18-10-2023, 01:35 PM
I remember the 7360 beam deflection valve being a hot topic ( 
) in Technical Topic's for quite some time yes. No doubt a superb mixer with high IP3 even today. The 6BN6 was a very interesting variation which could be used as an NBFM detector. Pity the 7360 is so expensive and not a particularly long lived valve.
If I was building a high quality receiver today I would still use such things, and other valves of high performance (later frame grid and Nuvistor types) alongside SS tech to make a nice hybrid. I'm a proud Luddite and things like FPGA's, PIC's, SDR and DDS simply do not exist in my mind and I wouldn't use them under any circumstances. For a commercial project 30 years ago I used around 30 LS TTL IC's where many would have used a PIC. It did the job great and I would do the same again today.
I guess unlike many vintage enthusiasts I don't really consider valves or discrete SS circuitry as old fashioned and certainly not obsolete. I'm not only into it for nostalgia and "they don't build it like that anymore" reasons but because to me the single most important criteria around any electronic item is it must be capable of being understood, taken apart, rebuilt, modified, copied and designed by an individual in a well equipped workshop. Hence to me technology pretty much stopped around 1980! I still very much follow advances in discrete devices and ever more advanced op amps etc and make use of these (getting awkward these days and having to use/make converters for SMD to through hole) but BGA's?, 100+ pin PLCC's?, forget it! All the "UFO tech" that gives us smart phones, laptop PC's etc results in commodity equipment, designed to be thrown away when it fails. Like anyone I use such things. One cannot really avoid it in this day and age unfortunately. But I do not give even a moments though to how they work etc because only multi £billion mega-corps can play at that game.
) in Technical Topic's for quite some time yes. No doubt a superb mixer with high IP3 even today. The 6BN6 was a very interesting variation which could be used as an NBFM detector. Pity the 7360 is so expensive and not a particularly long lived valve.If I was building a high quality receiver today I would still use such things, and other valves of high performance (later frame grid and Nuvistor types) alongside SS tech to make a nice hybrid. I'm a proud Luddite and things like FPGA's, PIC's, SDR and DDS simply do not exist in my mind and I wouldn't use them under any circumstances. For a commercial project 30 years ago I used around 30 LS TTL IC's where many would have used a PIC. It did the job great and I would do the same again today.
I guess unlike many vintage enthusiasts I don't really consider valves or discrete SS circuitry as old fashioned and certainly not obsolete. I'm not only into it for nostalgia and "they don't build it like that anymore" reasons but because to me the single most important criteria around any electronic item is it must be capable of being understood, taken apart, rebuilt, modified, copied and designed by an individual in a well equipped workshop. Hence to me technology pretty much stopped around 1980! I still very much follow advances in discrete devices and ever more advanced op amps etc and make use of these (getting awkward these days and having to use/make converters for SMD to through hole) but BGA's?, 100+ pin PLCC's?, forget it! All the "UFO tech" that gives us smart phones, laptop PC's etc results in commodity equipment, designed to be thrown away when it fails. Like anyone I use such things. One cannot really avoid it in this day and age unfortunately. But I do not give even a moments though to how they work etc because only multi £billion mega-corps can play at that game.
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