|
If it wasn't "tacked in like an afterthought" I'd guess maybe it was a means of extending tube life assuming they weren't asking for full tilt emissions from them in the biasing design.
Barring that there's 3 thoughts that come to mind. IIRC they hadn't invented the GTB suffix tubes (controlled synchronized series warmup heaters) until the 50s... Lacking those they may have had issues with heaters on different tubes warming up at different rates and one tube getting 2-3x rated heater voltage on warmup and failing prematurely, maybe during warmup an OSC wasn't biasing an output or temporary heater voltage imbalance was causing frequent HK shorts.
It's also possible they wanted the RF to warm up first so there'd be picture and sound as soon as there was light.
But with that afterthought installation it almost HAD to be a quick fix for a post design or field issue. Any maker back then would say that you don't just tack in an expensive power resistor for sh!ts and giggles.
|