what are the most commonly used tubes in vintage radios, and TVs 1939-1975

[Electronic M]

Posted: Feb Mon 14, 2011 5:43 pm

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I'm writing a program for my intro to embeded systems class, to replace the instruction manual for my B&K Dyna Jet 606 tube tester. I need to have it finished by wednesday and don't have time to coppy all of the tubes in the settings part of the manual. I'm Intend to include AA5 tubes as I know they were the most common however the only AA5 radios in my collection that I have access to are the octal type, and I can't remember the numbers for the types. I'm going to try to include the apporximately 50 most common types from radio, TV, and HiFi. The oldest types the Dyna Jet tests are octals and loctals, so I can't use anything that pre dates them. See my similar posts in other parts of this forum.

Thanks, Tom C.

[Tubejunke]

Between the years 1939 and 1975, radio and television manufacturers had gone through a number of changes effecting what one might call a "commonly used" tube. For instance, in 1951 you could pop the back off of nearly any TV set and pull, 5U4s, 6SN7s, 6CB6s, and 6AU6s all day long, but by 1961 most of these tubes had been replaced by other tubes and semiconductors. In the late 60s and into the 70s smaller size had become the trend so you saw a lot of Compactrons come into play and most tubes at that point had no keyed base like an Octal or a Loctal. Speaking of Loctal tubes, their use is centered around and after WW2 as the design was to compliment military equipment. Have you ever seen a loctal tube that was loose in its socket? I doubt it! In my mind and due to the time frame of my interests, the 5U4 diode tube was the most common as it was the diode of choice for most manufacturers from the 40s through the early 60s.