12-29-2013, 12:53 AM
I'm not too sure about that in West German, because in the 1950s and 60s there was a proliferation of higher tube count sets coming from there, A lot of the ones I see had 7,8,and 9 tubes or more, and that wasn't just the export sets.
With regard to Britain, I the British Valve Association operated kind of like the OPEC cartel where they would price fix tubes/valves. They also operated under almost a loss leader scheme where they would sell tubes to the radio manufacturers at cost and then shake down the buyers of the radios on replacements. For whatever reason, unlike the RMA in the U.S, or Canadian Radio Patents LTD., they could not get their act together and actually standardize tube types across the industry.
Some things were down right stupid, like having three different tube base standards competing with each other, and other things like using 4 VAC for a heater voltage. That part I still don't understand as most tube heater voltages here had some logical reasoning behind it, like 2.5 volts was half of 5 volts, or 6.3 volts was arrived at because that was the standard voltage of a car's electrical system.
What I find amusing is how they identify a certain tube type with a British company, even though that company had little to do with developing a tube type. Take the Phillips side contact style tubes with the red metal spray shield, they call those "Mullard" type valves even though Mullard was a subsidiary of Phillips and these types were used all over Europe.
I think that the War and the Post War "Export or Die" period gave them a kick in the pants. This was not only for export purposes but Britain was swamped with cheap North American style surplus tubes which some start up companies used, Barker and the company that manufactured Emor Globe radios did this. Some American affiliated companies like Philco, Pilot, and Kolster Brandes used almost exclusively American type tubes even before the war. The exception being the infamous PENDD 61 tube used in Philco 444 "People's Radios" those were made by Mazda Valves for Philco I believe, and they are like rocking horse pooh to find.
Regards
Arran
With regard to Britain, I the British Valve Association operated kind of like the OPEC cartel where they would price fix tubes/valves. They also operated under almost a loss leader scheme where they would sell tubes to the radio manufacturers at cost and then shake down the buyers of the radios on replacements. For whatever reason, unlike the RMA in the U.S, or Canadian Radio Patents LTD., they could not get their act together and actually standardize tube types across the industry.
Some things were down right stupid, like having three different tube base standards competing with each other, and other things like using 4 VAC for a heater voltage. That part I still don't understand as most tube heater voltages here had some logical reasoning behind it, like 2.5 volts was half of 5 volts, or 6.3 volts was arrived at because that was the standard voltage of a car's electrical system.
What I find amusing is how they identify a certain tube type with a British company, even though that company had little to do with developing a tube type. Take the Phillips side contact style tubes with the red metal spray shield, they call those "Mullard" type valves even though Mullard was a subsidiary of Phillips and these types were used all over Europe.
I think that the War and the Post War "Export or Die" period gave them a kick in the pants. This was not only for export purposes but Britain was swamped with cheap North American style surplus tubes which some start up companies used, Barker and the company that manufactured Emor Globe radios did this. Some American affiliated companies like Philco, Pilot, and Kolster Brandes used almost exclusively American type tubes even before the war. The exception being the infamous PENDD 61 tube used in Philco 444 "People's Radios" those were made by Mazda Valves for Philco I believe, and they are like rocking horse pooh to find.
Regards
Arran
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