[Boatanchors] Mercury Vapor Rectifier Lore Needed

[Dale Putnam]

I have some 3B28s FS if you need some, make an offer...Thank you,

Have a great day, 
 
 
--...   ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy
 
 


> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 15:17:17 -0400
> From: dhallam at knology.net
> To: boatanchors at puck.nether.net
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Mercury Vapor Rectifier Lore Needed
> 
> I can't help you too much, but I can tell you what looks shards of 
> metallic stuff on the glass is some of the mercury in the tube.  MV 
> tubes should always be kept upright and if they haven't been used in a 
> while the mercury may deposit on the glass.  Unused mercury vapor tubes 
> should be operated with filament only for at least 30 minutes to allow 
> the filament heat to vaporize the mercury.  About 3AM in the shack on a 
> cold winter night when you are having an long AM QSO, the dancing lights 
> in the MV rectifiers put on quite a show. However get some 3B28's.
> 
> 
> On 10/11/2013 2:52 PM, Wilson wrote:
> > I’ve been resurrecting some gear with 866s in it, and Wonder about some of the things I’m seeing.
> > I’ve used 866s all my life, but never thought much about them, except good or bad.
> >
> > Some have much more glow than others, and the more glow the whiter.   Is this because of air getting in?
> > Some have what looks like shards of metallic stuff on the glass.  Is this a coating off the plate?
> > Last night, I had one that glowed pretty white, but also had a neat ring of fire dancing around the anode, with fingers pointing outward.  What was going on there?
> > Sometimes one will are over inside and blow fuses, etc.  How can that happen, if the plate and filament are not out of position?
> > I recently had a big flash from the back of the rack, accompanied by a colossal bang, as loud as a .22 LR shot!
> > I looked all over the PS for evidence of arcing, but didn’t find any.  Later, I took hold of the 866 to take it out and the whole bulb came off in my hand!
> > It broke perfectly cleanly, right around where it went into the base.  This has now happened twice and I’ve never seen it before.
> > Both these tubes were loose in their bases, so I shot in some superglue to hold them.
> > Could it be that the superglue bound them so tightly to the bases that they couldn’t expand and broke from stress concentration?
> > Or could it have been that the superglue caused a thermal stress concentration in the class.
> > Anyone ever see one break this way?
> > Wilson
> > W4BOH
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> -- 
> "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
> Thomas Jefferson
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