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#1
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Tube radios with PC boards. Questions....
When did manufacturers first start using PC boards in their table radios?
What companies were known for using PC boards with tubes and are they a sign of lower quality compared to P-to-P wiring? |
#2
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RCA was an early adapter to PCB. Lower quality? Can't say that after seeing many radios with rats nest wiring instead of neat point to point....
__________________
Let me live in the house beside the road and be a friend to man. |
#3
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Quote:
In my collection, I have a few Westinghouse radios that use a moulded bakelite chassis similar to the early 40's Zenith radios that were a flop! I have a 1956 Zenith clock radio that uses a PC board. Zenith only made two years of tube radios that used PC boards. It seems they had too much trouble with the boards, because of the heat. |
#4
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Exactly! Why did Zenith give up on PCBs but not everyone else?
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#5
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The other radio firms never had much problem with their PC board radios. Naturally, they were the lowest priced radios in their line. |
Audiokarma |
#6
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Quote:
http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/310 Perhaps less conservative manufactures were less sensitive to field reliability issues that were related to early PC boards. jr |
#7
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It just seems to me that Zenith radios (among others) with P-to-P wiring were some of the best quality American radios made in the 1960's compared to Philco, GE, Emerson, Arvin, etc. They seem to be in a class by themselves (which is why many on this forum like them so much.). I own 3 Zeniths, and I have to say, they have better build quality than those mentioned above that I have come across. RCA isn't bad, but I have only come across a wooden-cased SS one. Never found a tube model.
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#8
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It's easier, cheaper and faster to use printed circuits. Tubes complicate matters by being hot!
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Rick (Sparks) Ethridge |
#9
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And that's why they invented transistors.
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#10
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I once had a Zenith portable radio that was a) solid state....and b) point to point wiring!All of the transistors were in little sockets. It was a) an excellent performer and b) stolen.
__________________
Let me live in the house beside the road and be a friend to man. |
Audiokarma |
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