[Hammarlund] cheap tubes...

[Glen Zook via Hammarlund]

In high school, I worked, part time, for a radio / television repair service that was owned by K9BPV.  He used to pay me a flat $1.00 to repair AC/DC broadcast band receivers.  Those could usually be fixed in under 15-minutes.  By far, the usual problem was that a heater (filament) in one of the tubes had burned out.  Most of the remaining problems were alignment.  The owner had found loose screws and had tightened them!  Of course, most of those screws were on trimmer capacitors!

As far as tube life goes:  I have quite a few tubes that were made in the 1920s that still work fine.  If the tube shows an open filament/heater or has some other problem, in over 90-percent one can easily "fix" this.  During the 1920s, and even into the 1930s, many tube manufacturers used acid core solder when soldering the tube pins.  By heating the pin, with a soldering iron, and then flowing in new rosin core solder, a new connection is made and the tube starts working.

I do have a few tubes that have a sticker, with a hand written date, that says the tube is guaranteed for 3-days after purchase!  That was when tubes often cost like $3.00 to $10.00 and the average working man was making less than $20.00 a week.  Tubes were VERY expensive.
 
Glen, K9STH 

Website:  http://k9sth.net


On Monday, September 29, 2014 1:31 PM, Mike Durff <mike at oldaudio.net> wrote:
 


Todd said "...We need to keep in mind that tubes were cheap and plentiful then,everything used them. So if their life expectancy was cut by 25% or more,
so what? Swapping out tubes before failure as part of a PM plan was
commonplace. Many a ham has benefited from broadcast transmitter pulls."

I was taught in Radio & TV school ( 1965 ) to replace all the tubes first, then start troubleshooting if the problem didn't disappear.. Of course, the TV's that needed repair were from the 1950's and tubes were around a buck each. I think the "all american 5" radio set of tubes sold for $3.95 or something...

Wow, 50 years ago... I am old...
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