22 Jan
2004
22 Jan
'04
11:58 p.m.
One could always design some sort of spring-loaded
sockets for them in
order to make them as useful as real tubes/valves. Without sockets,
circuitry containing them would be as annoying to repair as circuits
using non-socketed ICs.
Very true, but the truth is that the damn things just never die.
Never common outside the government, these days subminis can be a little
difficult to find. Most of the time they are pretty cheap ($1 tubes, NIB,
at some lucky hamfests), simply because nobody needs them!
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org