[R-390] Re: 6C4? 6C4W? 6C4WA?

[Tim Shoppa]

KC2JD wrote:

> I wish we had hamfests in Florida like you seem to have.  Tube prices
a
> local hamfests are astronomical. 

For better or worse my memories are a mix of the best of what I've seen,
the worst of what I've seen, and what I wanted to see but didn't
actually
see :-).

> I have had very good success by selective
> bidding on eBay.

A couple of times I've convinced myself that my stockpiling of
tubes/parts/etc. in advance of need is economically nonsense.
It would make far more sense to have say one spare of each tube,
and then replenish as I actually use them.

But that's not what I do! Perhaps I was stung too bad in the late
70's and early 80's as the list prices for pretty crappy tubes at the
drugstore and local TV repair shops soared to stratospheric heights.
(I remember paying $12 for a 6AU6 and $15 for a 6CL6, for example,
because I needed them for my rig and otherwise I was simply off the air.
And
that was serious money for a cash-strapped kid back then.).
By comparison today I can get good JAN tubes most of the time
for less than a tenth the price I had to pay back then on my "buy
only as needed" philosophy. Probably induces hoarding behavior.

Tim.