Testing A Large Tube Used For Heating People With RF!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

To learn more about electronics, support this channel, and view more of Mr Carlson's video's, click the link: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab

[@GeigerCounterVirtualMuseum]

Fascinating! Would love to see the patterns you were talking about. Definitely not your normal tube :)

[@crocellian2972]

Mr Carlson's Lab - Your Patreon is the best value on KZbin. Jump in people. It's fun.

[@Dzonemp]

You seem to have a lot of unusual parts. You wouldn't have any parts for an interocitor would you? Mine kind of melted its self the other day and company that made it won't reply anymore. Thanks in advance. ;)

[@garbleduser]

Ask Bill Beaty. ;-)

[@OsmosisHD]

How do you spell the name of the devilish device this tube was from? I want to look it up. But... think I misspelled it

[@warrenosborne6044]

This brings back a fond childhood memory. My dad WA4PLT, had a fellow Ham friend who was a first class FCC engineer at a local radio station. I must have been 5 or 6. I remember looking inside this huge transmitter at a gigantic glowing tube. I could feel the heat coming from it. Thank you.

[@JesusisJesus]

I just watched a tube glow at 720 x 60 fps for 20 minutes. Worth it for the commentary, thanks.

[@TheSqoou]

Oh geeze. I watched it on mute. Brb...

[@JanicekTrnecka]

Heartwarming huh?

[@bledlbledlbledl]

more patience than I have, I just skipped through most of it..

[@milojkokitic6991]

Jesus why 720, 1080 is better lol

[@TalpaDK]

Well it is a nice looking tube

[@OsmosisHD]

Using RF to heat people up? Damn... Kinda like a open microwave. Sir I'll just put you in for 30sec... *TING

[@jimgiordano8218]

Just like the X-Ray, when it first was used, it was exposed open tube, not focused and shielded like today. Scary stuff in the early days.

[@xminecrafterx9859]

@@jimgiordano8218 well not that scary and dangerous as x-rays...

[@Roflcopter4b]

@@jimgiordano8218 Only in the veeery early days of xray though. They figured that one out pretty quick.

[@Shnick]

DING FRIES ARE DONE!

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

wasn't really that bad. They just took into account the body weight of the target when setting the timer and power level so they didn't internally cook you, just raise your body fat temp a few degrees. In cases of hypothermia that was actually safer than just dropping you in front of a fire or in hot water (that can actually make frostbite worse).

[@sgtcrabfat]

At our surgical hospital will use diathermy on nearly every operation to cut tissue and seal off bleed ing vessels , either monopolar or bipolar systems, our units now are solid state devices, the old Brompton table had a valve system for its diathermy function, but that device has not been used in our area since 1990. Anaes/ surgical Tech.

[@ShiftingDrifter]

Fascinating! I worked on some pretty big RF long-haul HF transceivers in the Air Force during the cold war years, but never fired one up on the bench like this. Typically we performed a periodic tube replacement and ran them in an idle state for about 12 hours. The tubes came already "burned-in" requiring minimal field adjustment. Once we set the bias, we'd monitor the circuit for drift by observing the meters on the front panel and tweak the bias until they stabilized. Once satisfied, we switched them into operation. We were able to do nearly all circuit checks without opening the back. What a treat watching a tube being put through its paces!

[@vinquinn]

Large power tubes in transmitters were often periodically rotated in and out of service. This allowed you to keep spares on hand that were ready to go. If you did not do this, the spare tubes could "go gassy", and require longer start up times. They even kept the spare old Mercury vapor rectifiers hot so they would be ready to go. The Air Force used to have a large low frequency beacon transmitter up in Thule, Greenland that was full of all this great old stuff.

[@DutchKC9UOD]

Madd Dogg worked on the TRC-98 microwave 500 mile repeaters 5 kilowatt 😎

[@eloyex]

WOWWW. I envy you ! i didnt have the chance to work with tubes. Sometimes I feel the urge to buy a small tube amplifier on ebay and start to play and learn ... I dont have time. Probably will do that at some point in few years ......

[@MrLohatoolvebyte]

Back in the 60's, I first got involved with CB radio in the US. During that time we became aware of Diathermy systems because of the extreme RFI we experienced when we were trying to communicate within about 5 miles of certain large hospitals in south east Michigan. It turned out that the frequencies employed on many Diathermy machines were governed by FCC rules in section part 95. Made for real headaches for us kids trying to communicate across town in those days. A side effect that medical patients experienced from exposure to the extreme 27MHz RF radiation was nausea and extreme lethargy. Unfortunately they did very little to shield the medical staff from the high intensity RF radiation back in the day. Some forms of brain cancer have been implicated as a result.

[@MightyMax404]

I love these big tubes. Just bought my self an eimac 250TH, another MONSTER tube. 464 watts output!

[@inductivelycoupledplasma6207]

Yeah, big RF power tubes are awesome. I'm about to buy myself an ITL9-1, a tube for industrial heating rated for 25kW(!) of output power. The filament alone wants 145A at 5.8V.

[@scottfirman]

My dad kept boxes of tubes as he worked on Radio and tv stuff as a hobby. During the CB craze he matched antenna to the radio for maximum efficiency. He once made a linier booster but had to quickly dissasemble it when someone from the airport showed up at the door claiming that they traced a large disruption to the airports radios our location. He wasnt home( good thing) at the time. When he fired it up and transmitted,it whiped out every radio in a 30 mile radius. It would also light up a 5 foot florescent bulb when broadcasting. He quickly dissasembled it and buried the parts in the back yard incase the FAA showed up again.( That was who came to the door)That was probably in the early 70's.

[@stargazer7644]

RC Hobbyist Extreme your dad is an idiot, and chances are, you might be one too.

[@scottfirman]

Star Gazer Chances are,I know you are as you know nothing about me. As I learn by others stupid mistakes and not repeat them,I will NOT respond to any of your further comments,because you sir are an idiot.

[@stargazer7644]

Well, I know that you admitted in public to being a witness to your father committing a felony (somewhat proudly, it would seem). The "I know you are but what am I" defense doesn't really work in your favor either.

[@TheSqoou]

Cool story. lol I bet your dad was a wild guy.

[@Cyanidescar]

@@stargazer7644 shut the fuck up.

[@suaspont]

I remember back really early in my electronics career when I first saw a commercial AM radio transmitter - I thought that there was a malfunction when I saw the plates glowing bright orange - holy moly, those things were drawing too much current! I was assured that this was normal. I now know better - good to see this on the bench.

[@stevehappe8583]

Amazing. I bought a very small book on tubes years ago. It was jam packed with information. Well written. Very short, brief and it explained the fundamentals of tubes in a way that was easily understood. It's incredible how people could figure out how to build the grids, plates and screens to control the electron flow. Boiling off the plate. I learned that term from that book. Tubes are very interesting. Thanks.

[@rocketry100]

I had my shoulder heated with RF (probably one of those) back in the 1980s - several sessions - seemed to fix the problem :-)

[@elinbenson]

Heating people with RF is still a thing. My wife learned how to do this when she was in school for Physical Therapy.

[@newmonengineering]

@Belvidere Worthington I'm not really in favor of 5G but the RF going through these machines are not the same frequency at all. The reason I'm not for 5G is multi-faceted. Some know a little more than others on this planet and I will leave it at that. You can believe what you want about the subject but the intention of 5G is not what you think it is. The intention of 5G is to have accurate real time tracking of RFID. There are multiple studies that have come across my desk on this matter.

[@Frankowillo]

@Dave Micolichek: Whoa! That's interesting. How long does this treatment last? Yeah, you can guess why I'm asking. I need to speak to my dick doctor about this next time I see him.

[@finnerikbesen9207]

@@newmonengineering You know that wearing an aluminum foil hat is bad for you? The sweat on your forehead dissolves aluminum electrons that pass through your skin and eventually pass the blood-brain barrier. Eventually this can also cause leaky gut syndrome.

[@newmonengineering]

@@finnerikbesen9207 i can show you a white paper about 5G. Its intention is to enable RFID technology. The idea is that everyone's phone can be an nfc scanner reading rfids and then send that information back along with GPS location of the phone. The idea is it gives analytics about what happens to products where do they end up. Its a cool idea but scary at the same time. All they need to do next is tag people with an rfid and they could track people, with other people's phones if they wanted to. Not saying they will just that the technology is there now.

[@anonymous-pr2sy]

5g is a government mind control plot to force globalism and deliver the planet to the alien lizards

[@powertube5671]

I had no idea that the anodes were run red hot to clean up the gasses and I've been collecting tubes for decades. I always learn something new on your wonderful channel and this was a thrill to watch. The first time I saw a 304TL in action was when I gazed into the window of a GE BT-50-A transmitter at WABC AM in 1966 located in Lodi, NJ. I thought it looked like a beautiful candelabra. One note I would like to add is that that those tubes and the other "TH" and "TL" Tubes have the glass against the outer pins, doped with Uranium, which gives it a yellow/green color. The Uranium doping lowers the coefficient of expansion of that part of the glass so that it does not expand and contract faster than the pin. You can also hold a simple ultra violet light (comes on some hand magnifiers) up to the doped glass and it will fluoresce bright green. I have also checked them with a Geiger counter and it will respond to the very light radioactivity of the Uranium glass.

[@vinquinn]

It is the sweeping of the tube with high velocity electrons electrons that drive the impurities into the anode that actually clean the tube. They glow red as a consequence of this action.

[@vinquinn]

@reverse thrust This is not the same as "rejuvenating" TV picture tubes. Back in the day, they would put a small step-up transformer on the filament circuit to make the cathode boil off more electrons to increase the picture tube current and brighten the picture. It was not great for the tube, but you got some more use out of it, maybe a year or two. When TVs first came out the picture tubes were very expensive.

[@georgegonzalez2476]

The plates were made out of compressed tantalum metal powder which when red to white-hot absorbs gas like crazy. When baking out tubes they get like 300 milliliters of gas baking out of the glass and metal parts! Crazy amounts.

[@georgegonzalez2476]

@@vinquinn I dunno about that. According to physicists, electrons when traveling have no measurable physical size, none at all. From other theories, they are not particles at all but are a wave of probability encompassing the whole of space. That is the only sane explanation of the way electrons diffract from large flat regions very far off the expected direct path.

[@vinquinn]

@@georgegonzalez2476 Perhaps electrons have no physical size, but they are used in cathode ray tubes such as analog TV picture tubes where they illuminate only one small pixel at a time. They are also beamed onto the anode of X-ray tubes to create a very small intense focal spot. Then there is electron beam welding. In all these applications they are traveling and they must be very small. Perhaps we de not know their exact size, but it must be on some sub-atomic level.

[@KentuckyRanger]

I'll never forget KSL studio in downtown Salt Lake City, UT. They had a window, showing part of the transmitter and this HUGE RF tube would glow with the audio the radio station was transmitting. I was mesmerized watching that thing!

[@scottpowel2415]

Your explanations waste no words, are spoken clearly, and describe the subject matter excellently. Thank you Mr. Carlson!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Scott, and you're welcome!

[@cliff987]

Waste no words? The fellow repeated looking for uniform barrel glow at least four times and repeated voltages at least twice.

[@HiKeith]

@@cliff987 I rather like that Paul does this because I know that repetition is a great way of learning. They are certainly not wasted words on me :)

[@fbw47]

Interesting post...in 1959 when I learned vacuum tube theory we were taught that the "getter", that you call a chrome spot, was a one time use item to remove impurities in the tube left over from construction - the chrome spot being the result of the flashing. Your information that it is used over the life of the tube is new information to me...almost 60 years later. Live and learn, I guess.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad you enjoyed Brooks!

[@vinquinn]

I believe you are correct. The metallic "getter" was fired after the tube was assembled and evacuated. I do not think it did anything later.

[@lovotcore6946]

actual name for the glass is borosilicate, which is use to make beakers, test tubes and other lab equipment, currently Pyrex is tempered soda-lime glass, it USED to be borosilicate, but tempered glass is cheaper.

[@TalenGryphon]

Oh THAT explains why modern replacements for Coleman lantern globes are far more fragile than the origional ones from the 50's and 60's! The "Pyrex" changed!

[@CooKiesHouseCannabisCo]

♥ holy hecks, someone who actually realizes why i religiously seek out vintage pyrex for my lab. I love you....person ill never meet or talk to.

[@lt209]

Well you know that and people making meth out their Pyrex cook wear at home too🤦🏻‍♂️

[@eloyex]

@Rick Delair WOWWW !!!!!! you know the business man !!! My respects !! it should exist a web page were knowledgeable people could share different topics to the interested public in an orderly fashion ...! with an index, with subject, topics, etc .. like a living wikipedia, where masters can comment and explain things to the individuals in need of information ... I like planes, dont have one, just read about them , and on one youtube video people was fighting about some topic on the early russian airplanes. People was fighting on the comments about some "facts" over early russians engines and suddenly a guy named something like LUIS FERNANDEZ showed up, shut up everyone (on the comments section) and explained ALL THE DETAILS and FLOWS and Wonders of the engines and wings to the core ! he worked 50 years ago as a design engineer at Ilyusin , "Ilyushin Design Bureau" in the soviet union. His comments were gold. An Spaniard engineer that studied in the soviet union and live there all his life. Now is in the US. Would be great to be able to have access those guys, even for short moments of time ... like you explaining the features of the glasses !!! cheers

[@eloyex]

@Rick Delair You need to show that !! new generations will love that ... at least a small bunch of guys will love it ! cheers

[@WalterFabian]

Mr Carlson: Recently discovered your channel and absolutely love it. Thanks for your continued effort and quality content.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Walter, glad you're enjoying!

[@FF7824]

Thanks for bringing me down memory lane! As a young ham I built a 304TL amp and I really enjoyed seeing your tube light up. My DC power supply was used a pole pig transformer (Cincinnati Gas & Electric surplus). A large neutralizing CAP and a Barker & Williamson final tank circuit.

[@larryak0z672]

How in the hell do you know so much about everything! I am extremely impressed. You are a genius.

[@frankpitochelli6786]

He's an engineer and has been in the trade for many years, he is definitely one of the smartest technicians I've ever seen.....I've been in the trade for 40 yrs, so, yes he is one of the best...!!!

[@jimcatanzaro7808]

It’s called data sheets and not dating or having fun

[@SantaClaw]

@@jimcatanzaro7808 Depends on what you call fun.

[@sudhirshah7447]

I am a HAM and have always had a dream of having my own linear Power amplifier. Your talk of the testing of large power tubes has given me more confidence to build one of my own. Hope that day comes soon. Thank you for a nice brief yet very educative talk.

[@stuartatton9119]

Hi Paul, another great video. this tube reminds me of a emergency repair i did to a device used for drying wood glue. it looked like an old meat-safe on legs with 4 - 18 inch high triodes inside. the HF output connected across a pair of tongues pressed eather side of a wood joint. the PVA glue sets in 30 seconds instead of 12 hours. the repair - a simple door safety switch.

[@markuswx1322]

I don't know much about electronics beyond a basic comprehension of voltage, current and resistance. Nonetheless I subscribed in order to support such a high quality channel. Mr Carlson is a pleasure to listen to. There are credentialed university lecturers who do not possess this kind of pedagogical skill. Thank you very much.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your kind comment Markus!

[@eloyex]

@@dndds actually is a very common and used word in latin languages as Spanish and others.... cheers !

[@LutzSchafer]

Nice video Mr Carlsson. I used to work for an former east German company producing diathermy devices named "Recotherm ". They operated in the 27.12 MHz band at maximal power of a few hundred watts. There was only one oscillator tube that had a graphite anode but also no getter. This instrument was exported around the world despite being made in former east Germany. The company "Reco" still exists. It was one of the few allowed private companies in the communist block and I am thankful for the apprenticeship received there after high school.

[@vincentrobinette1507]

That's right in the bandwidth of Citizens Band (CB) radio, which was wildly popular from the 70's until about Y2K. Another commentator noted that whenever one of these units were being used, CB radios became useless, because the radios only produce 5 watts of RF power. Those machines ran hundreds of watts of power, to heat up a person. They walked all over the entire frequency range of 23 channel CB's.

[@basimpsn]

@@vincentrobinette1507 I was just wondering if this tube could be uses as a linear amp...Using a 100W amp to drive this tube lol.

[@joecheagaray]

I'm reality jealous of you. I want to learn about tubes to especially bring.back diathermy. Brought an eimac 3-500z, still figuring out how to build an oscillator out of thia

[@laurincavender5412]

I am the Cheif RF Engineer for Western Electric, we are testing many tubes that we are currently building as well as some that are new old stock. This example of a rejuvenative Test is a good example of testing and bringing old tubes back to a current new status. I often do similar testing among other test and compliance methods. Laurin Cavender WB4IVG

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your kind comment Laurin!

[@hignaki]

I love this channel, and your voice. So calming, and informative.

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you. I was treated with a diathermy machine during the early 70's. I had no clue just how deadly they could be till I just watched this video. Thanks again.

[@MarkSeve]

Very cool. Mr. Carlson. I believe humanity switched to digital to soon and this we were not allowed to fully flesh out the possibilities of analog electronics.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

I fully agree Mark!

[@3butalcomp3]

I also fully agree.

[@alakani]

Yep, it's fun to see everyone relearning how to emulate analog systems inside digital systems. Biology is a pretty good example of what's possible - brains can encode a neuron signal either digitally by frequency and duty cycle, or in analog using the precise timing between pulses, and sometimes switching between modes on the same circuit

[@AgentOffice]

People working on low voltage arduino think they're engineers nowadays sipping their coffee and using their MacBook. Took a real engineer to get vacuum tubes running while battling high voltage and radiation.

[@HA7DN]

@@AgentOffice To be fair, lots of engineers do that, and it is actually fine, just boring sometimes.

[@billmartin1591]

Never seen a transmitter tube live tested, most impressive, thank you

[@Rocketman88002]

Very nice collection of test equipment! I repaired and calibrated almost every piece of equipment you show here and just as many not shown. By the way, I love to see old school bench top testing. You possess an unusual amount of knowledge of the subject for a man your age. Keep up the good work. I have subbed your channel. Someday, I will share some specs of very large vacuum tubes that might interest you.

[@eloyex]

please do it !!! some nerds will enjoy that !

[@DougHanchard]

Watching this video brings back some frigid memories. Your description of the usage of these tubes is accurate. My Uncle was a Professor of Biology at the University of Victoria and world renown expert on Hypothermia. Diathermy was one of (many) the experimental methods used to reheat the human body after it has been exposed to hypothermia conditions such as immersion in extremely cold water. The goal was to slowly reheat the body from the core (near the heart) and slowly move to the extremities while attempting to avoid blood clots reaching the heart using low powered frequency microwaves. This was one of many weird machines and technologies tested beginning in the 1950's until the early 1980's. This machine was actually pretty mild in comparison to some of the ideas that were 'attempted'. There were all sorts of experimental 'electronic' gadgets used on test subjects that would be submersed in extremely cold water for up to 2 hours (ranging from 45 F to 33 F) and then experimental equipment would be used to see which methods could reheat the body in a controlled manner. Ask me how I know.... It turns out that the best methods are not electronic but direct physical / mechanical and applied to the chest, groin and under arms first with the extremities warmed at a lower temperature and slower rate. All are carefully monitored during the rewarming process and can take up to 6 to 9 hours for full recovery depending in the size and health of the individual. After more than 10 years of research, my Uncle developed several cold weather jackets designed for the Coast Guard to slow down the effects of hypothermia for a person that has gone overboard. His research lead to a jacket design that scientifically proved that it was possible to extend survival rate in arctic water conditions from 15 minutes to over 4 to 8 hours depending on the water's temperature. Many Coast Guard units around the world still in use them in addition to maritimers on container ships. I still remember being a willing volunteer guinea pig for some early tests in the late 70's that began with walks in nothing but a T-Shirt, running shorts and running shoes in pouring rain with 40 F temperatures for 15 miles and then being subjected to different warming techniques. I had more bio sensors hooked up to me than Frankenstein. Couldn't get any worse right? Wrong. My uncle wouldn't let us try the coldest water tank tests that he did on himself. The coldest we (yep, cousins were draftees too) ever went into the tank was 50 degrees between 15 and 30 minutes. My Uncle did several at 33 F for 30 minutes. I remember one of those being touch and go with several of the worlds best doctors on deck.

[@Farie977]

For some reason my head kept convincing me that he's Louis Rossman from the Future

[@3ric585]

Lol

[@fss1704]

lol

[@joshfixesall4056]

Louis has balls

[@dohc22h]

haha... I thought the same thing

[@southernguy35]

Louis Rossman of the future, bought controlling shares of Apple and now goes on world good will tours as of 2028.

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Love these tubes! I have collected 9 of them with the idea of one day building a push-pull amp with them... Viewers may like to know there is also a 304TH, the H representing a High mu version of the otherwise similar tube. The 304TL is basically 4 number 75 tube guts installed onto one armature and inside the single robust glass envelope. Glad you mentioned the forced air cooling. Our tests revealed that it is not possible to get enough cooling via passive convection in a ‘tunnel’ of air flow... Part of my hesitation to move forward with an amp is the noise that 4 air movers will make, even quiet ones. They are good to about 1,500 anode. My favorite “larger” tube is the 4CX250R, a tetrode that is conduction cooled... it bolts to a huge heatsink and eliminates the need for high speed air moving, or pumped liquid, also an option in the 4CX family. Wonderful to see you feature this fine old design. It IS a goodie!

[@douro20]

Yeah, those tubes can often be found cheaply, sometimes in metal cans from military surplus. I wish I could find data for an 8964/Y-561 tube.

[@rebelba42]

I watched it twice because I've never seen somewhat like before. This Tube looks like hotter than hot but also very beautiful and more like art. Many thanks Paul! Btw: The Quality of the video is awesome and the autofocus is quick like a rabbit. Very good setup!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Ralf! Your comments are always appreciated.

[@882952]

In electronics school we had one of those machines. We all irradiated ourselves with it, but our favorite thing to do with it was point the wand at a nearby workbench when anyone was wiring up any RF or audio project. You could cause interference if they were close enough. Drove some of the students mad with that device. It was a lot of fun, in our innocence, but I sincerely hope none of them are blind from cataracts or dead of sickle cell anemia today.

[@toddanonymous5295]

To the ones that would give this fine video a thumbs down. If you try this at home follow these added instructions. 1. when the tube is at maximum temperature, carefully remove all voltages. 2. Quickly remove tube from socket using heat resistant glove. 3. Quickly, before tube starts to cool, immerse tube in ice water bath. Following these added instructions will give thumbs downers increased knowledge and experience in their quest for understanding electronics.

[@joecalobeer6396]

Wouldn’t that be more like thermodynamics then electricity? Because I’m sure that tube was hot when it hit the cold 😳

[@ricklett1688]

@@joecalobeer6396 I believe that was sarcasm.

[@vincentrobinette1507]

One drop of water dripped onto the tube while up to temperature would do it.

[@chriscalleja9940]

Diathermy machines were used modified by the UK to jam the first bombing aids the germans had during world war 2. All the machines around London were used to jam these frequencies. They were some of the first electronic warfare countermeasures.Well done on the channel, its the only one that really comes close to real electronic servicing.

[@tonep3168]

Thank you for the video Mr Carlson. There is just something about tubes that seems magical. I have always wanted to own some nice audio equipment that uses them... one day!

[@peteb2]

In the 1960s my mother had her own Physiotherapy Treatment Centre and a Siemens "Short Wave" machine. I was a young kid and hated the machine because it obliterated any TV reception in the neighbourhood as Mum would often Short Waved Patients right when i'd come home from school to watch my favourite cartoons on black and white TV! I recall Mum's description that night at the dinner table.... she complained a local farmer she was treating for a bad back injury would not 'TuneUp' ... She said she kept asking him if he had anything metalic on him He'd already taken off his watch and wedding ring etc). She said she just kept the machine running when all a sudden Farmer Brown let out a yell and in the back pocket of his Levis was a chunk of steel plate he'd chalked a shopping list on and forgotten about.... The thing had become too hot to hold and was burning that part of his anatomy!!!... Once it was removed the Diathermy Machine worked perfectly....as the machines were intended to do, internally heating the tissues around the injury which made for an increased blood-flow and assisted healing. The patient's body area was actually tuned into being part of that RF field....!!!

[@danishnative9555]

The canary glass versions of the Eimac 304TL are even prettier. The active element for adsorption of gas molecules is typically Zirconium powder sprayed on the anodes. Anodes need to be dull red to scrub, though you find interesting folks claiming you only need to "run the filaments for a few hours." If you like the grid patterns or hot spots showing on the anode in pulse modulator use, you would really like the military 4PR250C, and it's Tantalum foil anode and giving off mild X-radiation. BTW, medical diathermy was also used for treating prostate cancer on the 915mhz ISM frequency using planar triodes not to long ago.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your input! I have many 4PR (pulse rated) 250 tubes, also 4-60, 4-125, 4-400, so on. (planar triodes too 2C39's, 2C40's as well) There will be future video's on all of these.

[@mrholmesly]

I'm watching a Big Tube glowing on KZbin... What a time to be alive!

[@old64goat]

Back in the very early 60's I was into CB and the Diatherny machines in our area would wipe out the whole CB band.

[@fjs1111]

Wow That's insane, never heard of such a medical device. I always enjoy RF amp tubes, and tubes in general. Thank you for this.

[@Bass.Player]

Good Lord, this ranks right of there with "Shoe-fitting fluoroscopes"

[@vonzigle]

Bass Player Yeah, IMO those were more dangerous than diathermy as they passed X-rays thru the body to get the image. Diathermy machines usually worked from 1 to 100 MHz with a lot of them on 27 MHz.

[@namibjDerEchte]

it was free for cb as soon as this was no longer used. so exactöy the same band

[@ComputerLearning0]

*Grand Negus* At 27 MHz this would put it inside the citizen's band range, as CB channel 1 operates on 26.965 MHz with channel 40 being 27.405 MHz.

[@Mad_Scientist2052]

Mike Hawk There is nothing like plate modulated audio. I would like to see some testing with the original Eimac 3-500z tubes in both metal and graphite plates. I miss working with these in the older HF amplifiers.

[@ComputerLearning0]

*Mad Scientist* Indeed, most of the AM'rs I know on 10-meters use tube transceivers and they do sound GOOD.

[@sudhirshah7447]

Mr. Carlson the Diathermys are still in use for treatment various muscular damages including sprains. The results are excellent and it is not as scary as you make it. The Radio Frequency wave is deep penetrating and stimulates the muscles deep inside. The feeling of heat is bearable. I am saying this out of experience.

[@ddiablolll]

But can it work in a guitar amp, and how awesome would such distortion be from a massive tube

[@vinquinn]

They are not all gone. I live in Greece and I had a diathermy treatment today during physical therapy on my shoulder. Warms you up gently and feels pretty good.

[@RODALCO2007]

Interesting tube. great video.

[@wa7215]

Watching this brought back memories of my very first day on the job, back in 1969 as a then pimply faced and shiny-new Government Radio Broadcasting Tech in Training, peering through the large plate glass window in front of the 55kW RF Amplifier Cabinet at the large, Ceramic and Copper PA Tube, operating, about 3 feet away, in front of me, and my wide eyed amazement, when shortly afterwards, one of the old station Techs appeared beside me holding a bare, 4ft long fluorescent tube in one hand, that was glowing as brightly as if it were still operating in its overhead suspended light fitting. Ahh, the ‘magic’ of RF..! 😉😁

[@stephenvisk5615]

THEY STILL USE DIATHERMY.

[@peteshulver9221]

Paul another great video but to clarify a little point, as a retired Clinical engineer, this machine was used to locally heat areas of people limbs and the principle was to introduce heat locally in tissue to improve blood flow which in turn promotes healing in tissue, well that the theory anyway.You are correct in that they did expose the whole patient to potentially higher RF fields than desirable and it was difficult to protect certain areas of the body, hence their lack of use in latter days due to new and tighter regulations on RF exposure!

[@douro20]

125w for the filament- that's nothing for a transmitting tube. Also when running up a new transmitting tube for the first time it should be run at a slightly lower voltage for the first hundred hours or so.

[@hjohnso248]

I used to work with magnetron powered radar units,they needed no high powered cooling systems and put out a large amount of R F energy . But the Bahama mama was the "Klystron" transmitter tube ,I think the ones we used were huge and came in a container the size of a long coffin, They were water and ethylene glycol cooled . and were enclosed in a huge sarcophagus outer enclosure, and had multiple tunable cavities, ,You should have seen the cooling system for this behemoth! like a giant caterpillar bulldozer ! if not bigger. we would stand on the porch of the maintenance shack with 8 foot fluorescent lamps and watch them light up everytime the dish rotated around.

[@larrybud]

That thing is a work of art. Beautiful!

[@herbertsusmann986]

Thanks for this info. I have a couple of 3-500Z's that have been sitting on the shelf for about 20 years now. I should try this technique on them.

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Herbert Susmann Check the data sheet carefully on the Z series of triodes. They are set up for “zero” grid bias in certain types of radio frequency topologies.

[@andrzejpl9897]

I love electron tubes . In 2005 I worked with Eimac 150 kW water cooled tubes . It was big fun . Thanks for presentation .

[@ZEROSTATIC72]

Anyone having an MRI scan is slightly heated by the RF signals. Thanks for the videos.

[@alvenhchanne]

I have been looking for an old (or a new one that someone is willing to donate) MRI machine for a long time...have always wanted to shoot a rifle at it just to see what would happen.

[@stargazer7644]

@@alvenhchanne Why would you think shooting a rifle at it would do anything unusual? And unless you have a source for liquid helium a used MRI machine is just a heavy paperweight.

[@hughbishopnh]

We stopped manufacturing these tubes in the 1990's otherwise i would be happy to sell you one. Yes vacuum tubes are still needed by industry, the big science labs and the DOD. Built in Palo Alto, CA. The 304TL was known as a low-mu power triode. Thanks Mr Carlson, good vid

[@sunsaverfromnhh9184]

Nice collection of old scopes!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks!

[@sunsaverfromnhh9184]

I need a function generator for my experiments, something that will go up to at least 1 Mhz, nothing fancy, just the cheapest, or even a used signal generator if i can get one. Any suggestions? Do you have anything like that for sale?

[@eloyex]

@@sunsaverfromnhh9184 on ebay you can get tons of them very cheap. Old BK precision are good and cheap. 35 bucks do the trick. seach function generators on ebay.

[@rustymotor]

Thanks for showing the tube in operation, I use to work in a Hospital as a Biomed technician and worked on some old Siemens diathermy units in the Physio dept. you wore metal wire mesh goggles to help prevent eye damage from the RF and the goggles looked a bit like fly eyes! The units looked like something from a mad scientists lab with the large cabinet on wheels, chunky control knobs and heavy duty cables connected to the disk applicators used to treat patients. It was mainly used to help deal with muscle and joint issues as the RF would heat up the tissue but there was a risk of tissue burning/cooking if the settings and duration was wrong.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for taking the time to write, great story!

[@Travis141123]

Cool. Can I use it in my CB linear so I can splatter 75 khz as I yell "Audio" over & over? (/sarc) Great video, 73's KM4YKI

[@nelsoningalsbe8262]

lol n4jrs 73's

[@ke6gwf]

Yes, and post a video of it on Twitter, and tag @FCC ;)

[@cpopte]

Mr. Carlson it's a "golden apple". An individual that rarely you can find theese times.

[@richb.4374]

I test my 26 year old 3-500Z triode's every night inside my linear amplifier on 80 meters.

[@Giovanniram22]

Every night?

[@Manny2211]

Man you’re extremely smart and clever I learned a lot more about electronics than I ever thought I could keep it up I am also very interested in vacuum tube equipment and CRT equipment

[@electronicatutorial]

How much is your electricity bill?

[@GeigerCounterVirtualMuseum]

Haha, probably why most of his devices are off most of the time.

[@electronicatutorial]

But if you turn two or three on you will also need an AC running too.

[@bobbailey8246]

I would imagine that with his knowledge and skills, Mr Carlson knows how to 'bypass' his electricity meter. But you didn't hear that from me...nudge nudge wink wink ;-)

[@robertgift]

He would know how, I know how, but would not cheat the power company.

[@MyLastSong719]

ClosedSSH From 2000-2008 we lived in this house near these really shady people. In 2008 the people renovating the house discovered the previous owners had piggybacked their house onto ours. Long story short we were paying for their power for god knows how long. Pretty crazy things like that can happen

[@hancecrawford]

Very interesting about Glass Tubes amazing how they work very detailed video thank you.

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

I thought you were being facetious when you said it was used to heat people with RF. What on earth...?!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Yes, pretty scary application.

[@paulmoffat9306]

The treatment was called Diatherny, which is an induced fever, that gets the body's natural healing ability to come to the fore, same a a natural fever to fight infection, but the artificial method allows application to just the affected site.

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

They “heat” people with worse than RF every day... Radiation cancer treatment kills cancer cells by heating them. Of course, the radiation exposure destroys DNA of nearby tissues and generates new cancers from radiation exposure. You can be ‘cured’ for a few years, but carry a time bomb for follow-on radiation induced cancers.

[@alynicholls3230]

you are right about the heat/light of these tubes, i once saw toast made on tubes/valves like this, a fine wire cage was placed over the tube, and the bread was placed on the wire. one of those old time party tricks that look fantastic if performed properly, but could turn to disaster very quickly if you don't know 100% what you are doing, and even then is ill advised.

[@garbleduser]

Heating people medically with RF is called diathermy.

[@garbleduser]

And I posted that before watching... I repair diathermy devices from the Chattanooga corporation.

[@osearthesp]

GurgleDustIngester: interesting, I have a Chattanooga ultrasonic healthy-fixy-doohix-thingxy. It's neat i think at least judging by the grand and a half it was bought for. patient died but don't blame yourself i doubt it's effective for lung cancered humanimals addicted to their precious breathing hobby.

[@garbleduser]

"Been trained" is all I can say for DJO (chattanooga.) Get certified then never get a single work order in 3 years...

[@garbleduser]

***NOTE!!! DO NOT HOLD THE ULTRASONIC PROBE AND USE IT ON YOURSELF!!! I have SEEN cardiac distress caused by current leakage across the chest from a person trying it on a their own shoulder.

[@osearthesp]

Holy shlt must research this thank you at least for making that incredibly eye opening claim. I must research this better before i lend it out to anyone else, or try it myself or on my new goldfish. Edit: Correction: Now even newer goldfish ;]

[@MarkPaile]

I had diathermy treatment at the local cottage hospital in the UK for neck muscle problems in early 1960s. The physio called it USWD treatment - ultra short wave diaphragming. She went on to say that during WW2, the USWD machines were requisitioned and apparently used in the war effort in connection with interfering with German direction-finding. I cannot recall what frequency she said they worked at, but just having taken an interest in 2 metres, I didn’t think they were ‘ultra short”.

[@umajunkcollector]

So how would this be hooked up to a CB? lol

[@kedmark]

Superb production thank you very much for posting.

[@flyguille]

and it was before the invention of the microwave for cocking?

[@vonzigle]

flyguille "cocking" LOL

[@martinda7446]

Microwaves are much higher frequency, shorter wavelength, in the 10cm band. The devices to generate microwaves were developed by British engineers working on high definition RADAR in the late 30s. The cavity magnetron was developed. Its a vacuum tube, but very different, using a waveguide structure on the anode without any grid elements it's like a weird diode. Never 'cock' with a microwave..

[@CaalamusTube]

You could never use a microwave oven for warming people :P ...or for cocking. That requires highly sophisticated Oscillators & a *MEAN* heatsink√

[@grunthostheflatulent269]

Whew! Thank you for the warning! All the while, I was just about to..

[@MrMousekillaz]

ogtstore.com/salvaged-commercial-furniture/raytheon-diathermy-machine/#foobox-1/11/M238325-12.jpg

[@jerrywatson1958]

Just found your channel today. This video earned you a new sub. Thanks I was 15 when I earned my 3rd Class FCC license and remember those old tube transmitters, I was enthralled by the glow. Thanks I look forward to watching your other videos.

[@ThePiGuy24]

So basically, its used to microwave people...

[@bryceforsyth8521]

ThePiGuy24 Gaming yes

[@ianmacdonald6350]

It's where the idea of revolving office chairs came from.

[@joecalobeer6396]

No! It’s not microwave. Thats up in the gigahertz range. RF is more like infrared. Makes a better roast👍🏼

[@vinquinn]

@@joecalobeer6396 Yes it is microwave. The newer ones are on the same frequency as the oven in your kitchen. They are manufactured in Italy by the Pagani company.

[@GRBtutorials]

Joe Calobeer Ummm... actually, RF is farther than microwaves from infrared!

[@Spoif]

That vacuum tube looked really beautiful whilst running.

[@mikepeterson9733]

Send it to photonicinduction so we can see the xray grid shadows on the cylinders, he's got some amazing transformers that'd light it up!

[@dogwalker666]

used to service RF bonding press's about 15 years ago using these and GXU4 rectifier valves on a 3 phase transformer they are used to cure PVA glue in a few seconds in stead of overnight

[@domoreresearch8828]

12:25 For those of you with ADHD.

[@andrewevanoff1192]

I grew up in the Soviet Union in the 70's and 80's. All hospitals and doctor's offices had RF heating machines. Doctors prescribed RF heating therapy to most patients with a cold, infections etc. They also used UV therapy on stripped throats, running noses and similar problems. Just about everyone would be sick once or twice towards the end of a winter season due to severe lack of vitamins and poor hygiene practices. Fresh fruits and vegetables weren't available anywhere from October through late May.

[@karhukivi]

My dad was a radio ham in the 50s and he had a tube tester of US origin which meant it ran on 110V. It had sockets for all the common bases and must have been very useful to him. He used a transformer to power it but I didn't know that as all the plugs were the same in those days and stupidly plugged it into the 220V mains and it blew! I was in BIG trouble that day...

[@Thinker2-truth]

Thank you Mr. Carlson (No catch, just thank you.) you make me wish I'd taken electronics in high school.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

You are very welcome!

[@AltanaTubesBrasil]

Paul, those machines to warm people are used today and are still in production. The moderns ones use 811A or 812A tubes, mostly 811A, in order to create the RF needed. I make my living selling tubes for several purposes and most 811A I sell go to those machines.

[@georgegonzalez2476]

These were mostly used as transmitting tubes. There were special tubes made for diathermy like the Amperex HF-200. Those tubes were considerably cheaper than those Eimac hard glass tubes.

[@hhs6969]

I happen to have a Gammatron 304-H . . . beautiful tube, very similar to the one in this video. It was nice to see what they look like when fired up. Thanks!

[@powder-phun949]

This would be the coolest heater for the winter

[@peckelhaze6934]

Every video you post is fascinating and with great narration.

[@stefanscholz2509]

Short wave therapy was commonly used to cure certain wrist, ankle etc deseases. The trick was, that the nerves detecting heat are close to sthe surface of the skin, underneath which a layewr of fat is. From dielectrics, fat is the one which has highest losses in short wave region, so it felt really nice and war. To reach the bone and ankles it should reach, the heat created under the skin had to creep there, which, by cooling of the blood in muscles took long time. So you were prescribed at least 6 weeks of short wave therapy by doctors. In my university classes I learnt the above principle, ending with professors words: It is absolutely useless for the cure. But normally with anti inflammation medication the pain will go away in 6 weeks, with or without radiation therapy. It is just a well paid procedure, gets you back every week for 6 weeks, and that's why physicians and hospitals love it. It is not really harmful, as it uses short wave, and no microwaves, and the frequency is no even fraction of water resonant frequency. It was just a useless, but profitable medical technology.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for taking the time to write Stefan!

[@drbarney1000]

I request a show on the 833-A triode. I use the 833-A for audio, running it at about 975 to 1000 Volts with zero grid bias and it draws about 115 ma. This tube run as a single ended triode amplifier through a Hammond 1642SE transformer rated to carry 300 ma dc and the grid driven by about 600 Ohms from 5k step-down and a 245 triode driving it has the most pure and beautiful sound I have ever heard from an amplifier.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Sounds like a nice amp Robert! You may find a 6 to 8K transformer (primary winding) will give a bit more power, and sound a little more (free)

[@jimgiordano8218]

I am very familiar with the diathermy machine. I had a chiropractor in the 60's -70's that had one, he used it on my lower back when I had flare-ups from riding dirt bikes and minibikes in the hills. He would set the timer for 15 minutes. It was suppose to increase blood flow to the area and YES, my back got warm. I remember it had a power setting selector.

[@tedjordan9038]

I used tubes like that in an induction furnace. It would melt metal chips in a quartz tube. The combustion gases would be analized to determine the amount of carbon and sulfur in the metal.

[@graemedavidson499]

I miss the vacuum tube aesthetic - jewels of a bygone era. It wasn't that long ago we had even bigger tubes in our homes - the CRT tube to which, I presume, KZbin's name pays homage to!

[@JimTheZombieHunter]

Oh wow, nice jugs! I picked up a diathermy machine surplus for pennies several years ago - but mine "only" had 6LQ6 outputs.

[@nickolaosv1397]

Shortwave diathermy medical equipement. Usually they work around 27 mhz.Pretty huge machinery. In general they have the tube and anode cicruit in a metal cage and all the other cicruits(power supplies,timer and possible tuner) around that cage. I love the way they are made. I have even found insulators with siemens marking about 5ns. Always great to work with one.

[@dotdissonance]

Why do I love this so much?! Thanks so much for the electronics redirection.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad you're enjoying!

[@jamesdavis5096]

5:19 is that called, "the getter"? it gets all the air out?

[@harrydelange1821]

I once did this with a 2C39 on the table. Added heater and anode voltage, just out the mainssocket with a single diode and a 50 UF cap wired with a few pieces of wire and I instantly got a 100 watt oscillator somewhere between 100 and 500 mc's ;)

[@georgekaplan6451]

I've had a transmitting valve for many years. A lady that mum used to know worked in the factory that made them. She was using it as a doorstop. I don't know if it was ever used. It's a TBL 6 6000 which crosses to a 5924. It has some scary values: Filament voltage of 12 to 16 volts at 30 to 36 amps Plate voltage of 3000 to 6000 at 1.6 to 3 Amps Max signal power output of 3.3 to 13.3 kW It has a small glass bulb on top of a large cooling fin array

[@georgegonzalez2476]

The 304TL was used and abused in early radar transmitters. They would often be driven hard in groups of 4 or 8 tubes push-pull. White-hot plates were common. The tubes were convection cooled.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

You know your stuff George!

[@georgegonzalez2476]

@@MrCarlsonsLab Only because back in High School the library had a short book written by one of the early radar engineers. He explained how they overstressed those Eimac tubes in the early radar sets and invented the early T/R switching tubes. The Eimac tubes were soon obsoleted by the magnetrons where one magnetron could put out more power than eight 304TL type of tubes. Another interesting tidbit is that the tubes often arrived with grid shorts in the Pacific. Eimac invented a bedspring contraption to cushion the tubes so they would survive rough handling. You occassionally see one of those cases for sale on ebay. The whole radar set used 8 304TL's as the DC high voltage switch at 15,000 volts. Similar submarine radars used the very advance WE-715A as the switch tube, a very rugged tube that is still in production as the APR-60A !!!!! Amazing tubes.

[@darianrobert8146]

That tube would make a really cool lamp. Great video.