[Milsurplus] contact cleaners

[patrick jankowiak]

I can second this unusual finding. 30 years ago, I found an old low
band police receiver in a box in the corner of a chicken coop on my
Grandfather's farm. I was but thirteen years old, but with Granddad's
permission, I took the radio to the house and had a look at it. When I
started to clean it, and began pulling the tubes, I was confused, as
some of the loktal tubes had less than the usual amount of pins.
Indeed many were corroded to the point where they broke off upon
removal of the tube or were eaten through. The police radio had been
stashed in the coop for about ten years at the time. You see, Granddad
and great Granddad had a small busines in distilled spirits back in
the old days.. 

===

* The pins on Loktal tubes are a version of supposedly stainless Invar
or
Kovar, I forget which, to match the thermal expansion of the glass in
the
header.  Same for miniature tubes, I believe.  In an attempt to corner
the market, one of the radio hoarders I knew long ago stashed a big
pile
of early 2-way radios in his active chicken coop, rather than sell
them
at reasonable prices.  The vapor from chicken manure ate the pins
completely off all the Loktal tubes, and reduced the value of his
tightly
held equipment to zilch, much to the amusement of the hams he was
trying
to rip off.  Happened in just a few months, too, as I recall.  Didn't
bother the aluminum locating key, just the pins.