deciphering GE tube date codes.........

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Slightly OT; but, I wonder when companies like RCA, GE, and Sylvania stopped making vacuum tubes in this country? I do remember buying some Philips ECG tubes from the local parts house in the mid '90's for some of the tube sets I brought home. Of course, these may have been 10 years old or older when I bought them.

And some of those Philips ECG tubes were made in Europe. I've got several dozen NOS Philips ECG tubes that were made in Germany, Netherlands and even Japan. Dwindling use of tubes did in the US plants - most consumer equipment was solid state by the mid 70's and tubes made into the 1980's were mostly for replacement and/or military purposes. RCA made RF tubes well into the 90's here in the states - the Government made several "lifetime buys" of the most used tubes. Then, once modernization/retirement of old systems came about, they dumped the tubes through DRMS, and you can now find most of them on Fleabay.

Here in Norfolk, the DRMO auctions I went to in the early 90's, when they were still "live," were full of "War Stock" tubes. Funny thing was, few lots were bought, and those lots probably because they had "key" tubes in them. I picked up one pallet lot of new tubes, sockets, and other parts that were removed from the USS Wisconsin when she was reactivated. My price? A $2.50 token bid, placed after they couldn't get the $5 opening bid. (Hey, it was January, 15 degrees outside, and the auction was in an unheated warehouse!)

Cheers,