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Bacpacker said:
Growing up a friend we went to church with was a TV repairman. he had a smaller version of that.
When I got out of electronic school I got a job at a repair shop and that had a suitcase version for what few tube type sets we worked on.
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^^^^
Your story is exactly like mine...same thing,
While in school , I worked part time in a tv repair shop , learned a lot there.

It was easy to convert tube function to transistor and diode, then IC technology.


Jim
 
I was lucky while at the shop. We had an older guy that cut his teeth when radio first came out, then moved on to TV, then discrete components. He taught me so much in less than 2 years. Next job I went to the boss told me the reason she hired me was because there were so many things working in TV's that cross over to other stuff. She was right.
I still like transistor and diode stuff better than IC's. Worked great, just so much slower than IC's are capable of.
 
W
phideaux said:
^^^^
Your story is exactly like mine...same thing,
While in school , I worked part time in a tv repair shop , learned a lot there.

It was easy to convert tube function to transistor and diode, then IC technology.


Jim
Click to expand...
When I went to Navy Aviation Electronic training we had to learn tube theory and then transistor theory. We had classes on a radio with tubes then a class on the same type of radio with transistors. The only tubes I saw after school were radar units and those tubes weighed around 100 pounds or more and they weren't glass.
 
Most of those big tubes have been replaced with transistors and triacs. The drivers are smaller too. I have worked with 500 amp transistors in drive controls for fork lift trucks.
They only weighed a few ounces and operated at audio frequencies or just a bit higher. You need a bit more surface area when handling that power at radar frequencies.
 
Big tubes are still being used today in dozens of applications, science, military, weather services and aviation radars. Even TWT's are still used (traveling wave tubes) and some of those are 8ft long. They usually operate in the 100 to 200kv range. Even I have a few tubes laying around.

Tetrode5_v1.jpg
 
Peanut said:
Big tubes are still being used today in dozens of applications, science, military, weather services and aviation radars. Even TWT's are still used (traveling wave tubes) and some of those are 8ft long. They usually operate in the 100 to 200kv range. Even I have a few tubes laying around.

View attachment 33417
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I have replaced several tetrodes like that.
I wish I had kept one.
 
backlash said:
I have replaced several tetrodes like that.
I wish I had kept one.
Click to expand...

At one time not too long ago there was a company refurbishing them. They were a throw away item for my employer at the time so I saved them. I shipped several dozen home and had my dad stash them in the old barn. I tried to sell them... the price was good but they wanted me to pay shipping which negated any real profit. I waited for the price of copper to get real high and sold them for scrap. Each one had 17lbs of copper so they still brought a lot of cash. I kept a few to use as over sized paperweights.

Most big tubes in the civilian world are used in Catscans, I talked to a friend last week who was replacing one when I called him. How many CT's are out there? 40 or 50 thousand at least. Most CT tubes weight between 70 and 100 pounds... big boys! But yes! the medical world still uses big tubes every where.
 
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