1L6
Encyclopedia
The 1L6 is a 7 pin miniature vacuum tube
of the pentagrid converter
type. It was developed in the USA by Sylvania
. It is very similar electrically to its predecessors, the Loktal based 1LA6 and 1LC6. Released in 1949 for the Zenith Trans-Oceanic shortwave portable radio, this tube was in commercial production until the early 1960s .
The 1L6 was to be a specialty tube, produced in small quantities by very few manufacturers, mostly Sylvania for use by just a few manufacturers of shortwave portables, such as Zenith - in their Trans-Oceanics - and its short-lived rivals, such as the Hallicrafters
TW-1000 and the RCA
Strat-O-World and very few others.
Despite the limited application for 1L6, today NOS
examples bring relatively high prices. Many radio collectors overcome this expense by using the more commonly available 1R5 with pin 5 cut off (1R5 will give much lower performance on the higher freq. bands) or building a solid state replacement of the 1L6. Another way is to use an 1U6 which has the proper range as a 1L6, but the filament heater is different, you need to solder a 56 Ohm 1 Watt resistor across pins 1 and 7. The 1U6 is not as rare as the 1L6.
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
of the pentagrid converter
Pentagrid converter
The pentagrid converter is a radio receiving valve with five grids used as the frequency mixer stage of a superheterodyne radio receiver....
type. It was developed in the USA by Sylvania
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....
. It is very similar electrically to its predecessors, the Loktal based 1LA6 and 1LC6. Released in 1949 for the Zenith Trans-Oceanic shortwave portable radio, this tube was in commercial production until the early 1960s .
The 1L6 was to be a specialty tube, produced in small quantities by very few manufacturers, mostly Sylvania for use by just a few manufacturers of shortwave portables, such as Zenith - in their Trans-Oceanics - and its short-lived rivals, such as the Hallicrafters
Hallicrafters
The Hallicrafters Company manufactured, marketed, and sold radio equipment beginning in 1932. The company was based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.-History:William J. Halligan founded his own radio manufacturing company in Chicago in late 1932...
TW-1000 and the RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
Strat-O-World and very few others.
Despite the limited application for 1L6, today NOS
New old stock
New old stock refers to obsolete equipment, or original parts for obsolete equipment, that have never been sold at retail.The term refers to merchandise being offered for sale which was manufactured long ago but that has never been used...
examples bring relatively high prices. Many radio collectors overcome this expense by using the more commonly available 1R5 with pin 5 cut off (1R5 will give much lower performance on the higher freq. bands) or building a solid state replacement of the 1L6. Another way is to use an 1U6 which has the proper range as a 1L6, but the filament heater is different, you need to solder a 56 Ohm 1 Watt resistor across pins 1 and 7. The 1U6 is not as rare as the 1L6.