I have to agree with Ian about the "supply" of Russian tubes. I was at
Friederichschafen
Hamradio exhibition in June and spoke to several HA's who had tea chests full
of tubes
and complete amplifiers for sale at the flea-market. They all told me that the
russian
tech's pay is so poor that they supplement their wages by stealing tubes! One
guy told
me
that a whole 4 ton truck was loaded with tubes and driven out of the military
base by
bribing the guards with a couple of bottles of vodka to look the other way.
John ZS5JF
----------
> From: Ian White, G3SEK <G3SEK@ifwtech.demon.co.uk>
> To: amps@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [AMPS] 50 MHz Amp Details
To: <amps@contesting.com>
> Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 1:28 AM
>
>
> Bob Marston wrote:
> >a couple of very
> >interesting pages are the Soviet GS-31 and GS-35b triodes. These tubes are
> >their equivalent of the 3CX-800 and 8877.
>
> These tubes are new to us in the West, but they were old designs before
> the 3CX800 and 8877 were even thought of.
>
> Actually, the GS-31 and GS-35 tubes are electrically the same, with only
> a different anode cooler. They bear no resemblance to either Eimac tube.
>
> >The MOST expensive price I've
> >seen for the 35b is 1/3 of the 8877. Just illustrates how much Eimac and
> >Richardson Electronics are ripping us off!
> >
> Be fair - Eimac have to pay real-world manufacturing costs, as do
> Svetlana with their modern Russian tubes.
>
> The rules of real-world economics don't apply to the old Russian tubes.
> They cost precisely nothing - they just roll off the rear of a former
> Red Army truck. The original manufacturing costs vanished within a
> Soviet economy that doesn't even exist any more.
>
> Now, all you pay is for the vodka, the middle-men and the shipping
> costs. More constructively, if you buy direct from UR4LL
> <alex@zcrb.kharkov.ua> a cut goes to the Kharkov hospital where Alex is
> a doctor.
>
> The older Russian tubes are cheap, rugged, great fun to use, and we can
> get by very well with "product support" from users on the web... but
> when they're gone, they're gone. Let's enjoy them while they last!
>
> 73 from Ian G3SEK Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
> 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
> http://www.ifwtech.demon.co.uk/g3sek
>
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