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one may not need to find ancient valves - my little (65-year old) brother builds valve amplifiers and repairs valve radios as a hobby, and seems to do ok. only

one may not need to find ancient valves - my little (65-year old) brother builds valve amplifiers and repairs valve radios as a hobby, and seems to do ok. only problem that as far as i can see, many valves are apparently sourced from russia (i don't know about this definitively).

squarefoot 3y ago
Russians and other ex soviet countries kept manufacturing tubes well after the west stopped. They're often great quality military grade parts, a lot better than the Chinese remakes and fakes one can find at the usual online places. The same applies to germanium transistors and diodes, passive parts etc: excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Those who currently don't want to, or can't, buy from Russian sellers, can find the same items at various shops in western Europe: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine (some shops still active and worth helping), Romania, Poland, etc.
- zabzonk 3y ago
  yeah, my bro doesn't, AFAIK, buy from russia direct. but even if you buy from UK suppliers, you are still indirectly supporting the russian economy. i haven't brought this up with him - we have enough disagreements about politics as it is.
  - SLWW 3y ago
    Well you are maybe placing a few bucks in some English person's pocket where there was already money long gone to the Russian economy, and reminder that most people in Russia don't even support the war so it's not like you are making an impact outside of buying an Englishman tea after he already paid a Russian for his... idk what they prefer to drink over there other than Vodka. :P Even in Russia, it's mostly a cottage industry, they aren't shipping thousand's monthly and definitely are not funding a war machine from that small investment, it also costs them raw resources when they do eventually manufacture. War has a way of getting funding much greater than from it's exports.
- hilbert42 3y ago
  You know, it depends how desperate one gets. I have longtime friend who occasionally repairs ancient B&W TV sets, not from the 1950s but earlier 40s and even late 30s. When he couldn't get new picture tubes he simply invested in vacuum pumps and necessary tube components and snipped the necks off the tubes and rebuilt them—and they worked perfectly OK. I reckon he was mad to attempt it but I have to eat humble pie because he became so expert at it. And what's more, he did all this in his backyard shed at home!

squarefoot 3y ago

Russians and other ex soviet countries kept manufacturing tubes well after the west stopped. They're often great quality military grade parts, a lot better than the Chinese remakes and fakes one can find at the usual online places. The same applies to germanium transistors and diodes, passive parts etc: excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Those who currently don't want to, or can't, buy from Russian sellers, can find the same items at various shops in western Europe: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine (some shops still active and worth helping), Romania, Poland, etc.

zabzonk 3y ago
yeah, my bro doesn't, AFAIK, buy from russia direct. but even if you buy from UK suppliers, you are still indirectly supporting the russian economy. i haven't brought this up with him - we have enough disagreements about politics as it is.
- SLWW 3y ago
  Well you are maybe placing a few bucks in some English person's pocket where there was already money long gone to the Russian economy, and reminder that most people in Russia don't even support the war so it's not like you are making an impact outside of buying an Englishman tea after he already paid a Russian for his... idk what they prefer to drink over there other than Vodka. :P Even in Russia, it's mostly a cottage industry, they aren't shipping thousand's monthly and definitely are not funding a war machine from that small investment, it also costs them raw resources when they do eventually manufacture. War has a way of getting funding much greater than from it's exports.
hilbert42 3y ago
You know, it depends how desperate one gets. I have longtime friend who occasionally repairs ancient B&W TV sets, not from the 1950s but earlier 40s and even late 30s. When he couldn't get new picture tubes he simply invested in vacuum pumps and necessary tube components and snipped the necks off the tubes and rebuilt them—and they worked perfectly OK. I reckon he was mad to attempt it but I have to eat humble pie because he became so expert at it. And what's more, he did all this in his backyard shed at home!