"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

Oh - building valve equipment is actually more difficult than transistor
stuff.


I agree, whilst I've repaired, restored and modified plenty of valve kit
over the years, almost everything I've actually built from scratch in my
50-year career as an electronics hobbyist has used semiconductors. Like
many I started with crystal sets whilst still at primary school, to which I
tried adding a single transistor amplifier stage. Unfortunately since I
didn't understand the damping effect of the low input impedance of the
transistor on the tuned circuit it was a bit of a failure, but it was a
learning experience. Then, having been given a turntable (with arm and
cartridge - an Acos turnover crystal) for my 12th birthday I built a
4-transistor amplifier for it from a design in "Practical Wireless". That
worked a treat, I've still got it somewhere.

David.