‘Technical Shorts’

by Gerry O’Hara, VE7GUH/G8GUH

‘Technical Shorts’ is a series of (fairly) short articles prepared for the Eddystone
User Group (EUG) website, each focussing on a technical issue of relevance in
repairing, restoring or using Eddystone valve radios. However, much of the content
is also applicable to non-Eddystone valve receivers. The articles are the author’s
personal opinion, based on his experience and are meant to be of interest or help to
the novice or hobbyist – they are not meant to be a definitive or exhaustive treatise
on the topic under discussion…. References are provided for those wishing to
explore the subjects discussed in more depth. The author encourages feedback and
discussion on any topic covered through the EUG forum.

Valve Types and Characteristics

Introduction

The Technical Short on ‘Valve Lore’ deals with using

valves in receivers in general terms – their evolution
through the years, types and general application in
Eddystone receivers, as well as tips on sourcing valves
and testing them. The Technical Shorts on ‘Eddystone
Circuit Elements’ and ‘Receiver Front-Ends’ take a
closer look at how valves are selected and used in
particular circuits within Eddystone valve receivers. In
preparing these articles, it occurred to me that an insight
into some of the basics underlying the selection of a
particular valve for an application in a receiver would be
useful. In order to do this, some consideration of valve
‘fundamentals’ is necessary and how these influence
their application and use in receivers. So here I deal
mainly with the basics of valve construction and design
and then their electrical parameters and important operating characteristics.

History and all that bunk…

There are many books on the development of the vacuum tube/valve – I have read quite a
few over the years, and I list several in the bibliography at the end of this article. I
particularly like ‘Wireless Valves Simply Explained’ by John Scott-Taggart, written in
1922 (an amazing snapshot of application of thermionic technology in the immediate post
WWI years), also, the ‘Saga of the Vacuum Tube’ by Gerald Tyne is a good read if you
want to know how valves (mainly diodes and triodes) developed in different parts of the
globe (pun intended) and, of course, anyone interested in valves should have a copy of

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

the RCA ‘Radiotron Designers Handbook’ on their bookshelf (the 4th Ed. of 1953 is by
far the most comprehensive - and most expensive when they come for sale - but there is
a lot of good stuff in the much thinner and cheaper 3rd Ed. of 1941). These and other
references provide much detail and all I will cover here is a brief chronology of events
that led to the first commonly-used valves being developed and brought into general use
by the public in broadcast receivers (I would note that this subject is rather controversial
and many dates and claims found in the literature are contradictory and that often parallel
lines of research and development were being undertaken by several companies and
researchers at the same time in different countries – if you become ‘hooked’ on the story,
please refer to the many books devoted entirely to this fascinating topic):

1879 – Edison invents the incandescent electric lamp.

He later installed a metal plate in some of his bulbs to
investigate the ‘shadow’ observed in the discolouration
that occurred inside the glass envelope. In October,
1883, he noted that a current could flow through the
vacuous space when the plate was connected to the
positive heater element and not if connected to the
negative heater element – this would later be termed
the ‘Edison effect’ (I don’t suppose he coined the term
personally as there must have been lots of other
‘Edison-related’ effects…). He used the effect in a
patent on his ‘Electrical Indicator’ but apparently did
not realize the value of his invention (a crude diode) as
he did not see any other application at the time (a
solution without a problem – a bit like chewing gum);

1882 – John Ambrose Fleming also noted the shadow in incandescent lamps (the one in
the anglepoise in his study I expect, as it was probably annoying him) and so, as any
scientist worth his salt would have done, he studied the Edison effect a bit more, made
some notes, but then put his bulbs and his notes in a drawer and forgot about them (for 14
years – as you do…);
1896 – Fleming demonstrated that the Edison effect could
be used as a ‘rectifier’ for alternating current, but he also
did not pursue this any further (presumably he had bought
a new, upgraded, light bulb for his anglepoise by then);
1904 – Fleming, now working for the Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Co. Ltd., while looking for an improved way of
rectifying radio frequency oscillations for that company,
remembered his work with the light bulbs and filed a
patent for the ‘oscillation valve’, the diode used to rectify
electrical oscillations. The diode valve entered
commercial service in 1905 and was offered for sale to the
public in 1909. These early diodes only lasted between 35
and 100 hours before the filament burned out, so a cunning
version with two filaments was introduced in 1908;

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

1906 – Lee deForest presents his two-electrode

‘Audion’ valve that had electrostatic control of the
electron flow, followed by the patent of the internal
grid Audion (triode) in 1907;
1912 – Lee deForest succeeded in using the Audion
for audio frequency amplification (and so, the
‘Golden Ears’ brigade of audiophiles was born… no
doubt he was soon selling gold-plated carbon-free
copper prong versions at a premium to those
fellows). These valves first entered service as
telephone repeater amplifiers in 1913;
1913 – Irving Langmuire, working at General
Electric developed triodes that would operate at radio
frequencies. He also conceived of a type of tetrode
valve but with the fourth electrode placed between
the cathode and control grid (oops !);
Is he going to play it or smoke it? 1915 – Suggestion of using a fourth electrode (the
screen grid) between the control grid and the anode
by Walter Schottky to improve amplification by overcoming the ‘Miller effect’, these
ideas being further developed by Hull and Williams in the US and a patent applied for by
Hiroshi Ando in Japan in 1919. However, the screen grid valve (tetrode) was not
developed into a practical valve until 1926 by
Henry Round in the UK, and then introduced
commercially in 1927. The tetrode allowed
greater and more stable amplification at radio
frequencies without careful neutralization. The
tetrode was found to have a disadvantage
though: when the anode voltage is low, electrons
colliding against the anode produce secondary
emissions. These electrons are absorbed by the
screen grid which results in a decrease in anode
current and non-linear operation;
1925 – earliest multiple valves contained in one
envelope1;
1926 – Invention of the pentode by Bernhard
Tellegen working for Philips in Holland, this
valve design incorporating a suppressor grid to
reduce the above-noted undesirable secondary
emission, with the patent submission in 1928 and
commercial introduction in the early-1930’s;
1933 - 1934 – development of various multiple The ‘Emerson Mulitvalve’ (triple triode,
grid valves for use as mixers and ‘frequency circa. 1926)
changers’ in superheterodyne receivers,

1
I have a one valve set containing an ‘Emerson Multivalve’ – a triple-triode, manufactured by the Clearton
Vacuum Tube Co. in 1927. Unfortunately the valve has the tip snapped off and is vacuum-less…

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

including the hexode (four grids), the

‘pentagrid’ (heptode) and Octode;
1936 – Owen Harries in the UK noted that
pentode-like characteristics could be
obtained from a tetrode when the distance
between the screen grid and the anode was
expanded (the ‘Harries Critical Distance
Valve’): in this configuration, the
potential between them reduces due to
space charge and secondary electrons
cannot go to the screen grid. Another
technique used to overcome problems
with secondary emission in tetrodes is to
focus electrons towards specific targets on
the anode and away from other areas, such
as the supporting rods by a combination of the grid and screen grids being wound with
the same pitch (and in optical alignment) and the placing of beam-forming plates that
direct the electron beams. Later that year Otto Schade of RCA developed this idea into
the ‘beam-power tube’ (a sexy name if ever there was one… connotations of Star Trek or
what? – “…, ok, beam me up Schade”).

Valve Construction

I find the construction aspects of valves

very interesting – each one is a marvel of
miniature engineering built to very fine
tolerances and to withstand amazingly
adverse conditions: high voltages, high
vacuum, high temperatures, thousands of
heating-cooling cycles etc. To do this
reliably was the culmination of many lines
of early-mid 20th century engineering and
scientific endeavour, metallurgy,
chemistry, mechanical design and accurate
machining, assembly-line techniques and
electronic design, but most of all, human
ingenuity to overcome issues inherent in
different applications valve technology
was applied to. To see how it was done by
the best, take a look at this video:
http://www.techtubevalves.com/about_us/f
ilm_reels.php (or you can have a go
yourself – see the YouTube links at the end
of this article).

Valves consist of a number of basic

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

constructional elements: electrodes, comprising a cathode and an anode, which may have
one or more elements in between (termed ‘control’, ‘screen’ and ‘suppressor’ grids – see
below), all mounted on suitable supporting structures and contained in a vessel of glass or
metal, with the electrodes being connected to the outside world by connecting to pins
(sometimes termed ‘prongs’) on the valve base, and sometimes to a top cap(s) – refer to
diagram on previous page. The vessel is evacuated of air such that a vacuum of a high
degree is formed, although some valve types may have an inert gas or mercury vapour
deliberately introduced at low pressure to provide desirable characteristics. Most valves
are designed to be easily replaced by being
inserted into a socket, although some types
were designed to be wired into the circuit in
which they operate (photo, right). More than
one valve assembly can be included within
one envelope for convenience, compactness and economy. The following provides some
basic information on the electrodes:

Cathode

Early cathodes comprised a directly-heated filament (as in

its cousin, the incandescent light bulb), made from
tungsten and operating at a temperature around 2,000 C.
The earlier types were termed ‘bright emitters’ (not
surprisingly). Later directly-heated types were termed
‘dull emitters’, operating at lower temperatures. These
were composed of thoriated tungsten, a process which
stabilizes the emission if electrons and increases the
surface resistance to gas-poisoning. Later dull emitter
types also had a tungsten filaments but these were coated
in a mixture of calcium, strontium and barium oxides,
which emit electrons easily at much lower temperatures
due to a monolayer of mixed alkali earth metals coating the
tungsten when the cathode is heated to about 800-1000 C.

Indirectly heated cathodes were developed in the early-

The ARDE from mid-1920’s to allow AC current to flow in the filament
Ediswan was circuit to more easily allow
introduced in 1923 AC operation of radio
as a general purpose equipment and dispense
valve. ‘ARDE’ with the inconvenience of
stands for ‘Amateur large batteries for the
Radio Dull Emitter’ filament supply. This step
also encouraged more
experimentation in the materials and construction
used for the cathode electrode to improve electron-
emitting performance and longevity. In this design,
the cathode usually consists of a nickel tube, coated

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

on the outside with the same strontium, calcium, barium oxide mix used in the
dull emitter directly-heated types, and fitted with a tungsten filament inside the
tube to heat it. This tungsten filament is usually uncoiled and coated in a layer of
alumina, (aluminium oxide), to insulate it from the nickel tube of the actual
cathode. This allows a much greater electron emitting area to be formed and,
because the heater is insulated from the cathode, the cathode can be positioned in
a circuit at up to 150 volts more positive than the heater or 50 volts more negative
than the heater for most common types. It also allows all the heaters to be simply
wired in series or parallel rather than some requiring isolated power supplies with
specially insulated windings on power transformers or separate batteries.

Grids

Grids are usually made from molybdenum wire

wound in grooves on supporting posts.
Alternate, less expensive materials have included
iron, nichrome, iron-nickel and manganese-
nickel. The spacing of the grid wires (aperture)
is critical in the valve design. By having wider
spacing at the outer ends of the grid structure
(and tighter in the middle) greater control of the
amplification factor (µ) of the valve can be
obtained by varying the DC bias applied to the
control grid – the so-called ‘remote cut-off’
design so important to good AGC performance in
radios. Designs with linear grid apertures are termed ‘sharp cut-off’.

In some later valve designs, precision control and screen grids, called ‘frame
grids’, offered enhanced performance. Here, instead of the typically elliptical
fine-gauge wire supported by two posts, a frame grid can be a metal stamping
with rectangular openings that surrounded the cathode. Here, the grid wires are in
a plane defined by the stamping, and the control grid placed much closer to the
cathode surface than traditional construction would permit. This allows the valve
to have a greater slope and shorter electron transit time.

It is important to prevent the grid from becoming over-heated. This may be

prevented by carbonizing the grid wires and/or attaching cooling fins to the
support structures. Gold or platinum plating may be used to avoid grid emission
at higher temperatures.

Anodes (a great quote in ‘Wireless Valves Simply Explained’ by John Scott-

Taggart: ‘…The reader may be a little confused at first by the various names
given to valves and the various synonymous terms employed when dealing with
valve circuits. He will learn that some speak of valves (a popular but often
inaccurate name), others of vacuum tubes; some speak of “plates” (and
apparently mean cylinders), while others always refer to “anodes”…”)

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

The anodes of small signal valves are usually made from nickel, nickel-plated
steel or iron, pressed out of sheet metal that is crimped or flanged to increase its
mechanical rigidity, sometimes blackened, or in higher-power types, finned, to
increase its heat-radiating efficiency, mounted on stout supports connected to the
base pins. Valves designed for higher power use and hence higher temperatures
may also use molybdenum, carbon, tantalum or zirconium in their construction.

Other Bits

The envelope is usually made from lime glass, though other materials can be used,
eg. metal and/or ceramic. In the early-mid
1930’s, GE developed the ‘all metal tube’,
originally as a valve to be hard-wired into a
radio, but which turned into an octal-based
valve manufactured by RCA (it’s a long
story - see the article by Patrick Dowd
attached as an appendix). The critical issue
is obtaining a good, long-lasting seal to the
wires/pins exiting the envelope (sealing
technology was the main problem in
developing the all metal valve).

Once valve technology became ‘commercial’, the need for easy and convenient
replacement was identified given that the functional life of a valve was (usually)
significantly less than that of the equipment it was installed in. A variety of bases
were thus introduced over the years to accommodate this need, the number of pins
increasing over the years and the size of the pins and base generally decreasing
with a view to ‘miniaturization’. The earlier bases, through to the Octal design of
the early 1930’s generally used a Bakelite moulding, eventually dispensed with by
the introduction of the miniature valves in 1938. The Technical Short on ‘Valve
Lore’ deals with this subject in a little more detail.

Vacuum (how can I talk about something that is not there?...)

The vacuum inside the envelope must be as perfect, or ‘hard’, as possible as any
remaining gas atoms remaining might be ionized at operating voltages and
conduct electricity between the elements in an uncontrolled manner. This effect
leads to unstable operation and/or even catastrophic destruction of the valve. The
condition may be recognized by the gas ionizing and becoming visible as a blue to
pink-purple glow discharge between the valve’s elements.

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

To prevent remnant air being a

problem, most valves are
constructed with ‘getters’ in their
design, which are usually small
structures in the envelope filled
with metals that oxidize quickly,
with barium being the most
common. While the envelope is
being evacuated of air, the internal
parts except the getter are heated
by RF induction to extract any
remaining gases from the metal.
The valve is then sealed and the
getter is heated to a high
temperature, causing the material
to evaporate, absorbing/reacting
with any residual gases and usually leaving a silver-brown coloured metallic
deposit on the inside of the envelope of the valve. The getter continues to absorb
any gas molecules that leak into the valve during its working life. If a valve
develops a crack in the envelope, this deposit turns a white color when it reacts
with atmospheric oxygen.

Valve Types

There are literally thousands of valve ‘types’, ie. valves that have different designations.
However, these mostly fall within a series of major classes, depending on the number of
electrodes present within the envelope: diodes, triodes, tetrodes, pentodes, hexodes,
heptodes and octodes. As noted above, more than one valve assembly can be included
within one envelope, giving rise to types such as dual-diode triode, triode-hexode and
dual triodes.

Diodes:

In thermionic valve
diodes, a current through
the heater filament
directly or indirectly
heats the cathode. The
heat causes thermionic
emission of electrons
into the vacuum. In
forward operation, a
surrounding metal
electrode called the
anode is positively charged so that it electrostatically attracts the emitted
electrons. However, electrons are not easily released from the unheated anode

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

surface when the voltage polarity is reversed. Hence, any reverse flow is
negligible and the valve is a one-way route for electrons, allowing it to rectify an
AC current.

Triodes:

The grid nearest the cathode is usually

termed the ‘control grid’. The
voltage applied to this grid causes the
anode current to vary. In normal
operation, with a resistive load, this
varying current will result in varying (AC)
voltage measured at the anode. With
proper biasing, this voltage will be an
amplified (but inverted) version of the AC
voltage applied to the control grid, thus the
triode can provide voltage gain.

Tetrodes:

In a tetrode, a second grid, called the ‘screen grid’ provides a

screening effect, isolating the control grid from the anode.
This helps to suppress unwanted oscillation, and to reduce an
undesirable effect present in triodes termed the ‘Miller effect‘,
where the gain of the valve causes a feedback that increases the
apparent capacitance of the grid, limiting the valve's high-
frequency gain and causing instability. In normal operation the
screen grid is connected to a positive voltage, somewhat less
than the anode, bypassed to the cathode with a capacitor. This
shields the grid from the anode, reducing Miller capacitance to a very low level
and improving the valve's available gain at high frequencies. When the tetrode
was introduced in the late-1920’s, a typical triode had an input capacitance of
about 5 pF, but the screen grid reduced this capacitance to about 0.01 pF.

The positive influence of the screen grid in the vicinity of the control grid allows a
designer to shift the control grid operating voltage range entirely into the negative
region. If the input signal causes the control grid to become positive (where
current flow begins), nonlinearity is to be expected (the control grid draws no
current while negative but draws current while positive). With the control grid
operating entirely in the negative region, and with the shielding afforded by the
screen grid, the tetrode input impedance is quite high, even at high frequencies,
and its gain is linear.

However, the tetrode has some problems: in any valve, electrons strike the anode
hard enough to knock out secondary electrons. In a triode these (less energetic)
electrons cannot reach the grid or cathode, and are re-captured by the anode,

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

however in a tetrode, they can be captured by the screen grid, reducing the anode
current and the amplification of the valve. Since secondary electrons can
outnumber the primary electrons, in the worst case, particularly when the anode
voltage dips below the screen voltage, the anode current can actually go down
with increasing plate voltage. This effect gives rise to the ‘tetrode kink’. Another
consequence of this effect is that under severe overload, the current collected by
the screen grid can cause it to overheat and melt, destroying the valve.

The beam-power valve is usually a tetrode with the addition of optically-aligned

control grid and screen grid windings and two angled beam-forming plates, which
take the place of the suppressor grid in a pentode (see below). The angled plates
focus the electron stream onto targets on the anode which can withstand the heat
generated by the impact of massive numbers of electrons, while also providing
pentode behaviour. The positioning of the elements in a beam-power valve
construction uses a design called ‘critical-distance geometry’, which minimizes
the ‘tetrode kink’, plate-grid capacitance, screen-grid current, and secondary
emission effects from the anode, thus increasing power conversion efficiency.

Pentodes:

The earlier solution to the problems inherent in the tetrode

design was to add another grid, called a suppressor grid,
making the design into a three grid construction, termed a
‘pentode’. This third grid is biased at either ground or cathode
voltage and its negative voltage (relative to the anode)
electrostatically suppressed the secondary electrons by
repelling them back toward the anode. The pentode can be
operated with much larger voltage swings than the tetrode
without distortion.

Multiple Grids:

Frequency conversion can be accomplished by various

methods in superheterodyne receivers. Valves with five grids,
termed pentagrid converters (or heptodes), were often used for
this function, especially in the US. In the pentagrid, one grid
was used for the signal, another two as part of the local
oscillator circuit and the remainder as a screen to reduce
unwanted coupling between the local oscillator function and
the input signal. Alternatives to the pentagrid were also
introduced, such as using a combination of a triode with a
hexode in the same envelope or the octode (refer to the
Technical Short on ‘Receiver Front-Ends’ for more discussion on this topic). As
for the pentagrid, the additional grids are either control grids, with different
signals applied to each one, or screen grids. In many designs, a special grid acted
as a second 'leaky' anode to provide a built-in oscillator valve, which then mixed

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

this signal with the incoming radio signal. These signals create a single,
combined effect on the anode current (and thus the signal output) of the mixer
circuit. The useful component of the output was the difference frequency between
that of the incoming signal and that of the oscillator.

Special types

Some special-purpose valves are constructed with particular gases in the

envelope. For instance, voltage regulator valves contain various inert gases such
as argon, helium or neon, and exploit the fact that these gases ionize at predictable
voltages. The thyratron is a special-purpose valve filled with low-pressure gas or
mercury, some of which vaporizes.
Like other valves, it contains a hot
cathode and an anode, but also a
control electrode, which behaves
somewhat like the grid of a triode.
However, when the control electrode
starts conduction, the gas ionizes,
and the control electrode no longer
can stop the current; the valve thus
‘latches’ into conduction. Removing
anode voltage lets the gas de-ionize,
restoring its non-conductive state.

Of course, there are many other

special-purpose valves – klystrons,
magnetrons, travelling wave tubes
etc, however, they are not found in
Eddystone sets and will not be
covered in this general article on
receiving valve types and
characteristics.

Valve Parameters & Characteristic Curves

Any valve has a number of electrical parameters that can be measured and presented as a
series of ‘characteristic curves’ that illustrate how the valve will perform under static
conditions or applied voltages to the anode and grid. The main parameters are presented
below along with some representative characteristic curves.

Mutual Conductance

The ratio of the change in anode current to the change in grid voltage for a constant anode
voltage in a valve is termed the ‘mutual conductance’ (gm) or ‘slope’ of the valve and is
expressed in mA/V or ‘micromhos’ (1mA/V = 1000 micromhos).

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

Amplification Factor and Impedance

The ratio of change of anode voltage to change in grid voltage for a constant anode
current is termed the ‘amplification factor’ (μ) of the valve. Valves are frequently classed
as low-μ (<10), medium-μ (10-50), and high-μ (>50). If the anode voltage of a valve is
changed and the grid voltage kept constant, the anode current will change. The ratio of
change of anode voltage to change in anode current for a constant grid voltage is known
as the ‘impedance’ (Ra), ‘AC resistance’ or ‘slope resistance’ of the valve. The
impedance, mutual conductance and amplification factor of a valve are related by the
equation:

Impedance (ohms) = (Amplification Factor/Mutual Conductance (mA/V)) x 1000

Thus, mutual conductance and impedance are equal to the slopes of the anode
current/grid voltage and of the anode voltage/grid current characteristics respectively.

The valve’s impedance may be considered to be similar to the internal resistance of a

battery. It must not be confused with the external ‘load impedance’ (R) of the anode
circuit into which the valve is connected. For a triode, the load impedance would be in
the range 1 to 10 times the valve impedance.

When an increasing negative voltage is applied to the control grid of a valve, the anode
current falls. The grid voltage at which the anode current falls to a particular low value is
known as the ‘cut-off point’. The part of the anode current/grid voltage curve prior to
reaching this point is often referred to as the ‘tail’, and a valve may be designed to have a
sharp cut-off or a slow cut-off (usually
termed ‘remote’ cut-off), depending on
its intended use. The reduction in anode
current towards cut-off is accompanied
by a reduction in mutual conductance
(ie. gain) – a gradual slope towards cut-
off is desirable for applications such as
in receiver stages that are controlled by
the AGC. Valves having these
characteristics are known as ‘variable-μ’
or remote cut-off valves, where the cut-
off point is normally defined as the grid
voltage when the anode current drops to
1/100th of its normal operating value.

In a voltage amplifier stage, the gain is proportional to the ratio of the external load
impedance (R) to the internal valve (Ra) and external load impedances:

Voltage Gain = μ x (R/(R + Ra))

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

Input Impedance and Input Admittance

When used in a resonant circuit, the resistive and reactive (capacitance and inductance)
components of the valves characteristics modify the circuits behaviour. The effect of the
resistive component reduces with increasing frequency and the reactive component then
dominates (at a rate of the square of the frequency) and inversely to the mutual
conductance of the valve. This effect is sometimes termed the ‘input impedance’ or
‘admittance’ characteristic of the valve. The reactive component is largely due to the
capacitance between the grid and other electrodes (‘input capacitance’). The effective
input capacitance can be affected by the anode load – as the signals on the grid and anode
are opposite in phase, an (AC) current can flow through the input capacitance – the
higher the anode load, the greater the amplification and the higher the effective
capacitance becomes. This is the ‘Miller effect’ mentioned earlier.

Characteristic Curves

Each valve design has a set of characteristic curves associated with it that define how it
will perform in a circuit and that can be referenced by the circuit designer to ensure the
correct valve is selected for a particular application and that the correct operating
conditions are presented in the circuit by selecting appropriate values of passive
components that set bias conditions, anode and screen voltages, decoupling, etc.

As discussed earlier, there are three independent variables affecting operation of a triode,
ie. cathode temperature, anode voltage and grid voltage, as well as two dependant
variables, these being the anode current and grid current. By varying any one of the
independent variables while holding the other two constant and plotting the resulting
dependant variables on a series of curves will define the static characteristics of a
particular valve. Cathode temperature is not usually considered a variable (except in
some 1920’s TRF sets where gain could be adjusted with a filament rheostat) – normally
it is necessary to be sure that the total cathode emission be several times the normal
anode current of the valve.

These are generally termed the valves

‘static characteristics’ and may be
illustrated by ‘anode characteristic
curves’ and ‘transfer (mutual)
characteristic curves’. These curves
present the same information but in
two different forms to increase its
usefulness: the anode characteristic
curve is obtained by varying the
anode voltage and measuring the
anode current for a range of grid
(bias) voltages, whereas the transfer
characteristic curve is obtained by
varying the grid (bias) voltage and

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

measuring anode current for a range of anode voltages. The two plots below illustrate
this:

Above left: Anode-characteristic set of curves. Above right: transfer (mutual)-

characteristic curves for the same valve
The most commonly illustrated curves are the anode characteristic curves. Typical
examples are illustrated below for two different valve types.

The figures shown above and below illustrate a set (‘family’) of anode current v grid
voltage curves for two popular triodes: one a medium-µ (12AU7), the other a high-µ type
(12AT7).

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

The two figures below show a family of anode current v grid voltage curves for two
pentodes: one a popular sharp cut-off type (6AU6), the other a popular remote cut-off
type (6BA6). Note the much greater range of bias voltage on the control grid (grid 1) for
the remote cut-off type.

In addition to the static characteristics, valves also have ‘dynamic characteristics’, which
include amplification factor, anode resistance, control grid-anode transconductance2
(mutual conductance, gm) and conversion transconductance (in mixer applications, Sc), as
discussed earlier in this article.

Noise

Slight fluctuations in the rate at which electrons arrive at the anode result in noise being
generated in a valve. This noise is termed ‘shot noise’. It is convenient to express the
noise thus generated as that in a resistor (‘Johnson noise’). For a valve, this is equivalent

2
Transconductance is the incremental change in current to any electrode divided by the incremental change
in voltage to another electrode. Grid to anode transconductance is termed the mutual conductance (gm).

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

to the noise produced in an (imaginary) resistor placed in series with the grid and is
termed the ‘equivalent noise resistance’ (Req). For a triode, this may be calculated from:

Req = 2.5/gm Kohms

Shot noise is generally independent of frequency through the operating range of a

particular valve type as it relates to the valve characteristics.

The shot noise generated in multigrid valves (eg. heptodes) is much higher than for a
pentode due to the partition effect of the anode and screen grid currents caused by the
random behaviours of the electrons flowing as to which element in the valve it reaches.

In addition to shot noise, electrostatic charges induced in the control grid by the passage
of electrons through it on their way to the anode induce a thermal noise in the valve – this
effect is negligible at low and medium frequencies, but at much higher frequencies it can
be an important consideration.

Hum is a particular type of noise that can be transferred from a heater in a valve to the
signal circuit by inter-electrode capacitance and leakage, particularly when the cathode is
poorly-designed or is suffering from breakdown.

Measuring Valve Parameters

So, with valves being subject to extremes of temperature, cathode material evaporating
etc, they are just bound to give up the ghost eventually are they not? Well yes, but if they
are used in circuits that provide working conditions that keep the valve within its design
parameters, most will last a surprisingly long time – far longer than we would expect in
many cases. Even so, it is sometimes necessary to ‘test’ a valve, ie. to compare it with it
with the performance of a new valve of the same type. The best test is arguably to
substitute a known good valve into the circuit where the valve is suspect, however, that is
not always possible (we don’t all carry a large inventory of known good valves) and
sometimes we need to test for other reasons, eg. to match a pair of output valves.

But some words of caution I found in a comment on the Leeds Components (New York)
Website (http://www.leedsradio.com/):

“You can see it many places tubes are sold, whether on Ebay or dealers' websites and sales
literature; "used, tests like new". Unfortunately there is no such thing. The data shown in tube
manufacturers data books such as the RCA RC-30 for characteristics are ‘bogey’ values.
Langford-Smith's "Radiotron Designer’s Handbook, 4th Edition", defines bogey as:

"Each individual characteristic in the manufacturing specification is normally prescribed

as a bogey value with plus or minus tolerances. The bogey value is the exact value
specified for that characteristic by the valve manufacturing specifications."

What Langford-Smith doesn't address is how wide the piece to piece variation from bogey can be.
Take just one parameter, and this happens to be the most often thrown about parameter - gm, or
mutual conductance. Mutual conductance can be affected by many parts of the manufacturing

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

process, for example how closely the grid wires are wound to the manufacturer's design target. If
the wires are more closely wound the gm will be higher and if the spacing is larger, lower. All
other things being equal, the tube with the higher gm will NOT have a longer service life than the
one with the lower gm. Cathode to plate spacing can also have an affect without any detrimental
affect on service life. Mutual conductance for newly manufactured tubes in a given lot will be
distributed on a skewed normal (bell shaped) curve. It is skewed to the left because most
manufacturers were overly optimistic in stating the bogey value. For American-made 12AX7A's
for example a corrected, and more realistic bogey is
about 0.75 times the specification. You can expect
that a batch of new, good tubes to be distributed over
the range from .66 time bogey to 1.33 times bogey.
The manufacturers themselves considered a NEW
tube GOOD if the gm was as low as 66% of bogey,
which is why if you look closely at tube testers you
will see that they have a reject line on the meter at
66% of nominal. Hickok Cardmatic 118A testers
[photo, right], the type used most often at Leeds, have
a full scale deflection for 12AX7 at 1600 micromhos,
and reject at 1056 micromhos. Please note that other
testers may have different bogey and reject values due to having different test conditions. Tube
testers, at least good quality ones, do not have ‘used’ listed as a parameter on the meter.

Twenty years ago, I tested more than 300 General Electric 6CA7 fat bottle tubes that were all
from one lot. The gm data for those tubes also showed the characteristic mentioned above - a left
skewed normal curve centering around .75 of bogey value, with 95% of tubes falling within +/-33
percent of that corrected bogey. Tube users who still believe that there is a "tests as new"
standard should ask themselves why it would ever be necessary to match tubes if that were true. If
it were, all one would have to do is purchase tubes from the same lot from the same manufacturer
and all would match. Anyone who has ever done this immediately recognizes that it isn't the
case…”.

So, what can we expect from a valve tester? – it

really depends on what sort of tester you are using.
Most of the lower-cost types only test the valve
emission by heating the cathode with the correct
voltage, strapping all the grids to the anode
(effectively making a diode out of the valve) and
applying a voltage between the cathode and anode,
measuring the current that flows – not very
sophisticated and not surprisingly it tells you nothing
about the valves characteristics, only that the heater functions and the valve allows
electrons to flow. More sophisticated testers, often termed ‘dynamic’ testers, attempt to
simulate the working conditions of a valve by applying a bias to the grid instead of
strapping it to the anode, thus providing a more controlled testing environment. It is still
fairly crude though and, while better than the simple ‘emission tester’ it cannot be used to
measure valve parameters, only compare the performance with pre-determined
characteristics of the same valve when ‘factory fresh’ (bear in mind the comments above
regarding bogey values). I own such a tester and it works fine most of the time, and can
certainly weed out the duds in a batch of valves, spotting inter-electrode shorts and leaks,
poor emission and low mutual conductance. However, if you want to actually measure
the characteristics of a valve, then you really have to go for a much more sophisticated

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

device, such as the AVO Mk2 or Mk 4. Expect to pay

serious money for one in good, working condition (and be
prepared to spend many a happy hour with it setting up,
recording, etc) – not for the casual user really…

These sophisticated valve

testers can measure all the
important valve parameters
and can be used to plot the
characteristic curves as discussed earlier in this article.
You really must have a keen interest in doing this to
undertake such measurements as it takes time and skill,
and most folks therefore settle for a simpler (and much
cheaper) dynamic tester. I have the best of both worlds at
the moment – a couple of dynamic testers at home and
the use of an AVO Mk2 at the SPARC museum if I feel inclined to explore further.

Closure

I often wonder how electronics would have developed if advances in solid-state

technology had progressed ahead of ‘hot cathode’ technology as they could well have
done – maybe all the low-power valve applications would have been skipped-over and
only high-power applications would have been pursued – magnetrons, high-power beam
tetrodes for commercial transmitters and the like? We will never know of course, but I
am really glad the electronics world worked out in the way that it did! By the same
token, as much as I love valve technology, I am also grateful for semiconductors every
day - preparing this article, typing it, copying it and distributing it the ‘old-fashioned’
way would be a nightmare, so much so it just would not happen: everything has its place
in the world, as long as we have the choice, I am ok with that.

So, where will hot cathode technology go next? I really

do not know. The renaissance of the cathode ray tube in
the boom of the PC revolution and for TV sets is now
long gone with the advent of LCD and other display
technologies. High-power radio transmitter applications
often still rely on valves, as do specialist. ‘golden ear’
HiFi amplifiers, guitar amplifiers and the like – will these
fads last? – I hope so, as they do provide sufficient a
market for several valve manufacturing plants in Russia and China to go on producing
small signal amplifiers, rectifiers and audio output valves, even if for a very limited range
of types supported by these specialist markets. There are, of course, millions of radio
valves still around that were manufactured in the heyday of the valve industry – many
‘new old stock’ (NOS) and working-used (recovered from scrapped radios) – enough to
last me out in repairing and restoring valve radios no doubt, but some types are becoming
rarer and more expensive – valves like Type 42 audio output valves for example
(introduced in the early-1930’s and still popular in the audiophile world).

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

Where will it end? – not as soon as 2012 as some would have us believe, but
depressingly, I think I am of the last generation that will really care – in my opinion ,
valve radios will lose their appeal as working historical artefacts for a number of reasons
in the coming years: one reason is that they are becoming of less practical use and
relevance as time progresses (as any radio is that is designed for AM broadcast
reception), as fewer and fewer stations broadcast anything of any value on AM. It will
likely not be long (a decade or two) before the only countries broadcasting on AM will be
those without well-developed infrastructure that can provide fast internet connections to
its population. As my generation passes into history, so will the memories of using valve
radios and the nostalgia factor of their simplicity and character – including ‘the smell of
hot varnish’ as mentioned recently on the EUG forum. The technical skills associated
with these radios will also eventually be lost and the sets relegated once again to the
scrapheap except for a few sets in exceptional condition and those as curios in museums.
I therefore fear that the desirability of valve sets will plummet, including my beloved
Eddystones, and that will be that. So, enjoy the current renaissance while we can.
Maybe the sunset years of the valves time-line will be like this:

1974 – last Eddystone valve set produced (S950). The end of an era;
2005 – the last bastion of the CRT – the computer monitor – goes LCD;
2025 – all remaining high-power applications for valves replaced with solid state devices;
2045 – the last technical skills pertaining to valve radios die out. Millions of NOS and
used valves clutter warehouses and no-one knows what to do with them. RIP hot
cathode technology, aged ~166 years.

I am just pleased that I was born when I was, where I was, with a reasonable amount of
intellect, a passion for radio and into a world where valve technology was still alive…

But wait, all is not lost! - I hear that in the early

years of the 21st century there has been renewed
interest in electron emitter technology, but this time
with the electron emitter formed on a flat silicon
substrate, as in integrated circuit technology, this
being termed ‘Vacuum Nanoelectronics’. The most
common nanoelectronic design uses a cold cathode
in the form of a large-area field electron source.
With these devices, electrons are field-emitted from
a large number of closely spaced individual emission
sites. Their claimed advantages include greatly enhanced robustness combined with the
ability to provide high power outputs at low power consumptions. Operating on the same
principles as traditional valves, prototype device cathodes have been fabricated in several
different ways. The literature indicates that such integrated ‘microvalves’ may find
application in microwave devices including more efficient mobile phones, Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi transmissions, in radar and for satellite communication. Somehow it is just not the
same as a glowing cathode though… but I guess that’s progress.

©Gerry O’Hara, VE7GUH/G8GUH, Vancouver, BC, Canada, December, 2009

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Some Useful/Interesting References

Copies of those marked with an asterisk can be bought from Antique Electronic Supply
(www.tubesandmore.com)

• Fundamentals of Vacuum Tubes, Austin Eastman, 1941

• Saga of the Vacuum Tube, Gerald Tyne, 1977 (a researcher at the Smithsonian –
this guy really knew his ‘tubes’)*
• History of Electron Tubes, S Okamura, 1994
• History and Development of the All-Metal Radio Tube, Patrick Dowd
• Saga of Marconi Osram Valve, Barry Vyse & George Jessop*
• Radio Communications Handbook, 4th Ed. RSGB, 1968, Chapters 2 and 4
• The Radio Amateurs Handbook, 31st Ed. 1954 (though others through to around
1970 are all good references for valves)
• Radio Engineering, F. Terman, 1947, (3rd Ed. Chapter, 6, 7 and 8)
• Radio and Television Receiver Circuitry and Operation, Ghirardi & Johnson,
1951 (Chapter 4)
• Radiotron Designers Handbook, RCA, Langford Smith, 3rd Ed. 1940 (Chapters
14 and 15)
• Radiotron Designers Handbook, RCA, Langford Smith, 4th Ed. 1953 (Chapters
23, 24 and 25)
• Inside the Vacuum Tube, John Rider*
• Electronics One-Seven, Edited by Harry Mileaf, Hayden Book Co., 1967,
Chapters 3and 5
• Receiving Tube Manual(s) – RCA (annual publications: late-1950’s/early-1960’s
editions are the best) (*1973 edition) – see Classification Chart from the 1959
issue edition below – useful stuff…
• Tube Lore: A Reference for Users and Collectors, Ludwell Sibley*
• Principles of Electron Tubes, Herbert Reich*
• Wireless Valves Simply Explained, John Scott-Taggart, 1922
• Collectors Vacuum Tube Handbook , Robert Millard*
• ‘Valve Data and General Information’ CD ROM, Paul Stenning, 2001
(http://www.vintage –radio.com)
• ‘The National Valve Museum’ DVD ROM (http://valve-museum.org)
• ‘Valve Technique’ (1948), RSGB, reprinted 2006
• Getting the Most out of Vacuum Tubes, Robert Tomer, 1960 (great reference on
failure modes of valves and what was done to ‘toughen ‘em up…)* - I have an
author-signed copy…
• Vintage Radio 1887-1929, 2nd. Ed. Harold Greenwood, revised, edited and
expanded by Morgan E. McMahon (my copy signed by Morgan)
• Some YouTube videos you simply must see:
o http://www.techtubevalves.com/about_us/film_reels.php (Mullard
Blackburn Factory film)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_eLO0exato&feature=related
(reproducing a Fleming valve)

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Valve Types & Characteristics Gerry O’Hara

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-QMuUQhVM&feature=related and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S5OwqOXen8&feature=related (do it
yourself!)
o http://www.youtube.com/user/AllAmericanFiveRadio#p/u/12/ZT0i5iprLo
s
• http://www.cjseymour.plus.com/elec/valves/valves.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube#History_of_development
• http://www.vacuumtubes.net/How_Vacuum_Tubes_Work.htm
• http://lmn.web.psi.ch/vacuum_nanoelectronics/index.html
• http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/electron/elect27.htm
• http://www.john-a-harper.com/tubes201/ (how valves really work)
• http://www.mit.edu/~klund/papers/jmiller.pdf (Miller effect simply explained (!))
• http://www.angelfire.com/planet/funwithtransistors/Book_CHAP-4A.html (no,
it’s valves, honestly!)
• http://www.jacmusic.com/Tube-testers/index.html
• http://members.iquest.net/~finchum/hickok.html

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