Vacuum Tubes Your Grandpa's Electronics

Since the invention of the transistor, vacuum tubes have been progressively phased out and are now quite rare. Yet, for the hacker, they can still be of interest :

  • Fun factor. Who doesn't like the warm glow of the filaments, the green/blue light of the magic eye tubes, and that mess of low-tech capacitors, coils and wires inside the devices ?
  • DIY potential. Yes, with a little recklessness it is possible to make your own tubes, and use them in practical applications. And even if you don't make your tubes, they are much easier to use in simple -yet good- analog circuits than transistors, that you truly understand. A modern circuit of the same quality typically requires black-box integrated circuits that require much more knowledge to completely understand.
  • Demonstration of the laws of physics. Tubes can be used to show fundamental laws of electromagnetism, which are the basis for making high-end radioactivity detectors or particle accelerators.

This conference will explain in detail the functioning of different tubes and will show how to build circuits like audio amplifiers or radio receivers/transmitters.

Live demonstration of tube equipment included!

DIYAIDMA: Do It Yourself, And I Don't Mean Arduino!