'70 Zenith 12" tube type B&W

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by peverett

I have a couple of comments.

1. Most vacuum tubes (especially small TV tubes) are not hard to get. Antique Electronics Supply (and others) carry them. You may also be able to find them at hamfests, etc. There are few oddballs(eye tubes for radios, 1L6 tubes for Zenith radios, etc.) that are difficult to get. Also certain audio tubes command a high price. However, in general, TV vacuum tubes are very easy to find, much easier than some of the integrated circuits used in later TVs. Some of the integrated circuits are unobtainium now.

2. I have found that on some radios that I have restored that even plain water will remove numbers from some dials. Be very carefull when cleaning.

That's right. They usually can't give most TV tubes away. Especially the oddball filament voltage tubes used in series string sets. The only exception is most color TV horizontal output tubes. It seems like those go up drastically every year. You can thank CB'er's and HAM's for that, as these tubes are used in RF amplifiers. I wonder when the Russians and the Chinese are going to get on the horizontal output tube bandwagon? I'm sure they could make some money if they started making HO tubes, as well as some of the hard to find radio tubes.