[Boatanchors] WE 407 and 408 tubes

[manualman at juno.com]

Probably one of the most desirable WECo tubes used by amateur operators
back in the late 50's and early 60's was the WECo 417A or the 5842
Industrial version. It was brought to amateur's attention in several QST
articles for low-noise (at the time) /high gain 2 meter and 432 MHz
converters made famous by W2AZL and others. In some designs a WECo 404
was used as the mixer and a WECo 396 was used as an oscillator. A WECO
417A was also widely used in 6 meter and above preamps. I don't remember
any amateur construction designs using WECo 407's or 408's but it's
possible.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Sat, 11 Jun 2016 22:03:22 -0400 Norman Hairston <k4hca at windstream.net>
writes:
> Bill:
> 
> They were used by AT&T Long Lines in the 60'S in their Single 
> Frequency 
> singling units on long distance circuits and perhaps other 
> applications. 
> They were thought to be more rugged than other tubes with similar 
> characteristics. I assume that Bell labs or Western Electric ran 
> tests 
> to make that  determination. I know they were desired by amateurs 
> but I 
> don't recall how used. The frequency of the SF units was at audio 
> level 
> so no use in higher frequencies by AT&T to my knowledge.
> 
> I know one fellow Ham and fellow AT&T retiree who will know. I will 
> 
> contact him and report if any more info.
> 
> Norman (Harold)
> 
> 
> On 06/11/16 21:28, Bill Cromwell wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I found a 407A and a 408A vacuum tube (also known as valves) 
> lurking 
> > in my stash. These tubes seem to have some special or magical 
> > characteristics. Can somebody tell me about their special virtues? 
> 
> > They seem to focus on VHF. I get nosebleeds starting at 21 mc so 
> VHF 
> > tubes are not so special to me (even though I have others that 
> work at 
> > VHF).
> >
> > If it turns out that I don't need them and no audiophile offers a 
> 
> > fortune (WE ye know) Do any of you need them to get your radio 
> back on 
> > the air? I have one of each.
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > Bill  KU8H