench pressed a LOT of R-390s into racks....singlehandedly. And I STILL love them!
That scope cart was build like a tank. I still have a few at work converted to custom mobile test racks.I remember lugging around those old Tektronix scopes.
I've installed those too! FINE FINE radio...the synthesizer rocked.I remember the (happy) day we junked all but a few of the R-390s and replaced them with the R-1051. (that still had two tubes LOL)
Maybe I worked too long in the Donut shop.
I have TWO 545s with EVERY plug-in Tek made for them.That scope cart was build like a tank. I still have a few at work converted to custom mobile test racks.