Care and Feeding of Vacuum Tubes (Valves)

Hi ???? I still use tubes (aka valves in UK) as they are still the best way to produce lots of power from HF thru?to SHF. The most common small types are metal/glass or all glass octal (8 pin base) eg 6V6, 6L6 and all glass envelope B7G base types. The metal envelope type are of US military origin and fairly rugged.? The pins are best kept clean so push them into suitable material. The all glass B7G type are weak at the top where?the? vacuum takeoff was removed and at the bottom where the pins exit the glass. They do not take kindly to rattling around loose. ? RF power valves are usually much bigger and both glass and?ceramic/metal types exist.? If you can get access a valve tester then you can weed out the duds. ? Finally most valves / tubes?need voltages that can spoil the rest of your life. If you have not worked with high voltages then tubes are probably not for you. ________________________________ From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> To: classiccmp at classiccmp.org? Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 23:08 Subject: Care and Feeding of Vacuum Tubes (Valves) Do any special precautions need to be taken with storing vacuum tubes?? Are these something that can simply be tossed in the attic and forgotten about until needed?? I recently got a fair number, and expect to get more at some point in the future. A lot of the ones I got are simply dumped in an old metal tool box. Zane -- | Zane H. Healy? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com? ? ? ? ? ? ? | OpenVMS Enthusiast? ? ? ? | |? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? | Photographer? ? ? ? ? ? ? | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ |? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? My flickr Photostream? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? | |? ? ? ? ? http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/? ? ? ? ? | |? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? My Photography Website? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? | |? ? ? ? ? ? ? http://www.zanesphotography.com/? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? |