[Amps] Eimac vs Svetlana
Skram, Helge (MED)
helge.skram@med.ge.com
Thu, 19 Dec 2002 14:39:50 +0100
Hello
I confronted Eimac with the information below, concerning quality of Eimac
vs Svetlana.
In a previous posting there were more statements about Eimac that were
strange.
I am interested in this, because there have been stories in Norway about
Eimac that proved to be lies.
I can assure I hav no connection or bonds to Eimac.
Previous stories that proved to be lies:
1.Eimac is no longer manufacturing the small coaxial tubes (for radio
amateurs), only the big tubes (Pd>3kW).
2.Eimac has licenced the 8877 to be manufactured in China. It has not the
Eimac logo but it is Eimac quality.
3.Tubes sold by Tomstubes is purchased in the back yard of the Svetlana
factory and are tubes that fail to pass the quality control. You should
not buy any of these.
I have the responses from Eimac and Tom Hix to these claims, in my email
box. In short form it was:
Eimac is still doing and will manufacture all tubes in their product
listing.
There have never been and will never be production of 8877 in China. 8877
tubes from China are copies.
Tom Hix in Tomstubes was very upset ! Tom purchases tubes from Russian
military storage and all tubes are equal quality to the tubes that are
branded Svetlana.
There seems to be a pattern in these stories that smells of bad marketing
and lack of integrity.
I think there is a single offspring, but so far I can not prove who it may
be.
If you compare Svetlana specifications with the original russian
specification you will find differences. Why ?
If you look at the claimed lifetime in the original russian specs, they are
not impressive at all.
The Svetlana 4CX350A may very well last 8000h, that is considerable more
than the typical 500 hour specs.
I have a W2GN style 144MHz amp with Svetlana 2x 4CX400a that works fine.
Don't tell me lie stories about Eimac tubes, that don't sell me any more
Svetlana tubes, grrrrrrrrr.
Helge Skram
LA6MV
Responses from Eimac:
At 08:04 AM 12/18/02 -0800, you wrote:
From: "Skram, Helge (MED)" <helge.skram@med.ge.com>
To: powergrid@eimac.cpii.com
Subject: Eimac 4CX350A quality
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 14:03:04 +0100
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2656.59)
Hello
I contacted Eimac some time ago about "information" I received from Svetlana
distributor.
Thank you for your respose.
The Information below is from mail reflector: amps@contesting.com
I wonder if the statements about Eimac quality is true or if it is another
of those lie stories....
It may be that Svetlana achieves 8000 hours lifetime on 4CX350A, but my
suspicion is raised by this:
"batch of Eimac tubes, are so bad, they send the whole lot back mostly
unopened."
This seems unusual based on my knowledge of Eimac.
Any comments ?
Best Regards
Helge Skram
LA6MV
Raadmann Knutsensgt.13
N-3188 Horten
The Information below is from mail reflector: amps@contesting.com
The company I work for supplies the Svetlana 4CX350A tube to the Coast Guard
and other government customers.
The buyers verify that the 4CX350A Svetlana tube significantly outlasts the
current production Eimac tube and it is the first choice in procurement.
73, Merit W6NQ
Dear Mr. Skram,
I
Merit Arnold sells import and surplus tubes, as well as some new tubes under
the name RF Parts.
It so happens that he does not have any purchase orders with Eimac for the
4CX350A.
Perhaps you should ask him to confirm what he he said in more detail. You
may reach him by email at rfp@rfparts.com
Each year Eimac manufactures thousands of small tetrodes including the
4CX350A.
Many are supplied under contract to the US and foreign Government agencies.
Tubes thus supplied often undergo a site inspection program whereby a USG
inspector verifies testing and manufacturing processes.
If they do have a bad tube (which is not unheard of with a hand-made product
that uses precious commodity like a vacuum) they may elect to return the lot
or throw it out, that is up to the individual user. I really find it
unlikely that any US users would throw out a lot of tubes without filling
out a report of some kind.
In Australia however the cost and time to return tubes may affect any
decision on that subject. I have asked our representative in Australia to
review your Email and comment.
I am not aware of any batch related problems with the 4CX350A since 1983, at
which time there were some returns from Government Radio System users. In
1984 I was involved with a program to improve the 4CX350A and we
subsequently introduced the 4CX350AC. This was evaluated by the USN and
approved for use where long life is of concern, specifically in newer HF
radio transmission systems.
QA informs me there are currently no issues concerning quality of the
4CX350A.
Does your firm use the 4CX350A in medical equipment?
Regards,
Reid Brandon
CPI Eimac division
301 Industrial Rd.
San Carlos CA 94070
-----Original Message-----
From: W6NQ [mailto:w6nq@rfparts.com]
Sent: 18. desember 2002 02:54
To: amps@contesting.com; Alek Petkovic
Subject: Re: [Amps] Eimac vs Svetlana
The company I work for supplies the Svetlana 4CX350A tube to the Coast Guard
and other government customers.
The buyers verify that the 4CX350A Svetlana tube significantly outlasts the
current production Eimac tube and it is the first choice in procurement.
73, Merit W6NQ
> The guys who run the transmitters told us that the Svetlana tubes were far
> better than the Eimac version. Typically, they get 2800 hours from the
> Eimacs before trouble sets in. From the Svetlanas, the average is 8000
hours!
>
> We were quite astounded at the difference. They also said that sometimes,
a
> batch of Eimac tubes, are so bad, they send the whole lot back mostly
> unopened. The few that they had opened and tested were so bad, that they
> didn't even bother testing the rest.
>
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>Amen, Karl-Arne. Eimac seemingly began a long slide downhill after it
>was acquired by Varian. The sweetheart monopoly contract Eimac/Varian
>signed with Eddie Richardson was a good clue that something was going
>amiss in San Bruno, California. [this contract almost resulted in
>slammer/jail time for the conspirators at Club-Fed]
>- After its Salt Lake City plant opened, Eimac began selling 3-500Zs
>with defective anode-cooler spotwelds. This manufacturing defect allowed
>the anode coolers to eventually break- oose, fall down and short against
>the grounded-grid -- usually just beyond the 12-month warranty-period.
The author of the above statement is an idiot.
It is based on nonsense and outright lies.
Reid Brandon
CPI Eimac division
301 Industrial Rd.
San Carlos CA 94070