Recently, I purchased in an estate sale a more-than-modest quantity of electron tubes, mostly common “receiving” types.
If anybody has projects requiring such tubes, I would be more than happy to trade them for help with my own projects, or sell them for a nominal price. I mean to take an inventory soon, which I will post when I have it done, so you can see what there is. Do let me know if you’re interested.
1 Like
I’m interested. You’re talking about Vacuum Tubes? In the past I have purchased them in bulk as well, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few more if they’re the right size and price. I use them in my Steampunk creations. Do you have pics?
1 Like
Forgot to say, I’d like to trade for any tubes with the radiation trefoil symbol on them, or marked “Kr-85” or similar (as containing radioactive material).
Here’s the inventory. Some of the “type” numbers are my best guesses. I haven’t tested any of them yet.
Type Diameter (mm) Number of Pins Base Heater tested? Additional types Comment
No end cap
50A5 29 8 loctal - - Tung-Sol
35Y4 29 6 loctal - - Raytheon
14C7 29 8 loctal - - Sylvania
14Q7 29 8 loctal - - in shield can
21LR8 38 9 19 mm 10-position wire
117N7 29 8 octal - - RCA
12MD8 29 9 19 mm 10-position wire
25CG3 29 12 19 mm 13-position wire
6CJ3 29 9 19 mm 10-position wire - 6DW4B, 6CL3 Realistic Japan
6GC5 29 9 13 mm 10-position wire
12AT6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - RCA, in shield can
12BH7A 21 9 13 mm 10-position wire
12DT8 21 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Standard TV Canada
6048 21 9 13 mm 10-position wire - 608A CBS
6GY6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - 6GX6 Realistic Japan
6EJ7 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - EF184 Raytheon
JRC-6C4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - RCA
6JU8A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Realistic
50C5 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse Reliatron
12CN5 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - -
6GF7 28 9 19 mm 10-position wire - - Magnavox
12AU7A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire
6GH8 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - GE
12GN7A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Magnavox
6GH8A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Magnavox
6GH8A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - GE
12BH7A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - RCA
6GH8A 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - in shield can
? 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - DBBC
12AV6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Futaba
35W4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse Reliatron
6X4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Mullard
P28063-450 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Admiral
6AU6A 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
6FQ7 21 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Magnavox
1S5 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Victor
12BA6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Sylvania
6JH6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Realistic
6GU7 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - GE
6GY6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - RCA
6BZ6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Raytheon
6DT6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - 6DT6A Realistic
12BA6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse
35W4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
6AU6A 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - GE
6X4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - remnants of green paint
? 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
5085 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
12J8 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire
12BE6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Philco
12BE6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Futaba
6EW6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - RCA
12BE6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Futaba
12BE6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse
12AD6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
50C5 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
12AV6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Futaba
12BE6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire
6GM6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - GE
12AF6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - may be cracked at base
6GU7 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - RCA
12AV6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse
6AU6A 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Raytheon
6BA6 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Realistic
6AL5 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Silvertone
35W4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Westinghouse, in box
6EJ7 20 9 13 mm 10-position wire - - Realistic, in box
6C4 18 7 10 mm 8-position wire - - Realistic, in box
6GT5 38 9 19 mm 10-position wire - - RCA, in DuMont box
End cap
3CU3A 29 6 octal - - Magnavox
3A3B 29 8 small octal - - RCA
6BK4C 38 8 octal - 6EL4A GE
3AT2B 29 12 19 mm 13-position wire - - RCA
6LQ6 38 9 19 mm 10-position wire - - two identical sections?
? 38 9 19 mm 10-position wire - - no markings, two dissimilar sections?
3A3 29 6 octal - 3AW3 Raytheon, in box
1 Like
I would be interested in the whole lot. I’ve got several 40’s and 50’s that are in my restoration cue. Here are some of the sets in my queue. With so many sets, you can see that one can never have enough tubes.
PM me and let me know what you want for the lot of them. I’ll be glad to help you with your projects to secure the deal. You can also look at the tubes I have and see if there’s any that interest you. I do have some (limited number) of 6E5 ‘magic eye’ tubes, which were used as signal strength indicators.
1946 RCA 630TS chassis. Considered to be the first post-war assembly line TV.
1959 Philco Predicta. The display unit was connected to the main electronics via a 25 foot ribbon cable. This was prior to the invention of the remote control. The display could be positioned across the room while the tuner was next to (usually) Dad’s chair where he could control the channel and volume. Deflection drive, picture tube drive (including high voltage) were all sent over the ribbon cable.
Three other 50’s TVs that I got from a friend who moved and needed to get rid of them. First two pics are of one of the sets+label, last two are just labels from other two sets (as they are stored with front inaccessible).
1 Like
You do realize that you have all of the tubes needed to make the classic “All American Five” tube radio.
35W4 - rectifier
50C5 - audio output
12AV6 - audio detector and preamp
12BA6 - IF amp
12BE6 - RF amp and local oscillator.
Now all you need is a variable tuning cap, IF and audio output transformers, and a few inductors, caps, and resistors for a state of the art 1960 AM radio. I’m sure that between @zmetzing and @wandrson they have the rest of the needed parts 
1 Like
I’d be interested in the 117N7.
1 Like
I do not have anything that old except for some coins and a few issues of Popular Mechanics.
But I do have two tube sets. One is a Browning Golden Eagle Mk II CB base station with SSB. It looks like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Browning-Golden-Eagle-radio-/262955022917 but has an additional box to switch between the AM and SSB transmitter instead of having to reach around back and messing with the coax cable. This radio has a unique feature; it went “ping” when the mike was keyed. That behavior has since been outlawed by the FCC, but since this radio came that way from the factory, it was grandfathered. It worked great the last time I used it many years ago.
I later bought a Golden Eagle Mk IV with an LED channel display used and never powered it up.
Yes, 'tis sad to see this:
This is fine to do with burned-out or end-of-life tubes, but doing that to a new tube is akin to ripping a perfectly good SID chip out of a C=64 to make a standalone chiptunes board.
My goodness…I’m attracted to a tv. That 1950s one is beautiful.
I seriously can’t believe I just said that.
2 Likes
Actually, I have a complete mono tube amp I’m not using for anything, in a junked Kodak 16 mm film projector which I bought for (mechanical) parts for my operating unit. So there are output transformers, et cetera, there. The operating unit has one too, obviously, & I want to build a solid-state replacement, after which I won’t need either one of them. I’m sure I can find an audio enthusiast who’ll pay more than they’re worth to me…
Meh. They’re purely decorative for me. I don’t know enough about that world to take the time to figure out if what I already have is worth any more.
1 Like
Let’s have more of this in life.
2 Likes
Have you seen my “100% analog digital clock”? I’m actually looking at re-doing the design to use twelve IN-24 neon indicators instead of 12 1N-3s & 12 INS-1s. (These are all old Soviet types.)
3 Likes
No post a picture! Please…20 characters this should be enough