glass tubes

[caveman71]

I have a 10 glass tube amp it uses 6lq6s what are they rated at on watts. how many watts will each tube put out.
what should my max with all tubes at 100%? help?

['Doc]

Can't tell you the actual rating for a 6LQ6 but can tell you that if you get 50 watts per tube you are getting as much as is 'normal'. Plan to replace them fairly often.
These things were never meant as transmitting tubes. They were only used because they were plentiful and cheap. Neither of those characteristics are true anymore. Do yourself a big favor and get rid of that thing.
- 'Doc

[51]

According to the RF parts web site, about 50W per tube CW, 70W PEP SSB per tube output power. so probably roughly 500w AM, 700w SSB give or take.
and like doc said, those tubes are scarce so keep that in mind, VERY expensive to replace! and you probably wont find 10 new matched ones. in fact i almost guarantee it. I would sell it while you can, or run it and have fun till the tubes are done, then from there you will have a really big paper weight. i have seen those tubes
used, 95% good go for $100.00 ea. on eBay of course.

[caveman71]

thank you both for your advice. I may hang on to it for a little while longer then sell it. my radio tech tells me that it will do a thounsand watts on a dossey. Hiss maybe but i get about 550 one my micranta 3 rang power meter. I am not as dumb as they think or he thinks? thank you again!

[warlock35po]

Hello; I sugest you cut her back on the drive and tune her corectly at that level for about 350 watts max and you will get years out of it,i mean like 10 or 15 years with no appreciable drop in output,and i say my mantra once again it takes a 4 times power increase on AM for each additional S unit so no one will ever see the difference between 350 watts or 500 watts.Asa matter of fact it would only be about +3/4 of a S unit gain between 1000w and 350w,so cut her back a little,relax and enjoy. Regards warlock35po

[nutcracker]

6lq6 is rated for 30 watts dissipation a piece. Add it all up and 3-4x that p.e.p. Like warlock said run it low and dont over drive it and it will last a long long time. I have a few old d&a's that I fire up every once in a while and they work fine. I dont think we can all afford the "accepted" ham type amps, atleast I know I cant.

[420Snowman]

Agree with nutcracker, run it clean and don't over drive it and you could gets years out of it. But if you get heavy on the dead key, refer to docs comment!


snowman