[morzh]

https://hackaday.com/2024/09/02/a-digita...BhtoQzTfHQ

[PhilcoJohn]

Wow cool what is going price for this replacement tube... I bet not on the cheap.  

[pdieten]

You’d have to build it yourself. I imagine most people can buy a lifetime supply of real 6E5s for the cost of building one of those.

[David]

Think I will buy the old tube that project is above my pay grade. David

[morzh]

Pdieten

Yes. 6E5. But not 6U5.

Now, you could say that the circuit in, say, any Zenith (they used 6T5 which electrically is the same) or other radio could be modded to accept 6E5 (which would work anyway, but not quite right), and I would agree, but then folks want 6U5, and it is, if new, close to $100.

[Radioroslyn]

Back in '70s I had a pension for some WWII transmitters and one of the tubes these sets used is the 1629 (12v 6E5/octal base. A lot of these units were sold as surplus from the late '40s-'70s most usable/convertible to amateur radio operators. Converting most of the time meant rewiring and drill a bunch of holes in it. I'm more of a original kinda guy.

I would find a fairly nice one that didn't cover one of the ham bands and find 2 or 3 hacked up ones that had the proper parts put it on more advantageous band. Usually it was the three coils, calibration crystal and the dial.

Over the yrs I've probably fixed up abt 20 of these things. The hacked ones never have the 1629 as that tube socket is used for a driver or buffer stage and the tube is long gone before I get it. But I was able to gather a few... To be honest I don't have many sets that have eye tubes, none of my Philcos do.

[morzh]

Not Philcos, no...
Westinghouses, Zeniths, E.H. Scotts and such....