29-12-2020, 02:52 PM
(23-12-2020, 08:10 PM)Panrock Wrote: To which I would add:
Most 1950s-and-before sets seem to have soft tubes at first light after years of inactivity. However, these tubes can generally be 'woken up' with 6 or more hours of continuous use (not necessarily in one session), as the getter 'gets' to work.
From what I understand it is pretty much that way with any vacuum tube. It is less obvious without the visual evidence but I have found it interesting how NOS valves' emission changes as they bed in. I do have an interesting article somewhere by an amateur radio enthusiast which indicates, from his experience, that it is risky to run RF output tubes on full power if they have been in store for any length of time as they are likely to fail very quickly. A 'running in' period conditions them for full use.
Tracy
