Re: vacuum tube -> semiconductor

Allan Adler <ara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

I'm interested in being able to do the following:
(1) Choose a vacuum tube at random from the RCA Receiving Tube Manual.
(2) Based on its characteristics, figure out a semiconductor device
with the same characteristics. This may also require designing
a circuit containing the semiconductor device.

How does one do this?

There are probably tables that tell you what semiconductor device to use
in place of a given tube. I tried to search for
semiconductor replacement for vacuum tubes
and only got hits about the history of semiconductor devices, which
as a whole replaced vacuum tubes, but no tables of specific replacements.

Also, is there a book comparable to the RCA Receiving Tube Manual for
the relevant class of semiconductor devices?

It appears that when some people don't know the answer to a reasonable
question, they instead devote their efforts to preventing it from being
asked, especially when the question comes from someone who asks a lot
of such questions.

Let me try to get this straight: do we or do we not like talking about
electronics on this group? And is it or is it not entirely voluntary
on the part of readers whether they choose to answer a question? That
being the case, I don't see what the problem is.

Some people who don't understand why I might ask a particular question
assume that a legitimate question must be part of an ongoing, hands-on
project, with real parts and equipment. I'm not aware of that being one
of the official premises for this newsgroup. Others, lacking any actual
information, invent scenarios which make sense to them based on the amount
of information the actually have, which might be very little; I don't always
explain all of my reasons for asking a question. Then they get mad because
their invented information offends them.

In the present case, my question has the following origins; I didn't provide
this background since it was irrelevant to the answer to my perfectly general
question:
(0) Motivated by Michael's advice that I do a lot of reading, I started looking
through some of the literature I already have in my possession but have
been neglecting.
(1) I happen to own an old Beckman DU-2 Spectrophotometer (the model has
been changed, with the same model number, since this one was made). It
has no power supply. I have a lot of documentation for the old DU-2,
which includes circuit diagrams for the power supply. Every once in
a while, I take the docs out and wonder whether there is any way to
get the thing operating. On this particular occasion, I started looking
at the tubes, some of which are listed in the RCA manual, and some are
not, being specially made for Beckman, and therefore undocumented.
(2) Then I started wondering whether one could modify the schematic so that
the tubes were replaced by circuits containing semiconductor devices and,
if so, how one would do it.
(3) Then I realized that, although I have seen it remarked generally that
semiconductors replaced tubes, I wasn't sure whether each tube had its
semiconductor replacement. One reason to think it might is that I do
vaguely remember seeing tables of replacements for particular tubes
in old books, maybe old Radio Amateur Handbooks, but I'm not sure.
(4) At any rate, this raised the general question of how one would figure
out how to replace a given tube with a semiconductor circuit. And since
I don't know how one does that, I asked.

This background will perhaps clarify the reasons for my asking the question.
The people who don't know the answer still won't know the answer and the
people given to road rage on the information superhighway will do what
comes naturally to them.

When I was in Wolfenbuettel, I saw a very old house on which was written
(some spelling errors are mine, others in the original): "Geh dein Weg
und lasse the Leute reden."
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Tried to recap a tube receiver, and failed.
    ... caps, and I'm wondering if the value difference, added up over 8 caps ... I was probably repairing tube ... Or maybe we have different ideas of what spaghetti looks like. ... I was sent a "replacement". ...
    (sci.electronics.repair)
  • Re: 700m laptop backlight fails after 1 min. SH*T!!!
    ... there is a lot os disessembly involved, but most critical are the layers of plastic that lay over the lcd panel which can easily get out of alignment and effectively ruin the display. ... i suggest you check out this lcd repair shop for reasonable rates to do the replacement for you... ... I ordered the tube already and it should be here by Monday. ... some are easier than others, and i don't have intimate knowledge of the 700m bulb installation, but the problems i have had are not so much with the bulb installation but the film on the front on the lcd panel... ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: any help to navigate replacement LCD display jungle???
    ... Almost every service manual for almost every Toshiba laptop, for example, has instructions for replacing the backlight CCFL (fluorescent lamp tube) without replacing the LCD panel. ... Digi-Key and Mouser, among others, sell generic replacement tubes in various lengths and diameters for this purpose. ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Re: FA: Rare ElectroVoice A20C Circlotron Amplifier 290228944649
    ... But it may not have any Whig Bid power in Asia either. ... ElectroVoice A20C Integrated Mono Hi Fi Tube Amplifier ... The new silicon diode replacement had considerably less voltage drop ...
    (rec.audio.tubes)
  • Re: OT-Sort of - Service Contracts
    ... appliances, but that in mind I have contacts on my stove, frig and ... My oven packed it in this week and the replacement part cost ... on the tube was burned off. ... I tend to avoid service contracts; ...
    (alt.food.barbecue)