Quote:
Originally Posted by zenith2134
Regarding the 6LF6,, it isn't just the hamradio guys who want em...it's popular with the OTL (output transformerless) amp guys as well.
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Actually, it's not even Ham's or OTL guys. CB'ers are the reason 6LF6's are so rare today. The 6lf6 was commonly used in illegal CB Linear amps back in the 70's, mainly because it was a cheap and readily available sweep tube at the time.
These Linear amps were generally very poorly designed, splattered harmonics everywhere, and ran the tubes way beyond their max plate dissipation ratings. The average lifespan of a 6lf6 in one of those amps was barely in the tens of hours. And most of those amps used at least six, and some as many as 10 or 12 6LF6's, depending on output power. Back in the 70's this wasn't an issue. The 6LF6 was a common TV tube.
"Dedicated"
CB'ers are still using many of these amps, and have almost completely burned through the remaining NOS stocks of 6lf6's in the past twenty or so years. They continue to pay top dollar for any NOS 6LF6 they can find, even though they could easily rewire their amps to accept the new production Russian El509/6KG6, just as the OTL amp guys have done. However, most of these guys aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer, so I doubt that will happen any time soon.