[Amps] Why do tubes cost so much?

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

This is an interesting thread in terms of manufacturing and marketing 
"philosophy" (if you will). When you're looking at a tube that has been 
around for a while, you're basically looking at a post-maturity product. 
That doesn't mean that the demand for the product is lessening, just that it 
has stopped increasing and the product has stopped evolving to more 
efficiently meet increasing demand. You reach a "good enough" balance point 
where you're going to be meeting current and future demand and are making 
your margin. Why try to change anything when all your R&D resources are 100% 
absorbed working on future products?

Another case in point is the family of Cushcraft VHF yagi antennas, which 
have been marketed essentially untouched for decades. The designs go way 
back before computer modeling, and they basically suck (most notably the 
12-foot 5-element 6m yagi). Many people, including myself, have redesigned 
them using computer modeling and vastly improved their performance. 
Cushcraft could obviously do the same thing. But do they? No. They're in the 
post-maturity phase of these products, and it is simply not worthwhile for 
them to put one more DIME into them for R&D.

I think there may be some axioms at work here.

Axiom #1:
You can make more money selling something new than selling something old.

Axiom #2:
If you make something old better with new technology, to the marketplace 
it's not something new, it's still something old. See Axiom #1.

Axiom #3:
If you ARE making money selling something old that really isn't very good, 
but it is absorbing zero dollars in engineering overhead, just keep selling 
it, and don't put another DIME into it to make it better. See Axiom #2.

Bill W5WVO


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 13:04
To: "Jim Tonne" <tonne at comcast.net>; <amps at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Why do tubes cost so much?

> I read somewhere (years ago so dont quote me) that tubes with extremely
> close grids such as the 3CX800 and 1500 have yields around 20%. You would
> think that after all these years companies would have better technology
> available to assemble.
>
> Setup times should be controlled also, I just suspect that Eimac doesnt 
> care
> since they still have the bulk of the market that will pay whatever it
> costs.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jim Tonne" <tonne at comcast.net>
> To: "Frederick Mott" <fredmott at zoominternet.net>; <dezrat1242 at yahoo.com>;
> <amps at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 9:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [Amps] Why do tubes cost so much?
>
>
>>
>> I think that Bill and Fred have summarized things
>> nicely.
>>
>> But I also suspect that the "tiny" tubes like a 6BA6
>> are assembled in a relatively (if not entirely) automated
>> operation.  And I chose the 6BA6 because of how the
>> first grid is formed, with that nonuniform winding.
>>
>> The "big" tubes - those with 100 kW or more of plate
>> dissipation - offer the same challenges that the 1000
>> watt tubes do but are simply scaled up and are
>> larger in every respect and so probably relatively
>> easier to build.   The cost of materials in those huge
>> tubes is probably significant.   So is warranty cost.
>>
>> - JimT   W4ENE
>>
>>
>>> I have often wondered why big tubes cost so much.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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