As I mention in my Dayton report, I attended an interesting talk on homebrewing with tube circuits. This evening the speaker, Grayson, TA2ZGE, posted the following to the QRP-L mailing list:
I have had a lot of people ask me, after my talk on Hollow-State Homebrewing at FDIM about where they could find interesting theratron (vacuum tube) circuits to build. So I thought I would pass along some references and links to get people started:
Dave’s Homemade Radio. This guy is a real craftsman and homebrew whiz with tubes. A must visit!
Max Robinson’s Fun with Tubes. Max has a GREAT tube cross reference guide that lists types by type and application.
Jeff Duntemann’s Junkbox. Lots of interesting tube homebrewing ideas and circuits + LOTS of info on tube categories.
Electric Radio Magazine. If you are interested in tube gear, homebrewing with tubes, restoring tube equipment, you will definitely want to subscribe to this magazine and get the back issues. It’s been around since the late 1980’s and is edited by Ray Osterwald, N0DMS, who write a lot of the more technical tube articles. They have an index to search for back issue articles. Look for projects by Bob Dennison (SK) and Bruce Vaughn. These guys had many, many great thermatron projects!
If you have any questions on thermatron homebrewing, just let me know.
73,
Grayson, TA2ZGE
Fun stuff!
Elwood Downey, WB0OEW says
I just picked up a Drake TR4Cw off ebay today. I don’t know a thing about tubes but I’ve been wanting to explore the hollow-state world for some time. All the radio nostalgia of the recent Titanic tragedy anniversary has been swirling in my head and then today seeing the same brand of rig I used while a student at Purdue at W9YB back in the 70s pushed me over the edge. Here’s wishing I can figure out how to work this thing!