Tube radios and printed circuit boards

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

I actually prefer printed circuits, they are very consistent and reliable. Point to point is a rat's nest by comparison. Lifting traces can happen, but if you use solder braid and proper temperatures it is much less common.

You shouldn't worry, tube equipment from table radios to powerful high end audio amplifiers has lasted many decades with printed circuits.

Of course there is always the poorly designed exception which overheats and bakes the board, I am speaking generally above.

Zenith tried PC boards in a few models of 5 tube table radios, CA 1956. They were very poor! The traces lifted when doing just minor repairs. They quit using the boards after about one model year.
Even the first model Royal 500 was hand wired!