DuMont RA-106 Club 20

[ohohyodafarted]

Hi Tom,

Last month I purchased Chuck Azzalina's DuMont Manchu, which has a NOS 20BP4 in it. When Chuck was taking delivery on the set about 7 or 8 years ago, they dropped it when unloading from the truck. Snapped the neck off of it. Somehow Chuck found a NOS 20BP4 to replace the broken crt.

The tube is soooooo impressive. In my conversations with Chuck, he tells me the tube is rather heavy.

I don't intend on removing my crt from the set (no reason to do so) but I am curious; with the tremendous physical size and weight of the crt, How in the heck did you lift it out of the cabinet? And do you have a weight of this humongus bulb?

Please tell us the story of how you removed the tube.

Thanks!!

[Tom Albrecht]

Hi Bob,

Actually, it's not that heavy. One of the attributes of the early Pyrex tubes is that they are rather thin walled, and the front face is WAY thinner than later tubes. The highly convex front face and high strength Pyrex on the 20BP4 give it good structural integrity without needing to use very thick glass. Bottom line is that it is not particularly taxing to lift the tube out of the set. Something like 25-30 lbs total I would guess.

I can definitely say the 15GP22 in my CT-100 is significantly heavier than a 20BP4. More modern 21" B&W tubes are also heavier than a 20BP4, even though they are far less deep from neck to screen. They are heavier because of the thick glass they have on the screen.

The only thing that was a little scary about removing the 20BP4 from the Club 20 was that it had adhered to the rubber mask. I had to pry it up, and during that operation I worried a little working so close around such a big tube at a moment when the risk of implosion is somewhat increased.

I would sure love to know where people can find NOS 20BP4s these days. Chuck is very experienced and well connected!

[Tom Albrecht]

An update on this set. Its 20BP4 has now been transferred over to my DuMont RA-101 Westminster, which I consider a more valuable set. I have to admit it was painful to pull the 20BP4 out of the Club 20, since that was its original home, and the set has been working very nicely.

You can read about the Westminster here: http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/...46908#p2246908 .

Here's a shot of the Westminster with the 20BP4 installed and happily performing its duty!



I probably won't be able to keep the Club 20, since I don't really have room for it in the house, and I don't really like it taking up space in the shop. So I'll install the 19DP4 that used to be in the Westminster in the Club 20, and see if I can find a new home for the set.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Your RA-101 looks great with that 20-inch CRT.