New Russian Tubes in Scientific Instruments?

[Casino]

Hi All,

Just picked up from my school's Physics department, a late 1950's
vintage vacuum gauge/monitor in excellent condition with a beautiful
metal case (which I'm going to use to house a Collins R-390A receiver
when I get one) and useful parts (tubes, power tranformers, panel
meters, etc.). When I arrived home, I removed the front screws, slid
the unit out of the metal case and to my surprise, I found two BRAND
NEW Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's (2002 date code) paired with an original
pair of Telefunken 12AX7's, one Svetlana 5U4G (1995), one Sovtek 0D3A
(date unknown) and a Reflector 6P3S (1969) paired with an RCA black
plate 6L6GC. Never thought those Sovteks and EH's would make their
way into scientific lab equipment.

C.W.

[Tim Williams]

"Gregg" > wrote in message
.. .
> Someone is thinking like me - replacing them with good Russian stuff. Da!

That's two Russian posts in one night... lay off the Vodka.. ;-D

Tim

--
In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!"
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

[Ned Carlson]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:38:54 +0000, Casino wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Just picked up from my school's Physics department, a late 1950's
> vintage vacuum gauge/monitor in excellent condition with a beautiful
> metal case (which I'm going to use to house a Collins R-390A receiver
> when I get one) and useful parts (tubes, power tranformers, panel
> meters, etc.). When I arrived home, I removed the front screws, slid
> the unit out of the metal case and to my surprise, I found two BRAND
> NEW Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's (2002 date code) paired with an original
> pair of Telefunken 12AX7's, one Svetlana 5U4G (1995), one Sovtek 0D3A
> (date unknown) and a Reflector 6P3S (1969) paired with an RCA black
> plate 6L6GC. Never thought those Sovteks and EH's would make their
> way into scientific lab equipment.
>
> C.W.

Heh heh....about 10 years ago a university around here bought
like 3 cases of Yugoslav 12AX7's to replace the old Telefunkens
in their Grass polygraphs. I bet the Telefunkens that got pulled
out didn't go in the trash.. ;-)

Actually, a lot of people would probably be surprised how much
old tube test gear is still out there running...and how many
get used in scientific research & experiments of various
sorts. Physics labs are still a small but steady base of
customers for tubes..after all, you can't run a cyclotron
(or microwave a frozen burrito, either) without 'em.

--
Ned Carlson Triode Electronics
25633 W Irving Park Rd Chicago, IL, 60634 USA
ph 773-871-7459 fax 773-871-7938
11AM to 7 PM CT, (1700-0100 UTC)
http://www.triodeelectronics.com/

[firedome]

You are right, I myself got 10 NOS TungSol type 3 6550s that had been
used in big Lambda power supplies at a university. The odd thing is
they have no ID or logos on them at all on the glass or the metal
base, just the octagon on top with the 6550 inside and USA below that.
They were in a bulk pack and had been in storage at the university for
at least 25 -30 years. Two large east coast tube dealers told me they
are definitely Tung Sol. Go figure.

My son is a Senior Physics/Math major at Gettysburg College, and is
doing a summer internship at NIST in Gaithersburg MD - I've told him
to watch out for tubes being auctioned as surplus by the Gummint. I
personally met a guy at a hamfest who picked up a pallet !!! of
Raytheon marked 12ax7s at a gov't auction in VA for $25!!! He was
selling them for $2 each. Last time I visited my son's lab at college,
imagine my surprise to see that their particle accelerator uses 6146s!
Roger in NY

"Ned Carlson" > wrote in message >...
> On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:38:54 +0000, Casino wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Just picked up from my school's Physics department, a late 1950's
> > vintage vacuum gauge/monitor in excellent condition with a beautiful
> > metal case (which I'm going to use to house a Collins R-390A receiver
> > when I get one) and useful parts (tubes, power tranformers, panel
> > meters, etc.). When I arrived home, I removed the front screws, slid
> > the unit out of the metal case and to my surprise, I found two BRAND
> > NEW Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's (2002 date code) paired with an original
> > pair of Telefunken 12AX7's, one Svetlana 5U4G (1995), one Sovtek 0D3A
> > (date unknown) and a Reflector 6P3S (1969) paired with an RCA black
> > plate 6L6GC. Never thought those Sovteks and EH's would make their
> > way into scientific lab equipment.
> >
> > C.W.
>
> Heh heh....about 10 years ago a university around here bought
> like 3 cases of Yugoslav 12AX7's to replace the old Telefunkens
> in their Grass polygraphs. I bet the Telefunkens that got pulled
> out didn't go in the trash.. ;-)
>
> Actually, a lot of people would probably be surprised how much
> old tube test gear is still out there running...and how many
> get used in scientific research & experiments of various
> sorts. Physics labs are still a small but steady base of
> customers for tubes..after all, you can't run a cyclotron
> (or microwave a frozen burrito, either) without 'em.

[Casino]

Buy your son a crate of Chinese 12AX7's, 6550's and 6L6's and tell him
swap tubes whenever he encounters TFK's or Tung-Sols in lab equipment.
But then again, university technicians are now stocking-up on new
tubes for equipment repair, such as Electro-Harmonix and Sovteks that
are now used at my university.

C.W.

(firedome) wrote in message >...
> You are right, I myself got 10 NOS TungSol type 3 6550s that had been
> used in big Lambda power supplies at a university. The odd thing is
> they have no ID or logos on them at all on the glass or the metal
> base, just the octagon on top with the 6550 inside and USA below that.
> They were in a bulk pack and had been in storage at the university for
> at least 25 -30 years. Two large east coast tube dealers told me they
> are definitely Tung Sol. Go figure.
>
> My son is a Senior Physics/Math major at Gettysburg College, and is
> doing a summer internship at NIST in Gaithersburg MD - I've told him
> to watch out for tubes being auctioned as surplus by the Gummint. I
> personally met a guy at a hamfest who picked up a pallet !!! of
> Raytheon marked 12ax7s at a gov't auction in VA for $25!!! He was
> selling them for $2 each. Last time I visited my son's lab at college,
> imagine my surprise to see that their particle accelerator uses 6146s!
> Roger in NY
>
> "Ned Carlson" > wrote in message >...
> > On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:38:54 +0000, Casino wrote:
> >
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > Just picked up from my school's Physics department, a late 1950's
> > > vintage vacuum gauge/monitor in excellent condition with a beautiful
> > > metal case (which I'm going to use to house a Collins R-390A receiver
> > > when I get one) and useful parts (tubes, power tranformers, panel
> > > meters, etc.). When I arrived home, I removed the front screws, slid
> > > the unit out of the metal case and to my surprise, I found two BRAND
> > > NEW Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's (2002 date code) paired with an original
> > > pair of Telefunken 12AX7's, one Svetlana 5U4G (1995), one Sovtek 0D3A
> > > (date unknown) and a Reflector 6P3S (1969) paired with an RCA black
> > > plate 6L6GC. Never thought those Sovteks and EH's would make their
> > > way into scientific lab equipment.
> > >
> > > C.W.
> >
> > Heh heh....about 10 years ago a university around here bought
> > like 3 cases of Yugoslav 12AX7's to replace the old Telefunkens
> > in their Grass polygraphs. I bet the Telefunkens that got pulled
> > out didn't go in the trash.. ;-)
> >
> > Actually, a lot of people would probably be surprised how much
> > old tube test gear is still out there running...and how many
> > get used in scientific research & experiments of various
> > sorts. Physics labs are still a small but steady base of
> > customers for tubes..after all, you can't run a cyclotron
> > (or microwave a frozen burrito, either) without 'em.