From: pfjw@aol.com   
      
   On Friday, November 27, 2015 at 2:15:50 PM UTC-5, Big Bad Bob wrote:   
   > On 11/27/15 00:51, Patrick Turner so wittily quipped:   
   > > The brute fact of the matter is that there are, in tubes anyway, no new   
   concepts since perhaps the 1970s, stretching it, perhaps the 80s.   
   >    
   > the knowledge, however, still has use in radar, microwave comms, and   
   > satellite applications [and x-ray producing devices].   
   >    
   > magnetrons, klystrons, and travelling wave tubes are STILL some of the   
   > best ways to generate high power at "those frequencies".   
   >    
   > but yeah, I don't think there have been any revolutionary tube   
   > developments since the sony trinitron picture tube, and the compactron   
   > (12 pin) multi-element tubes.  Most of those compactrons, I think, were   
   > designed for transformerless TV sets.  I can't think of any specific   
   > tube numbers off hand but I remember seeing them, pentode and diodes or   
   > pentode and triode(s) in the same glass envelope.  MOST of these were   
   > designed in the 60's and 70's.  I even added a 12-pin socket to an   
   > ancient tube tester [flea market emission only tester, so it stank] when   
   > I was a teenager so I could attempt to test them.  It "worked".   
   >    
   >    
   > however... I think there may be some new applications possible.  I think   
   > it may be possible to generate 'exotic particles' using some kind of   
   > tube.  As an example, gravitons.  I think that something "similar to a   
   > magnetron" may be able to emit them.  It would be an interesting   
   > experiment.  It would also require a LOT of power, something that   
   > massive glass/ceramic and metal seems to be good at handling.   
   >    
   > and something "similar to a travelling wave tube" might be able to put   
   > hydrogen/deuterium ions at the ideal energy level for fusion energy.   
   >    
   > so yeah, the KNOWLEDGE about how tubes work COULD be next century's   
   > modern tech.  It shouldn't be lost.   
      
   I think the knowledge is safe and well. As you suggest, high-powered   
   applications continue to have a place in the modern world. And as you also   
   suggest, brute-force applications tend to fall to the same basic solutions "as   
   always" as they work. But,    
   there are fewer and fewer of those, and what with smart electronics,   
   auto-ranging and similar, even traditional CRT solutions are moving to LCD/LED   
   screens with much greater resolution, accuracy and precision. There are radars   
   now that "Paint" from    
   hundreds of miles to less than a dozen feet with resolutions in inches, all on   
   the same screen and all using a fraction of the power that previous systems   
   required. And these are *civilian* devices.    
      
   Go read your "Doc Savage" - lots-O-exotic tube applications (Kenneth Robeson).    
      
   Peter Wieck   
   Melrose Park, PA    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)