Trivia on Amateur Amps that had sweep tubes!?!?

[Kamikaze]

Amateur rigs went from sweep tubes to 6146s most likely due to perceived cheapness of sweep tubes verses the 6146 being a real rf tube whatever that means. The 6146 is a refinement of the 6L6 and is a very nice class C rf tube.

Of course the idea holds no water and the 6146 is actually a horrible linear amplifier tube.

Fortunately excellent designs can clean up otherwise poor performers. The old TS-830 is still one of the best ham rigs ever made and it used 2 6146s. Inverse feedback to the rescue.

An improvement was made with the Yea-hoo FT-102 using 3 6146s with enough feedback to keep things clean. In this case performance was really better than a pair of sweep tubes.

If older plastic radios were driven totally by engineering instead of marketing crap they would have used 6550s for finals.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The 6146 is a refinement of the 6L6 and is a very nice class C rf tube.

And the 6L6 itself is an evolution of the 807 so therefore if we go back far enough, the 6146 actually evolved from the 807 which is a great audio tube and a decent RF tube.

 

[Kamikaze]

And the 6L6 itself is an evolution of the 807 so therefore if we go back far enough, the 6146 actually evolved from the 807 which is a great audio tube and a decent RF tube.

I think you have it flipped around. More coffee.

The 807 was based on the 6L6. It's a squirrley S.O.B. to tame if the layout isn't just right. See BC-610 driver section......

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I think you have it flipped around. More coffee.

The 807 was based on the 6L6. It's a squirrley S.O.B. to tame if the layout isn't just right. See BC-610 driver section......

Your are correct. The 6L6 came out in 1935 and the 807 in 1937. I keep getting those confused. The reason I said the 807 is a decent RF and audio tube is that they were used as both audio drivers and RF drivers in many Gates and Harris AM broadcast transmitters as well as many others and had great performance.

 

[Kamikaze]

Your are correct. The 6L6 came out in 1935 and the 807 in 1937. I keep getting those confused. The reason I said the 807 is a decent RF and audio tube is that they were used as both audio drivers and RF drivers in many Gates and Harris AM broadcast transmitters as well as many others and had great performance.

That quad 807 direct coupled audio driver was sweet. Try taking the pair of 807 rf drivers up past 2 mhz with the layout in a Gates. Not fun. That's where a 6146 really comes in handy.

 

[BJ radionut]

I had a ball with my old Johnson Adventuer...80-10m/807 final...boy those were the days...Johnson liked those those old "807's"...
I've had a few at field days....
I have 3 or 4 still ...I think?...real 807 JAN/RCA's
All the Best
BJ

 

[Grim Reaper]

There was also Varmit they catered to cb ers but also may 1.5 KW no drives and a 3.5 KW no drives. Pal linears had a few also. all the Varmits used 6LR6 tubes. and the Pals used 8950s , now Im showin my age;also a short lived company. Names Golden Falcon built mostly mobile stuff but crosed over to 10meters np