[Boatanchors] Tube info

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LARRY G" <telegrapher at q.com>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 12:35 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Tube info


>
> I uncoverd a box of 201A, 201B and Cunninham 301 tubes. 
> Some of them have what appears to be a gold anodization 
> color to the globes.  Are they the same as the "01A" 
> types?  All are 4 pin.  There was also a Tungsol 171 or as 
> stamped on the base 12-3, a Western Electric 262, a 
> Cunningham 322, a Radiotron UX-222 and a couple of UV-199. 
> The UV-199 has real small short pins with a ridge around 
> each pin so it will snap into the socket?  Keep finding 
> weird stuff that i have never heard of before.  Wonder if 
> any of them are worth keeping or should i just use them 
> for target practice with the Henry 22LR?
>
> Larry
> W0OGH
>
    I had less luck looking these up in old handbooks than I 
had hoped. I am pretty sure the 201A and B and 301 are the 
same tube. Cunningham was an independant tube maker who sold 
out to RCA because of patent infringements, many Cunningham 
tubes had type numbers starting with 3 but were identical to 
their RCA counterparts, in fact, being made in the same 
factory. Early RCA tubes had UX and UV type prefixes which 
identifies the base type. I don't know about Tungsol, they 
were a long-time independant manufacturer of vacuum tubes 
and light bulbs but made mostly standard types. The 12-3 is 
probably a factory coding of some sort rather than a type 
number.
    Western Electric made some standard types but generally 
had their own designs. The original cross-licensing 
arrangement with RCA allowed WE to make tubes for telephone 
company and industrial use but not for consumer products.
    Not sure what the gold colored stuff is, I've seen it 
before.
    I think I have some ancient tube data somewhere but 
can't find it right now.
    I would certainly NOT use any of these antiques for 
target practice. Beside which jelly-filled plastic bottles 
are much more satisfying targets.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com