[R-390] that should do it

[Barry Hauser]

John wrote:
> I set up an Excel spread sheet to keep track of a couple of hundred tubes
I
> have around here.  Now all I have to do is remember to change the
> spreadsheet when I use a tube.
>
> Also leave a copy printout in the box with the tubes, so I know what is in
> each box.

Good idea!  Probably even better to get one of those PDA's or old Casios or
Sharp Wizards we never used for what we bought 'em for and Velcro one to a
tube caddy. Might even dedicate an otherwise obsolete ol' notebook computer,
but you'd need an awful lot of  Velcro ;-)

Some other ideas -- Certain tubes may be borderline, but perfectly OK for
certain applications.  Kenneth Crips (see below) mentions his 6C4's -- BTW,
Kenneth, your 6C4's are probably buried in the same place as mine, so when
you find yours, let me know.  I seem to recall having a box of 30 or so of
them.  Are they the same as 6100's?

Actually, I think they recommend using a not-so-strong, well broken in tube
for the PTO, so adding a field for the quality reading may be a good thing,
if you set the sheet up for individual tubes, or columns for NOS, used, used
weak, with the quantities filled in.  Also, if you set up a set of "yes/no"
fields to indicate what gear the tubes go to -- i.e. columns labeled
"R-390", "R-390A", "R-392", "SP-600", "RA17", "HQ-180", etc. AND put in the
tube tester setting for your favorite tester, you can sort & print to have a
large custom printout of the tube chart just for a particular piece of gear
when you're testing.

Another thing that equipment fields let you do is figure the potential need
by tube number across all "equipments".  In other words, how many 6C4, or
5814, or 6AK6, etc. "slots" or sockets do you have?  You can use that to
figure whether it pays to bulk up on some tube orders. Of course, that
doesn't account for variations in failure rate, so if you _really_ want to
get scientific .... Well maybe that's going too far.  "Shoot, seems to be an
awful lot of key-entry required in the boatanchor hobby these days <groan>"
;-)

BTW -- if you're using a TV-2, -3, -7, etc., you can copy 'n paste the
setups from Nolan Lee's downloadable Excel spreadsheets.

I'm an ol' time "spreadsheet jockey", so maybe when I get some time I'll put
together what we used to call a "shell" -- a pre-structured and
semi-preloaded spreadsheet -- and put it up on my website for download.

Barry

> Kenneth Crips wrote:
>
> > As sit here digging through box after box of tubes I wonder does anyone
> > know if there is inventory software that can be used to short tubes and
> > such.
> >
> >                     Wondering where My box of 6C4's are
> >                                    Ken
> >
> > Kenneth A. Crips, Amateur Radio Station W7ITC,
> > Home of the Chew Crew.  Razz, Beezie, and Morgan.
> > Cheyenne, Wyoming's Irish Terriers with an attitude.
> >