[R-390] Standy or Off?

[Dan Merz]

Hi, since it's a voting situation,  mine is turned off on the days when I'm
not listening. I have it on about twice a week, usually all day.  I've had
the 390a for about 4 years - no tube failures since the initial tune-up/tube
renewal, uses a 3TF7, which I've never had to replace (and that survived
being in place during rough shipping).  It has a filament transformer wired
in to the line supply to drop the line voltage about 6 volts to about 114.
This makes me feel good.... I don't know if it really makes a
difference....it can't hurt and it was easy to do and others recommended it.
I have a switch on my line supply transformer that lets me drop the line
voltage another 6 volts to 108, put in because it was easy to do with the
filament transformer I used.  Maybe I should initially use this setting when
I turn the radio on to further reduce the transients on warmup and then
switch to the 114 volt setting.  So far I haven't bothered. I sort of
assumed the rectifier warmup time would take care of such a benefit by
itself.  The idea that running a radio 24/7 makes it last longer is very
appealing, but I think that benefit must be evaluated relative to
consideration of other factors such as how often are you going to otherwise
be turning it off and on, the effect of sustained temperature on all the
components in the set, the power used, the heat generated in the room, and
safety. I don't like leaving unattended old gear on in my home overnight, so
I would probably turn the set off at night even if I used it every day, even
though I consider the risk pretty small for a set like a properly maintained
390a.   That's my perspective and experience so far on the matter.  I never
use the Standby position and turn the radio off and on with a switch on the
filament transformer box on the line supply.    Dan.          

-----Original Message-----
From: r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Dan Arney
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 4:35 AM
To: Michael Murphy
Cc: r-390 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [R-390] Standy or Off?

Put me in line with Mike. OFF

Hank
KN6DI

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