Search:                        
Please support my efforts by ADVERTISING!
Serving a Pleasant Blend of Yesterday,
Today, and Tomorrow™

Vintage Magazines

Electronics World
Popular Electronics
Radio & TV News
QST | Pop Science
Popular Mechanics
Radio-Craft
Radio-Electronics
Short Wave Craft
Electronics | OFA
Saturday Eve Post
Electronics Illustrated

Formulas | Data

Electronics | RF
Mathematics
Mechanics
Physics

Calvin & Phineas

Archive | Sitemap

kmblatt83@aol.com

Resources

Radar | AI
Cogitations
RF Museum
Videos | Pics |
Things | Logos
Radio Datashts
WJ Tech Notes
Day in History

Entertainment

Crosswords
Humor | Podcasts
Quotes | Quizzes
Tech Comics

Parts | Services

1000s of Listings

About RF Cafe
Software: RF Cascade Workbook | RF Symbols for Office | RF Symbols & Stencils for Visio | Espresso Workbook
Innovative Power Products (IPP) CoolChips - RF Cafe Website

Tube Testers and Electron Tube Equipment
Answers to RF Cafe Quiz #56

RF Engineering Quizzes - RF Cafe WebsiteAll RF Cafe Quizzes make great fodder for employment interviews for technicians or engineers - particularly those who are fresh out of school or are relatively new to the work world. Come to think of it, they would make equally excellent study material for the same persons who are going to be interviewed for a job. Bonne chance, Viel Glück, がんばろう, buena suerte, удачи, in bocca al lupo, 행운을 빕니다, ádh mór, בהצלחה, lykke til, 祝你好運. Well, you know what I mean: Good luck!

Click here for the complete list of RF Cafe Quizzes.

Note: Some material based on books have quoted passages.

Return to RF Cafe Quiz #56

Make Your Own Tube Testers and Electron Tube Equipment - RF Cafe Website

This quiz is based on the information presented in Make Your Own Tube Testers and Electron Tube Equipment, by Gary Steinbaugh.

With more than 30 years of RF engineering experience and Ham radio involvement, Gary has a very broad and deep proficiency in electronics. His new book, Make Your Own Tube Testers and Electron Tube Equipment, is a great assimilation of his personal knowledge and includes some of the highest quality line drawings and photographs of any technical book I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of them! The preface section is also unique in nature, followed by a short history of and basic circuit design principles for vacuum tubes. Gary also conceived of and built a 3-dimensional physical model of the plate, transfer, and constant current characteristic curves for a typical vacuum tube (6SN7); you've never seen this before. The homebrew tube tester and power supply projects described in the text and built by Gary are exceptional examples of craftsmanship.

 

 

 

1.  Which of the following are negative properties of vacuum tubes?

a) and c)

See page 1 for a complete list of vacuum tube and transistor disadvantages

 

 

 

2.  Which of the following are negative properties of transistors?

c) and d)

See page 1 for a complete list of vacuum tube and transistor disadvantages

 

 

Electrical Indicator U.S. patent #307,031 - RF Cafe Website3.  Who received the first U.S. patent for an electronic device?

c)  Thomas Edison

On October 21, 1884, Edison was awarded patent number 307,031 for his "Electrical Indicator" diode.  (see page 5)

 

 

 

4.  What is a "bogey" vacuum tube?

a)  A theoretically "typical" tube statistically centered in the distribution of datasheet specifications.

Performance data was taken on a very large number of production tubes and the "bogey" tube was defined by the results. Today we speak of "typical performance characteristics."  (see page 9)

 

 

 

5.  What is the most common type of gradual failure in a vacuum tube?

d)  Low cathode emission (aka cathode depletion)

Cathode depletion occurs when the cathode is no longer capable of emitting enough electrons to replenish the space charge.  (see page 41)

 

 

 

6.  What are the two basic types of serviceman's vacuum tube testers?

b)  Cathode emission measurement only, and both cathode emission and amplification measurements

Service testers were intended to help spot bad tubes as quickly as possible, not to make accurate measurements of tube parameters.  (see page 46)

 

 

 

7.  What is a typical vacuum tube filament temperature?

b)  800° C  (~1,500° F)

Tube filaments need only to become hot enough to to provide adequate thermionic emission - about 800° C, depending on the materials used to coat the cathode: thorium, barium, strontium, etc.  (see page 40)

 

 

 

8.  What is a sesquimultiplier?

d)  A circuit that multiplies voltage by 1.5

Gary developed a custom topography to obtain a voltage multiplication factor of 1.5 in order to increase the options of available voltages beyond those obtainable by common voltage doublers and triplers. He dubbed it the "sesquimultiplier." The prefix "sesqui" means one and a half.  (see page 102)

 

 

 

9.  Why are "operational amplifiers" (aka "opamps") named thus?

a)  They were originally part of circuits for performing mathematical operations

Op amps were developed to perform mathematical operations, such as additions. subtraction, multiplication, division, integration, and a host of nonlinear functions, in the days before digital computers.  (see page 145)

 

 

 

10.  What is the word used to the measure of how significant the space charge effect is on the beam's motion ?

c)  Perveance

Perveance is the name given to the measure of how well the space charge of a vacuum tube conducts at a relatively low plate voltage when the tube is connected as a diode.  (see page 33)

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, Radio-Electronics, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

RF Cafe Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes
ConductRF Precision RF Test Cables MAESTRO - RF Cafe Website

About the RF Cafe™ Website ©1996-2026

Kirt Blattenberger - RF Cafe WebmasterRF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger  |     BSEE - KB3UON - AMA92498  |  USAF Radar Technician

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.

My Hobby Website: AirplanesAndRockets.com  | My Daughter's Website: EquineKingdom
Please Support My Advertisers!
Transcat | Axiom Test Equipment - RF Cafe Website
Aegis Power | Centric RF | RFCT
Empower RF | Reactel | SF Circuits
Alliance Test | Isotec
everythingRF AI Artificial Intelligence Client - RF Cafe Website

Windfreak Technologies Frequency Synthesizers - RF Cafe Website

Crane Aerospace & Electronics (RF & Microwave) - RF Cafe Website		 KR Electronics (RF Filters) - RF Cafe Website

Maury Microwave / Boonton SGX1000 Signal Generator - RF Cafe Website

Windfreak Technologies Frequency Synthesizers - RF Cafe Website

Please Support RF Cafe by purchasing my ridiculously low-priced products, all of which I created.

RF Cascade Workbook for Excel

RF & Electronics Symbols for Visio

RF & Electronics Symbols for Office

RF & Electronics Stencils for Visio

RF Workbench

T-Shirts, Mugs, Cups, Ball Caps, Mouse Pads

These Are Available for Free

Espresso Engineering Workbook™

Smith Chart™ for Excel