OT: Archiving data/video/movies/photos/oral history

From: allisonp_at_world.std.com <(allisonp_at_world.std.com)>
Date: Mon Jun 5 07:53:30 2000

> > You are thinking of the "all American five" - sets of tubes that were
> > made for each other. They were mostly used after 1945.

Basic lineup for the common 5 tube Am reciever that was of average
performance.

Over the years I've delt with dozens of recivers and not a few
transmitters many of which are post WWII and pre transistor and
I've found them pretty standardized in and well built or very cheap
depending on intended market. Common problems were failed paper caps,
Electrolytics dried up and rubber insulation dead from time and heat.
All of which were easy to fix. The occasional mechanical problem was
often dried/dead grease or abuse to tuning mechs often easily repaired.
The best tube set I'd had was a RBO-2 shipboard AM (550-1600, 3-15mhz)
rack mount tube unit that weighed about 40-50 pounds and built like a
tank. Gave it way working before a move as a very useable ham RX for AM.
Other military stuff like the ARC series command sets and BC series were
often well built though they did have problems with them in the tropics.
By time I was playing with them I'd found them useful but the circuits
were to say the least not state of the art for their time and reflected
mass production in a hurry. They however were valuable sources of parts
for tuners and the like. I'd still buy a command set now for restore
or parts.

Allison
Received on Mon Jun 05 2000 - 07:53:30 BST