[Boatanchors] the question of tubes

[CLIVE COLLINS]

Good evening from the UK,
 
Please permit me a few moments intrusion into this thread re tubes.
 
I was brought up on the things, learned to love (and respect) them and the voltages that are attendant to them I might say.
 
We, who are familiar with these wonderful devices, must never forget what we are handling and cherishing.  This isn't "just some old piece of junk" as many would describe the glorious Boatanchors, they are the product of mans capability to push the limits of his knowlege further and in doing so learn more about this rich place we inhabit.
We should be proud that we are among the first, more accurately some of the first, who discovered the delights of the thermionic device and as such we were and still are the pathfinders of the science of communications.
Remember that once upon a time it was said that " nothing will ever work below a wavelength of five hundred metres, lets give it to the amateurs to play with, its no use to anyone else"
 
So we got it to play with, and after we made it oscillate first and then managed to make it communicate so we had the wavebands stolen from us and we were pushed further and further along the spectrum well past HF past VHF past UHF and on and on until the commercial houses realised that there was a great laboratory operating outside their factories that did research for nothing.
How many amateurs ever got paid for a design?  not many I will warrant.
The worlds first recognised "amateur" was Marconi and now look where we are.

Be proud of the part you are playing in the furtherance of science.  Think what will happen in a hundred or two hundred years time, will there still be a faithful band of amateurs beavering away in shacks and in cellars to make something work, will they be able to lay hands on components and more importantly will they still have stocks of NOS tubes to use.?
 
I for one would like a glimpse into the future to see what the average "W" or "G" station will be like.  Thats always assuming that (a) there is still anyone around on the planet to be licensed and (b) if there are still amateurs around, what will they think of the work that we have done and the wonderful devices that we have made and made to work.
We should be proud of our heritage in the tube world, long may the glow be seen and appreciated,
 
Kindest regards,
 
Clive GW3WEQ
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