Remembrances of vacuum tube days
As a young teenager, I developed a love for electronics which became a lifelong love affair. In those days vacuum tubes were the norm and solid state devices such as transistors weren't in usage then....
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When I was little, my dad would let me take out and test the TV tubes at the drug store. He gave me a Hallicrafters S-20R shortwave receiver that I still have today. I will always remember the hot dust smell when the tubes heated up. That radio led me to an interest in electronics and I eventually got my ham radio license. I'm retired now and am still active in ham radio. I have restored several tube RF amplifiers, and other ham radio gear. I recently restored an old Tektronix RM-45A oscilloscope. It has NINETY tubes in it! Not so useful by today's standards but equipment like it put men on the moon. Tubes are hardly ancient technology. You use one everyday in your microwave. 73, de WG2E.
