[Boatanchors] OT (sorta) - long - Vacuum tubes were the 4th largest US export in 2011!!??

[David Folger]

I brought this up on a financial board I 
post on. It turns out that there was some sloppy journalism here. The 
category they called "vacuum tubes" includes a lot of electronics stuff 
including semi-conductors. It was a poor choice of name for the category
 as vacuum tubes has to be a very  minor part of the total dollars.

Dave
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point, Chris... is any company in the USA even manufacturing vacuum tubes any 
more? 
The last one I heard of was EIMAC/VARIAN. Perhaps they are still exporting large RF  
broadcasting type power tubes for the powerful SW stations like WYFR, Radio Netherlands 
and Moscow? 

I remember those ads years ago in QST with a picture of a baby in a diaper (nappy) sitting  
next to a gigantic power tube with ceramic body and metal contact rings by EIMAC VARIAN.  
The tube was far bigger than the baby.