3-500's

[Neil Morrison]

I'd do it. Filament power won't hurt anything. When my grandmother got her
first color TV set I rigged it so the filaments stayed on continuously. The
thing ran for years and I never had to touch it - never replaced a tube in
it - well worth a little extra power.

Switching the filaments on and off is what kills them. The first vacuum tube
computers ran continuously like that too.

Neil


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Leisman" <wb8baf at VOYAGER.NET>


> I just purchased a pair of new 3-500 zg amplifier tubes, and I have
> been told that they need to be "broken in", e.g., that I need to put
> them into their sockets, and turn on the amp for 10 hours of filament
> voltage before applying any exciter power to the amp.
>
> Also, I was told that when I finally do apply power to the amp I need
> to do so in increments of 10 watts, starting at the 10 watt level up
> to a maximum of 100 watts.
>
> I'd sure appreciate some input here.  These tubes are expensive and I
> don't want to mess these up, but on the other hand simply leaving this
> amp turned on, and unattended, for some reason, makes me nervous as
> well.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Products bought, sold or traded here is the responsibility of the
parties involved.  This list and the City of Tempe are not responsible
for losses or misrepresentations of any kind.  Buyer beware!

-----------------------------------------------------------
This list is a public service of the City of Tempe, Arizona
-----------------------------------------------------------

Subscription control - http://www.tempe.gov/lists/control.asp?list=HEATH
To post - HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
Archives - http://listserv.tempe.gov/archives/HEATH.html