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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: RCA RED BASE 5692 posted by PMC0607 on June 11, 2015 at 23:08:16:
Seems the 5962 was designed for both industrial and military requirements. From RCA's "Special Red Tubes" the RCA Industrial Receiving-Type Tube catalog (date 1964): "The following 4 types are in this special category of Premium tubes because these types have been designed to meet the requirements of critical industry and military applications where 10,000 hour life, extreme dependability, and exceptional stability are paramount. To distinguish these types, their bases and the metal-tube envelope shell have a distinctive red color."The catalog lists the tests performed on RCA's Industrial Receiving-Type tubes that likely were not performed on their commercial tubes. Per the catalog, the Red Tubes were tested with the same tests that the industrial tubes received "plus one or more additional tests" (from a list of 9 such additional tests). Likely during the qualification process for mil-spec all of those additional tests and possibly others were performed on 5962s. Two of which related to vibration. It is possible that mil spec tests performed on 6SN7's, even military versions, might have differed from tests performed on 5962s. And if so, would affect whether a 6SN7 or 5962 would fit application requirements.
Per someone from the USAAF or SAC who worked with communications and/or missile or airplane avionics. I kind of fit that bill as worked for General Dynamics mostly on the F16 with the plant located on a SAC base. My work related to several electronic systems in the jet. And later in life I sold minicomputers to Raytheon used to test missiles such as the Patriot.
This work experience was decades ago so I have vague memories of much of my experience. This is what I recall. Due to extremely long development cycles followed by lengthy production life, plenty of components used in a military jet were in a sense obsolete commercially when the plane was in service. I don't recall if the F16 had any tubes, though I worked on a board that used core memory. At that time core had been replaced long ago by storage on chips. The work and the time required to replace now old technology with modern stuff made doing this impractical. Among other things this was due to extensive design and test cycle along with many checks and balances to all work performed prior to making any such changes.
Per someone thinking about use of a 5962, "Don't think the military would use so expensive tubes in a missile which is an expendable device." From my recollection about parts selection, I can't recall or imagine the cost of a part being a factor in whether a part or most parts would be used even in an "expendable device."
Of prime importance was whether a part fit the application requirements and was mil spec. And if there were more than one mil spec part that fit the requirement, which was the best to use. As a designer, you'd likely have to answer to questions about parts selections and go through reviews both internal and external (an agency/company that has a contract to do such reviews). I am a little forgetful on this but suspect this was what would happen: If there were 2 similar parts, such as a 6SN7W vs. 5962, the 5962 might have been used due to its better specifications. Additionally if one of those parts, say the 5962, was already in use in the plane would have been another reason to use the 5962 in other requirements relative to using an alternate part type. Everything was done conservatively, the goal was not to just meet specs, but to exceed them.
Edits: 07/31/15
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- RE: RCA RED BASE 5692 - JazzDude 13:46:40 07/28/15 (0)
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