Vintage Radio Tubes of the 1920’s

Рет қаралды 11,093

9 ай бұрын

Vintage radio tubes used in the 1920’s. Correction the WD-11 manufactured by Westinghouse Electric not Western Electric.

Пікірлер: 61

@RottenAnimal 6 ай бұрын

Many years ago I contacted someone selling tubes. He said, I have 75 tubes and will sell them to you for $75. All the tubes were from the 1920. Good deal for me.

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Good deal 👍

@pauljanssen7594 2 ай бұрын

I've learned that one way you can make your tubes last longer is a voltage drop to slowly warm them up. Could be easily designed with a drop resistor and relay and a switch. Basically a three-way switch on the off and on.

@Pulverrostmannen 6 ай бұрын

I love tubes, I build a lot of stuff using them, There is something I find fascinating when you can listen to the sound of something that is 100 years old, it tells a story about the people making them in the past somehow. I always liked tubes even before I got them, from the first day I heard there was something made of glass that glows and make sound. eventually I got my own to play around with

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the nice comments 🙏. I agree watching the tubes glow on an Atwater Kent Breadboard or a Radiola or through the tube window on a 1920’s big box is magic. Glad you enjoyed the video thanks for liking and subscribing. Hope you enjoy my other videos 🙏.

@mastopage3120 3 ай бұрын

Awesome I am also tube lover. Great video.

@user-bo8eq7ki5w Ай бұрын

@@curlyzim1 We just feel it.. we understand that there is some kind of story behind this. A part of a past life that we do not know, but is so valuable in itself, filled with events, human affairs, and what 's there - OUR LIFE . I also collect old radio magazines and radio tubes from before 1940. Big pot-bellied glass flasks )). With a large base (even before the 6.3 volt octane series.). And when you listen to receivers on such lamps, it's magic. 73 !

@thevintageaudiolife 6 ай бұрын

My favorite vintage tube is the type 24, love the look and the craftmanship and how its a blends of modern vs raw look.

@clintonkuhn1647 Ай бұрын

Fascinating video I had some Ediswan tubes once mid twentys. Found in derelict house.

@terryblackman6217 8 ай бұрын

I very much enjoyed watching your video. A great history lesson.

@curlyzim1 8 ай бұрын

🙏

@enriqueperales8136 3 ай бұрын

Great Job 👍

@TheBigdog868 2 ай бұрын

Beautiful collection! Thank you for showing us.

@electronica12au7 6 ай бұрын

Very interesting thank you from England.

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the nice comment and subscribing. I like the 12au7 in your email address. 👍

@UQRXD 3 ай бұрын

Tubes, best racket second to the light bulb of old times. Both always burned out after a short life.

@jennyjansen754 2 ай бұрын

They were the only game in town so what are you gonna do.

@offthecuff6352 Ай бұрын

They did not "BURN OUT" after a short life. If the circuit is designed properly they will out last your lifetime! I have a few audio amplifiers which use tubes from the 1920's and 30's which are on at least 12 hrs every day with no issues. I even leave one on for ambiance music 24/7 that has Type 71 triodes, it only puts out 1/2 watt per channel but it is one darn sweet amplifier. My amplifiers have been stabile since 1969 when I personally overhauled them.

@UQRXD Ай бұрын

@@offthecuff6352 So they were overhauled with new components. IS that why they last?

@user-bo8eq7ki5w Ай бұрын

@@offthecuff6352 Excuse me.. I assume that you did not understand this magnificent metaphor)) "the radio lamp burned down", but it moved the radio and computer forward on the scale of progress. You have to pay for everything .. 73 ! )))

@offthecuff6352 Ай бұрын

@@user-bo8eq7ki5w Yes, I missed the point, I am old and must have been tired. I enjoy building tube equipment. 73 my friend hope to hear you sometime on the airwaves. :))

@NebukedNezzer 4 ай бұрын

I have some radios and tubes from this era. thanks for the video.

@larryward1082 Ай бұрын

I'm an old analog guy I'll tell you one thing vacuum tubes are much more forgiving than solid state

@franklynpolster8949 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the explanations of the "01A" types. I always wondered why some had visible light emitting from the filaments, and some do not light up much... but both work about the same. Good to know it's normal.

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for nice comments my friend 🙏. I like your Thumbnail of a Triode how fitting for this video. The difference in the 01A was the thorigated filament that only drew .25 amps. Whereas the UV201 drew 1 amp. The UV200 was a soft detector with argon gas. For detector use only max plate voltage of 45 VDC. In the early 20’s due to high current consumption most receivers were a max of 3 tube or less. All about battery life using a 6 volt car battery. Electric AC sets weren’t invented yet. The 01A and UV201 had a 5 volt filament with a rheostat in series. You would turn up the rheostat till you had sufficient gain and heard a signal. As the battery drained you would turn it up a little more. Thanks again for liking and subscribing. Check out my other videos how to operate a regenerative or TRF receiver for more information. 🙏

@stephencopeland238 7 ай бұрын

Thankyou so much for taking the time to video and upload - I really enjoyed and thoroughly appreciate your kindness and efforts in sharing

@curlyzim1 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind comments 🙏. Hope you enjoy my other videos 😃

@user-bo8eq7ki5w Ай бұрын

@@curlyzim1 KZfaq has closed the time ring))). And the old radio tubes have found their voice again ! However, how did they make such curved "Horn loudspeakers" there in the past? I wanted to do it myself with my own hands, but I broke my head :))

@markmarkofkane8167 5 ай бұрын

Really interesting!!

@wdmm94 23 күн бұрын

Love your video. I learned that there was a transition from UV200 to the 01A's. However I think you mean "thoriated" with the chemical thorium. The side pin was needed to have the tube in the correct position in socket. Those 01A's also have bigger pins on the filament part of the tube. They could be installed correctly by either that side pin in a socket or in a base that matches the correct pin sizes.

@curlyzim1 23 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching 🙏. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Please go to my antique radio playlist and check out my other videos. I’m so glad my videos are helpful to keep vintage electronics alive. It makes me happy every time I look at them or listen to them. I play them daily. 73’s my friend all the best to you and your family 😀

@pibbles-a-plenty1105 2 ай бұрын

I have a Radioa III but no WD-11's. Thanks for the tip about the VT-24.

@curlyzim1 2 ай бұрын

Remember you’ll need an adapter to plug into the socket.

@socksumi 5 ай бұрын

I have given to me a box of aprox 100 of old 1920s tubes but I don't know how to test them.

@curlyzim1 5 ай бұрын

I would check the filament continuity with a DVM. If the filaments are good that’s half the battle. Do not connect the filament directly to the battery. The early tubes were made to be used with a rheostat on series to control the volume. If you were to connect a WD-11 tube directly to a 1.5 volt battery it will burn up. The maximum voltage rating is only 1.1 volts. Although it’s meant to be used with a 1.5 volt battery with a rheostat in series. The 01, 00 and 01A filament rating is 5 volts but made to use a 6 volt battery with a series rheostat. Most tube testers don’t have the old type tube sockets. I would test them in an old receiver. And swap them around to different stages. You may find that one tube may work better as an AF amplifier and another may work better as a RF amplifier or a detector. Use UV200 or UX200A for detectors use only because the maximum plate voltage is 45 volts. Tubes from the late 20’s and on you should be able to test on most tube testers.

@davidkerl1431 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for the video. It is incentive for me to get my Dayfan OEM-1 from 1926, up and running. Dave N9HF

@curlyzim1 4 ай бұрын

Thanks 🙏 for the nice comments. I used to have a Dayfan with a rubber horn speaker I sold it at a flea market. There’s not too much to the TRF and regen sets from the 20’s. The biggest failure is the AF transformers opens. You can check with an ohm meter. Check for corrosion on the pin contacts of the tubes and any binding post. Clean with an eraser, wire brush or an X-Acto knife. If your battery connection post or cable isn’t marked check the continuity with an ohm meter. RF and AF plates should be +45 to 90 volts most likely +90. Detector should be +20 volts. If your set has a “C” grid bias battery it should be - 4 to 9 volts. If your radio uses 01A tubes the filament battery should be 6 volts. You can power the set with batteries or a power supply battery eliminator. Please check out my Battery Eliminator power supply video. Under my antique radio play list. Thanks again for subscribing comment and like. 73’s KA1VMW Mark

@vonzigle 6 ай бұрын

Well done!

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the nice comment subscribing and liking my video. 🙏

@larryward1082 Ай бұрын

1074 years old and I have a lot of these tubes and actually I had several of these working radios that had tubes like that in them and I had my roof of my house redone and some decking was taken off of the house it's quite large house a lot of these radio for stolen by the roofers and I had no idea this even happened until about six to eight months later I went up in the attic of the house to look around and I said oh where's all my radios I called the police department basically you can't do anything but I still have a lot of tubes but the radio these tubes went in are gone somebody's got them out there they were restored that's what I used to do anyway yeah I still think about it when I came across that I got to thinking about it even more

@wdmm94 23 күн бұрын

Nice people I guess. Steal from a customer.

@stevezodiac6025 5 ай бұрын

I subscribed to Audio Amateur forever back in the ???1980s and read an article I think by Erno Borbely about using your own tubes in preamp design. I custom designed a line stage using UY-227 tubes with 6SN7 cathode follower output/buffers and really started to get into the old stuff. His choice of preamp tubes wound up being the 01-A. The best sounding 227s are Champion by far, not the blue glass Arcturus as I may have hoped. Reply

@curlyzim1 5 ай бұрын

The 27 was one of the first cathode tubes for AC electric sets. It is a very durable tube. I’ve made some transmitters using its 6 volt cousin the 76 or 56 type tubes. However 5 pin cathode type tubes won’t work in the early radio set because they controlled the volume by a rheostat is series with the filament. Volume was controlled by adjusting the filament current. Many early receivers had a window to check the brightness of the filament. I love the early primitive circuitry of the early 1920’s.

@johnstrohsnitter2094 15 күн бұрын

Great video. A small correction: The WD-11 was designed by Westinghouse, not Western Electric. The tube was generally a poor performer with a very high failure rate. A real POS that Western Electric would have never allowed to hit the market with the poor reliability that this tube suffered. Shortly after the WD11 was introduced, GE introduced the UV199 and UX199. These used 3.3V for the filaments. 3 "A" batteries were needed, as opposed to the 1 A battery needed for the WD11, but these tubes performed much better than the WD11. So much so, that RCA, who marked both the Westinghouse and GE receiver and tube lines, wrote a service document on replacing WD11s with UV199s using an adaptor made by a third party. The 864 (JAN VT-24) was introduced during WWII for rough duty service. The Author is very correct in stating that it makes an excellent replacement for the WD-11. Unfortunately, many vintage radio collectors are folks are between 60 and 90 years old and we are passing away. The younger generation needs to step up to preserve this hobby which, for us "boomers", started when we were kids. How many of us built 1 tube regenerative receivers using the technology of the Westinghouse Aeriola (one of the first radios sold to the public) for a Boy Scout Merit Badge? Fortunately, prices for these collectible radios and tubes are dropping as the estates of deceased collectors are sold on auction sites such as eBay. So join the hobby and enjoy a piece of century old technology that still works. Imagine the earth-shaking news events that were received by the person who first owned it and say a prayer for their souls.

@curlyzim1 14 күн бұрын

@@johnstrohsnitter2094 Thanks 🙏 for the nice comment. Easy to confuse 🤣 Westinghouse & Western Electric. They were both power houses of the time. Westinghouse built most of the Broadcast Transmitters of the time. 73’s my friend KA1VMW

@jamesmiller4184 17 күн бұрын

Q.R.S. Redtop Tubes were going to be used with the Q.R.S. DiscTeleVisioN, but regrettably it never got off the ground.

@borisromanoff4244 8 ай бұрын

Great!

@sr633 5 ай бұрын

A ton of inforation.Thanks.

@bill-2018 5 ай бұрын

Very interesting. I have several Mullard PM2 types with 2 Volt heaters, one with 6 Volt, a number 30 valve and a D.E.R. marked with the B.B.C. logo so manufactured between 1924 and 1926, a 1.8 Volt Tungsten heater which glows brightly like yours. A top sealing pip as well. Also one Cossor 215P power valve. I made an H.A.C. one valve receiver kit with Denco plug in coils in 1969 aged 14 y.o. I want to make a replica but coils if available are a stupid price so I'll use something else. G4GHB.

@curlyzim1 5 ай бұрын

Always good to have projects and goals. I also have couple PM2’s. And a Cossor I got in a box lot at a flea market

@bill-2018 5 ай бұрын

@@curlyzim1 I got a scruffy Cossor 1929 three valve radio, looks elecrically right but yet to hook it up to batteries H.T., G.B. and L.T. Also a three valve Pye mains set with no valves, 4 Volt heaters.

@user-gc6ow7ys2s Ай бұрын

I also made a one valver in ‘62 with a green denco reaction coil which I kept. In ‘62 I was 9 yrs old!

@peteleoni9665 6 ай бұрын

My Freind that is an excellent video. I am about to find me an AT 20 and now I understand why they all have some kind of "201" tube for everything! Thank you. Subscription!

@curlyzim1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the nice comments and scribing. I posted a video of my AK-20 and 20-C be sure to check them out. Make sure you use 01A tubes. Do not use 201’s. The “A” tube only draws .25 amps. The 201 draws 1 amp. You can use a 112A for the final AF amp or a 00A for a detector. Thanks mg friend have a Happy New Year.

@peteleoni9665 6 ай бұрын

@@curlyzim1 Got it, will do.

@pibbles-a-plenty1105 2 ай бұрын

"....evacuated the vacuum." Neat trick if you can do it.

@jamesmiller4184 17 күн бұрын

Invactuation?

@user-bo8eq7ki5w Ай бұрын

A GREAT COLLECTION OF WORKING RADIO TUBES OF ANTIQUITY!! I WONDER WHY THEY ARE WRITTEN "FOR AMATEUR AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK"?

@johnstrohsnitter2094 15 күн бұрын

The "Licensed for Amateur and Experimental Work" statement was placed on the tube because most of the patents for radio in the USA were owned by RCA, which was formed in 1919, at the behest of the US Government who saw the nascent field of radio (wireless) as a national security interest. The development of both the diode and triode vacuum tubes and wireless communication itself involved many patent fights between such people as Edison, J.A Fleming, Lee de Forest, Guglielmo Marconi and even Niccoli Tesla, and corporations such as Marconi, GE, Westinghouse, AT&T, and even the United Fruit Company. Eventually, after many deals and lawsuits, most patents were collected by RCA who demanded royalties from anyone who manufactured radios or tubes. Since commercial radio didn't really take off till the early 1920s, when an individual purchased a tube, it was for amateur radio or experimental use only. If the tube was purchased by a company to be made a part of a radio transmitter or receiver, telephone system, or if public exhibition of a radio program was to be held in an auditorium or hall, etc., royalties had to be paid. Therefore, many early radios (prior to about 1926 or so) sold by such companies as FADA, Atwater Kent, Crosley, Freshman, Grebe, etc., were sold without tubes.

@user-bo8eq7ki5w 14 күн бұрын

@@johnstrohsnitter2094 Oh! I didn't know that! Very interesting. Every quantum of radio history is interesting to me. Thank you very much!