Why I Miss Vacuum Tubes
The vacuum tube triode was one of the greatest inventions ever. It didn’t abrogate the laws of physics, but it certainly delivered more for less. It was to electronics what the lever, wheel, and screw were to mechanics. It became a ubiquitous building block, often serving multiple purposes at the same time, and it enabled a torrent of inventions.
In laymen’s terms, the vacuum tube transmitter produced beautiful continuous waves, added voice or music, and boosted the signal so it could be heard far away. The vacuum tube receiver picked up weak signals, extracted the speech or music, and made the audio loud.
When I was growing up the vacuum tube was still king. I’ll never forget…