For those of you with thick wallets...

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GastonP

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Feb 8, 2015, 8:17:47 PM2/8/15
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Hey all, just a heads-up

A guy which usually sells in the DIYAudio forum has jumped up with a stash of ITS1A. From his usual published prices (in this case he didn't so it smells to expensiveness) he is not the cheapest in the block...

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors-bazaar/161760-selling-tubes-26.html#post4216633

Usual disclaimers apply... I don't know him, I have never bought from him, I don't get a share... blah blah...

Gaston


Mike Mitchell

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Feb 9, 2015, 8:19:44 AM2/9/15
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Perfect for use in this kit:


Unfortunately my wallet is too thin for these.  I just bought several B7971s,,,,

Mike M.

GastonP

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Feb 10, 2015, 8:06:43 AM2/10/15
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They (the tubes and the kits) are beautiful, aren't they?

I am currently unemployed so thickness of the wallet is a kind of moot point. But hey! you at least got B7971's to make a nice clock, FLW, or if you got several, something like this: http://www.x1024.net/nixie/marquee/

I still have an old Burroughs B5971 tube plus its driving electronics, of which I threw the metallic housing away a long time before falling in love with nixies.

Gaston

Nick

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Feb 10, 2015, 12:37:34 PM2/10/15
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I wonder what the life of these tubes is? They are a completely different technology - anyone any idea? (documented, preferably!).

Nick

gregebert

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Feb 10, 2015, 3:43:08 PM2/10/15
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I found some information on the web by googling 'ITS1a thyratron'; they appear to be a neon-phosphor hybrid. 
There is a datasheet for one of the Ebay auctions; I cant read Russian but the largest numbers are 5,000 and 10,000 so I think that would be an upper-bound on the lifetime.

The dominant emission is from the phosphor. Could be similar to the NE-2G bulbs which have an interior white phosphor mixture yet they glow green. I have a few of those bulbs but have not had a chance to life-test them.

Although they look neat, I personally think they look too much like a 7-segment green LED or VFD to justify the price, which is slightly higher than IN-18's. Also, they dont appear to be as bright as nixies, which maybe one reason why these tubes didn't get widespread usage.

Dmitry Dianov

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Feb 10, 2015, 4:45:50 PM2/10/15
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Intresting tubes. As far as I remember, they were made to be driven directly from CMOS (or even TTL) levels.

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David Speck MD

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Feb 10, 2015, 5:29:57 PM2/10/15
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Greg,

I have had two NE-2 Green lamps running 24/7/365 on my whole house GE
Tranquell surge protector since the autumn of 1995 with no noticeable
loss of brightness. That's pretty good performance by any standard. YMMV.

Dave

Terry Kennedy

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Feb 10, 2015, 9:05:55 PM2/10/15
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On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 12:37:34 PM UTC-5, Nick wrote:
I wonder what the life of these tubes is? They are a completely different technology - anyone any idea? (documented, preferably!).

10,000 hours according to one datasheet I saw. Here's a post I made here last year about these:
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