Anyone ever use a 6BG6 for 40m AM?

[VE3GZB]

It's what I have on hand now, a pair of them, I hope in working order. Picked them up at the last hamfest.

I'm going to have to rebuild for higher power until the modulator tubes arrive (haven't arrived yet, it's been a long long wait but the poor fellow who promised to send them to me has been in hospital so I'm not going to bug him).

I figure I can screen-modulate a 6BG6, maybe use a 6N7 as master oscillator for plenty of drive.

73s
geo
VE3GZB

[KE6DF]

For most uses, you can think of a 6bg6 as an octal 807. Most ratings are the same, and pretty much any design you can find for an 807 rig will work. They can be used for audio or RF.

I believe the inter-electrode capacitances of a 6bg6 are a bit higher than those of an 807.

The datasheet I have describes a 6bg6 as a 6l6 with a plate cap beefed up for higher voltages.

But, that's exactly how you might describe and 807.

[VE3GZB]

Ok, thanks!

73s

[The Slab Bacon]

6BG6, 807, 1625, 5933 and a few others are all variants of the venerable 6L6-G. The grid and plate curves are pretty much the same. Even the plate structures look the same. the plate caps were brought out the top to eliminate arcing problems in the base and handle higher operating voltages.

the 6BG6 is one of the original sweep (horizontal outpoot to us older buzzards) tubes designed for older black & white TVs. The 807s, 1625s, etc were *supposedly* revamped with shorter base leads for RF service. And the 1625 was *supposedly* reggedized for military service and given a 12v filament.

If you are wanting to use older sweep tubes for a transmitter, a better choice for the lower bands would be a 6DQ5. It can handle a lot more plate current and produce more poop at a lower plate voltage. One can easily do 65-75w out at only around 600v.

All of the above mentioned tubes are still cheap and plentiful. You just have to get off of your a$$ and go look for them. You still find them at hamfests and antique radio swap meets for $.50-$1.00. You just gotta get out there and dig around a little. EBAY is not your friend here! Dont waste your time looking there.

At antique radio swaps, no one wants old "TV" tubes, and they go very cheaply. Sometimes $1-$2 for a large box of mixed ones.

And......errr..... furthermore, why waste your time building a small, puny,
 pea shooter, when the same amount of time and effort would build a useable rig?
(100w class or bigger)

For example, I originally built my 4-1000 transmitter completely out of stuff I had laying around the basement. I also built it completly from scratch, starting with bare chassis pans and 1/8" aluminum sheet for the rack panels.

It went from a concept in my head to on the air in about 2 1/2 months! ! this included all of the drilling and blasting, and designing all of the circuitry from scratch. (It took quite a few late nights and being late for work the next day)

You should give up the idea of pissing away your time and resources on a 1w phone transmitter and spend it building a real one. Little toy transmitters are fun to build for the novelty of it, but nothing to get real serious about.

And yes, for you naysayers I have built a low powered rig (5w) a 2E26 mod by a 6V6. However, I did build this rig for a specific puropse. I built it as an exciter for my Johnson T-Bolt. (It took 2 evenings)

                                                             The Slab Bacon 

[VE3GZB]

I have a 100+ watt rig built - but the modulator tubes haven't arrived yet so technically it's not finished.

So this smaller rig is just to "make do" until I can finish the larger one.

Thanks and 73s,
geo