vintage military radios
 

I've got a bc-375 I'm restoring and need (4) VT-4-C 's for a decent price, must have good filaments. Rog

You might need a time machine.... Once were plentiful and cheap war surplus... But now expensive audiophile tubes... Cheapest i saw one go is $60 for one that looked well used at a hamfest.

Otherwise known as a type 211 triode

I am guessing that the 211 is the same, or at least close to, the 811. You can get 811As cheaply, as they are current manufacture and widely used. The filament supply may have to be changed.

Check the RCA Transmitting Tube Manual. If you can't find one online I have a paper copy.

Personally, I'd bite the bullet and stick with the hunt for the 211s unless the '375 has already been modified. It'd be hard to modify it to something else without it being cosmetically apparent.

I've always wondered about the history behind those things; technologically, seems like they were quite obsolete by the time we got involved in WWII, and we kept using them (at least on a limited basis) well afterwards in spite of having better options available.

I guess it's a matter of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Yeah, the BC-375 was essentially outdated by the time the US got involved in the war...but we needed RADIOS! So...the '375 soldiered on despite its MOPA design.

When I was a kid of 10 or so one of my buddies had a ham Dad...in his shack was a BC-375 with an SX-28. Looked damn impressive to a 10-year old:)

That would be impressive! I'll bet the image of that shack is indelibly etched into your memory. I can't remember what I did an hour ago, but I can recall seeing things like that as a kid as clear as day.

Think I'll go fire up my RME-45 and MOPA and see what trouble I can get into, LOL!

I got into trouble buying an RME 43 offa CL last month - but she kept her dislike mellow...

You can't deny your spouse a hobby. It's cruel and makes for difficult times.

LOL! I'm fortunate that my wife is pretty accepting of my hobbies. The worst I get is the occasional rolling of the eyes and subtle hints about needing to "thin the herd". She's probably right, but I'd just fill the empty spaces with more stuff, so what's the point?

One point in thinning the heard can be that if you sell some of the sets you least like that makes room for ones you don't have that you may want much more.

I try to do that with all categories of my collection and it keeps a good flow of interesting things moving through my hands and keeps me from going in to buying withdrawal symptoms.

One word - CHINA

http://www.rfparts.com/tubes/tubes-t...other/211.html

Cheapest I could find, I would assume it is Chinese and not a NOS Taylor at that price, but who knows.

Yup, I also have too much stuff. I have ham gear and test equipment and stereos, plus some 'musical' stuff.

I recently bought a fancy voltmeter and it didn't work so I got my money back and bought another. The first seller said he didn't want it back so now I have a parts unit. I recently bought a counter because my old one failed, and the parts unit didn't offer the solution. The new counter doesn't work properly and someone in the southwest said he had two of them he didn't need so they are en route to me.

The inventory grows exponentially. Anyone in the market for a signal generator? Digital voltmeter? VTVM? Audio voltmeter? Antenna tuner? Kenwood HF rig?

What kind of vtvm ? Maybe, does it have a probe ?

:lurk: woops didn't realize the age of this thread.

The old timers, used to tell me that, those tubes were being sold for like four or five for a buck.
Some guys used them for target practice. :tears:

The place to call is Fair Radio Sales.......Just checked the sold the last 2 GE 211's they had. Audiophiles have latched onto this tube for high end tube audio amps and they are getting at least $800 dollars each for them. :sigh:

211 and 811 are both thransmitting triodes, but thats the end of the similarities. 211 is a lot bigger. Be wary of some of the variants, some brands made them with differnt Mu for other applications. I think the Chinese still make a version of the 211. Ive seen ads for them in late 40s radio magazines for like 69cents each. Sure would be nice to run across a case of them in the estate sale of an old ham radio operator...

That's one thing I love about my R-390As.. The tubes in 'em, for the MOST part, haven't been "Discovered" by the "Audiophool" brigade.

Except you can't transmit with the R-390A. I just spent $140 on a pair of 801A triodes for a BC-223 transmitter that was given to me without any tubes. Now I need to get a trio of 46s for it. I bought my BC-375 a couple of years ago with the full compliment of tubes. When I got it home I noticed one of the VT-4Cs was gassy (white getter flash). I kept an eye on ebay and eventually someone put up a couple of unboxed VT-4Cs for $100 each with a money back guarantee. I bought them both and they work just fine. When I scrounge up some more cash I would like to buy a pair of those Chinese 211s to try out in the '375. It get expensive to keep these things going.

Regarding the BC-375 being obsolete by the time the war started, I would guess GE was tooled up and could crank them out so quickly that they figured if it met the need why go through the hassle of redesigning to make something else fit.

What I am going to have to do is salt away a couple of 4D32's they are starting to build high end audio amps using this tube in China. The one in my Viking 1 transmitter is good.....however.