Dekatron help needed (again)
Jon
Dear all
Some of you will remember that nearly four years ago I made a pest of myself badgering everyone for information on their dekatrons so I could decipher the two letter date coding system used by Ericsson Telephones Ltd (ETL). Due to the kind collaboration of many in this group, we accumulated enough data to broadly crack it. However, the original model didn’t quite fit all the data – there were some odd anomalies and a very foggy period from about 1956 back to the development of the GC10A in 1950.
Since that piece of work I’ve continued accumulating info (and indeed tubes for my dekatron collection :) ). The markings database now covers over 1000 tubes, and that’s opened up some interesting findings. About 3 weeks ago the jigsaw pieces really started to fall into place, and I’m close now to a revised model which irons out all of the anomalies and fills in the ‘early years’ gap. Close, but not quite there yet. So, I’m hoping that everyone’s stocks of patience have recovered to the point that I can make another appeal for help...
Please could anyone who has a dekatron with a two letter date code beginning with E, L, H or O get in contact? There will be one or two follow-up questions which you’ll be able to answer in seconds just by looking at the tube. Quite painless, and no test equipment or dekatron knowhow required! Of course, if there are hardy souls lacking the gene for boredom who want to delve deeper, I’d be more than happy to explain in excruciating detail...
Many thanks (and apologies to those who are also TCA members, as I’ve posted there also).