What soviet-era equipment used IN-18's ?

[gregebert]

Has anyone here come across a piece of equipment that used IN-18's ?

I've seen bits and pieces of equipment for sale that used other tubes, but never IN-18's

[Thomas Kummer]

Please take this with a grain of salt as this is purely speculation. I believe they were intended to be used in airports, sporting events, and any place where a large number of people would be looking at them from a far. However, I think that very few of them ever saw much use, as most of the ones on eBay are NOS, or used by a hobbyist. Often times, when a government completely controls the means of production, they don’t always produce necessary goods. Often, they will produce goods just to keep people employed, to help them stay in power. Basically, there could be absolutely no demand for a product, yet it is being made like they can’t meet the demand. Which, honestly is good for us hobbyists now, but not so good for the citizens of that time. Again, this is purely speculation, but it would explain why you find so many more NOS Russian tubes compared to NOS tubes from NATO countries. That and the fact that Russia was late to develop VFDs and LEDs.