Article in CQ Suggests That Tube Circuits Might be Outlawed!

[W9GT]

The October issue of CQ magazine contains an article by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ entitled "Long Live the 6L6".  I especially took notice, since I wrote an article for Electric Radio with the same title several years ago.  Anyway....the article contains some great pictures and circuits for classic 6L6 rigs.

A very disturbing paragraph in the article contains a statement that "several European countries are already close to disallowing publication of circuits using over 76 volts, and the US is probably close behind. Have fun building and using tube gear while you can and before their beautiful circuits are banished from publication."

Now I find that statement rather upsetting, to say the least!  I have not researched the origin of the information from Europe, nor have I seen such statements published anywhere else.  Not withstanding First Amendment rights, such publication of information should not be restricted just because someone thinks it might be potentially dangerous if someone does something dumb and hurts themselves.  Considering, however, the recent action to disallow conventional light bulbs and the like, nothing would surprise me anymore.  Unfortunately, arguments such as protecting us from ourselves by not being exposed to high voltages and the ever present "green" movement to conserve energy, could actually convince lawmakers to consider such baloney.

What do you think?  Not to stir the pot or anything, but this stuff seems ridiculous to me.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

I don't think such a law or regulation could pass 1st Amendment muster here in the US.  Europeans would still have access to it, of US origin via the internet.

And what about magazines like CQ and QST, of US origin?  Will they require a censored version for EU subscribers?

And all the data on this technology that is already out there in the hands of the public, dating back almost a  century?

That has to be the most absurd thing I have heard in a long time.  I wonder if he  will publish his source for that little titbit.

[WV Hoopie]

Jack,

The writing of new regulations, vs the enforcement of such are two different things. I've lived long enough to have seen enforcement at times equal zero. Stock up on present day light bulbs while you can, don't forget building a stash of toobs!

Its the green thing, $$ & advertising. If anyone had grey matter between the ears there would not be an item such as a wall-wart. Off would mean OFF, the electrical device would no longer consume power.

Guess the price of electricity is still too cheap, mom & pop can still afford the utility bill.

Craig,

[WA1GFZ]

Maybe we can probuce an underground QRO manual and sell it

[N0WVA]

What are they gonna do about the electrical outlets in every home? Arent they just as dangerous?

[KF1Z]

Of course it's rediculous!!

But, on the other hand, how many people are using NEWLY published articles or diagrams to build stuff with?

Oh, well, I guess I am!  aren't I ? 
The Class-E and other solid state rigs use well over 76volts....

Oh well..   no need to worry... it'll NEVER HAPPEN!

[Pete, WA2CWA]

What are they gonna do about the electrical outlets in every home? Arent they just as dangerous?

That's why they sell these things:

[KC4VWU]

So Jack, you're the author of that 9/94 article. Great job and thank you! That's one I find myself going back and reading quite often. You know, they're kinda like movies; some you just never get tired of.

I am building my collection of incandescent light bulbs. Not necessarily for lighting purposes, but rather for my simple test equipment that I use the majority of the time for quick and simple hook up. Dummy load for the low power rigs is one, and the load box I built to current limit my new finds when I plug them in for the first "smoke test" the other. I know these are only for quick "go - no go" tests, but they are indespensible items on my repair bench.

As far as anything related to vacuum tube technology being outlawed here in the U.S. I can't imagine that ever happening. Sure, maybe the power consunption levels of such equipment may sometime catch the freedom and rights manipulator's ( read government's ) attention, but they have bigger things on their "agenda" to deal with right now. European countries are a different story as they are pretty screwed up anyway. I feel sorry for the people who live there, they have so many things taken away from them on a steady basis. I guess we still do have somewhat of a democracy here in the U.S., otherwise we'd be at the same level of oppression as they are right now.
Phil   

[ka3zlr]

The hardware store in town where I been stocking up once a week on light bulbs I buy two packs at a time told me Monday after this batch the warehouse said no more. so Friday I'll go and buy what's left if there is any.

It won't be long Television has changed Telephones have changed does anybody have a land line anymore, I like to know how are they gona trap us with our stuff ya can't throw older TV's away no more around here, so that's how it's done don't tell'em what they can't use just make it illegal to pitch.

73
Jack.

[KC4VWU]

Jack, better buy up several wattage ratings too. I'm concentrating on the 40 and 60 watt rated ones. The last time I was at Wal Mart, I was looking for 40w bulbs and they only had 36w ones. Has anyone ever seen 36w bulbs before? Seems kinda odd.

I'm assuming this new deal doesn't include flood and spot lamps?

[ka3zlr]

Yea, and that's weird because I have 95 watt bulbs when I wanted 100 watt my wife told me that's what they had at the store, 36 watt??? it's crazy.

73
Jack.

I keep her on the hunt to for regular bulbs.

[k4kyv]

I have been stocking up on low efficiency long-life incandescents.  The standard bulbs wouldn't be worth the space they take up because they are so short-lived and the filaments are so fragile.  I think they are rated for only 750 hours or so.  Drop one 6 inches onto a table and the filament falls apart.

Look closely at a standard incandescent of "modern" design.  The filament is a single segment of wire, supported vertically inside the bulb at each end.  Compare with the older varieties.  The filament was sort of a horizontal loop, supported in about 5 places.  The "long life" versions still use that kind of construction.  Some are rated for 130 volts, so when you run a 100-watt bulb off 120v, it is more like 85 watts, or at 125v, 92.5 watts.  The ones I pick up at a local farmers supply store are rated at 5000 hours at 130 volts, so they should last for ever at 120 volts.

I use them for lights at hard to reach  places like porch lights.  CFL's won't work because they won't start in extremely cold weather or else they take 10 minutes to come to full brilliance.  The long-life incandescents are rather dim due to their low efficiency, but they come on instantly, last a long time and don't cause hash in the radio.  I also use them for current limiting resistors for such things as using 110 volts to check out transformer turns ratios.

Something particularly absurd about that 76 volts deal in Europe is that the standard outlet voltage in most European countries is 240 volts, 50~.

Nearly every country has its own style of outlet plugs and receptacles.  In England, they used to have two round prongs, something like the ones used in Germany and France, but the size was slightly different, enough that they weren't interchangeable.  A few years ago they converted over to a huge, heavy duty receptacle that resembles the heavy duty 3-prong ones like what we use for 240v air  conditioners and heaters.  They look like they should be good for about 30 amps, and I think they have a fuse inside the line cord plug.  Even tiny appliances like electric shavers and clock radios have this huge plug attached to the end of the cord, which may be bigger and weigh more than the gadget it powers.

[W9GT]

So Jack, you're the author of that 9/94 article. Great job and thank you! That's one I find myself going back and reading quite often. You know, they're kinda like movies; some you just never get tired of.

Phil  

Yeah...that was me.  My call sign was formerly N9GT.  I wrote several articles for ER over the years.  That particular article brought lots of responses from all over the country.  Many built that rig or variations of it.  I still have the rig described in the article and it still works great.  One important factor, however, was that the screen bypass capacitor on the first audio stage was left off of the original schematic.  A correction was published in a following issue, but some folks missed that.  IIRC a .002 paper or disc cap was used.

As for the lightbulb thing, I guess it is easy enough and inexpensive enough to hoard all the incandescent bulbs that you may ever need, but it is just the whole concept of legislating such a thing that bothers me.  It is sort-of like the proverbial foot-in-the-door of oppressive mandates issued by an out-of -control government to control every little aspect of our lives.  That stuff really bothers me and I see more and more and more of it coming, if the trend is not halted or reversed.  The tube thing might be a natural follow-up to the lightbulb.  Gosh though....what will the audiophools do if they have no tubes to buy at exorbitant prices??

Anyway guys....if you get any more info on this, it would be interesting to see where it originated.  And...I'm with you Phil, I feel sorry for the Europeans if this is the sort of thing they have to deal with on a regular basis.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[K3ZS]

I put up 130V flood light bulbs on my 2 story house when it was built in 1973.    All four of them have never been replaced and still working.   Can you still get them anywhere?

[Blaine N1GTU]

i like to keep pointy metal things in my outlets, who needs safety plugs 

[Jim, W5JO]

I can't remember what the complete deal is, but there isn't a total band on incandescent bulbs.  Seems as if reflector types are exempt as are others, but the information escapes me.  I believe the only thing affected may be the bulbs you use in table lamps and similar fixtures.

  Seems as if the band is on Edison base bulbs between 25 and 150 watts.

[N0WVA]

Be careful using incandescants so willy-nilly. Once they are phased out, there will be gubbment sponsered "snitch" rings to root out violators. You wouldnt want your neighbor to turn you in.

[KC4VWU]

Yeah! You will be incarcerated because surely the only reason you would want to use incandescent bulbs is to grow an illegal substance, so your immediately guilty. Sort of like the "We think you're drunk and driving a motor vehicle, so you go to jail; period!". BTW, I've never had a DWI and I do not condone drinking and driving, but I know there are some poor individuals out there who have been "goat roped" like that when they didn't deserve it. Your government's easy way out: "shotgun" approach to lawmaking.
Phil

[WA3VJB]

A very disturbing paragraph in the article contains a statement that "several European countries are already close to disallowing publication of circuits using over 76 volts, and the US is probably close behind. "

73,  Jack, W9GT

Nearest thing I could find is a Low Voltage Directive.
PDF attached. It's not a quick read.

Guidelines on the application of Directive 2006/95/EC (Electrical Equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits) - August 2007 - have been put together by the European Commission services and other stakeholders (industry, national authorities, standardisation and other bodies) to assist in the smooth and level application of the provisions of the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) 2006/95/EC. They are not law and do not take away the relevant responsibilities provided for, but explain in an understandable way various elements of the Directive.

There's a section called:

"Radio equipment and telecommunications
terminal equipment"

Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/electr_equipment/lv/guides/index.htm

[ka3zlr]

Yup an Next Year it'll be Florescent Bulbs....I think it's Aliens they can't hang with our light...after reading the Directive I Digress......Here is the url for Radio Equipment and Telecommunication Terminal Equipment:

http://www.rtte.org/

and there is mention of Home made and Modified Amateur Equipment.

73
Jack.

[N0WVA]

Stocking up in Britain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMSctiO-quc&feature=related

[k4kyv]

There's a section called:

"Radio equipment and telecommunications
terminal equipment"

Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/electr_equipment/lv/guides/index.htm

Good grief! What a bunch of gobblygook.  Who would actually have any reason to read and try to decipher that report?

Reminds me of when I used to teach school.  Every couple of months there would be a day set aside when kids would stay home while it was a "staff development" day for teachers.  Although we had plenty of work that urgently needed to get done pertaining to our courses of instruction, we were instead required to waste the entire day sitting around in committees where we would collaborate to generate a multi-page document detailing something on the order of "the positive correlation of our long term course objectives to state mandated education standards".  It was a continuing effort throughout the school year, and the final report was due at the end of the last staff development day sometime in the spring just before school let out.  Those reports went into a  black hole somewhere never to be seen or heard from again. Most of it was pure B.S. because we all knew that no-one would ever bother to read that stuff beyond one of the school administrators looking over the documents and signing off to attest that yes indeed, the reports had been duly formulated as required.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Did you use this tool?

http://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html


One of my favorites:  "Benchmark mastery-focused multiple intelligences."

[Opcom]

I'll refrain from saying anything about European ways. It is as it is - so let's "celebrate our differences".

However, I paraphrase from "The Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive": "The good news ... is that it's far less onerous than it's predecessor but the bad news ... is that it gives us choice."

I didn't read the whole thing yet but I did not see any anti-homebrew ham radio references.

ANNEX I
EQUIPMENT NOT COVERED BY THIS DIRECTIVE AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 1(4)

1. Radio equipment used by radio amateurs within Article 1, definition 53, of the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU) radio regulations unless the equipment is available commercially.

Kits of components to be assembled by radio amateurs and commercial equipment modified by and for the
use of radio amateurs are not regarded as commercially available equipment.

I also looked for ham radio references in the contained in aforementioned gobbeltygook part "COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION
of 12 July 1999 on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz)" at "http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/electr_equipment/lv/rec519.pdf" but the document section looks like just another RF exposure reccommendation.



-so the hams of the EU seem safe, for now. The first part would seem to be covering plastic radios. I did not look up "Article 1, definition 53, of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) radio regulations"

I need to find some mogul fixtures for those cases of 750W incanensent lamps over in Forth Worth.
I wonder what the lamps would bring in the EU? Put in series.. However. Mogul bases might become outlawed. When Mogul based lamps are outlawed, only outlaws will have mogul based lamps.

[Opcom]

Stocking up in Britain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMSctiO-quc&feature=related

Maybe there will be a whole black market of light bulbs coming from China to the UK. They could be hidden inside packages of any number of other less-inspected goods to fool the customs inspectors. That should be easy, as I found out by mistyping a URL and ending up at some perv's online store, there are a whole lot of things that come into the UK that are so bizzarre and disgusting that no one would want to know about them, and the customs inspeectors probably would not want to inspect them either. I can see the offers now, Buy this totally porverted thing, and get a FREE case of 100 watt light bulbs! FREE! So all they got to do is wait till this market is established, and then order those things, and when they come, throw them in the neighbor's trash can (well I would not want them seen in MY trash can..) and keep the light bulbs. Or, just smuggle them in with the heroin.