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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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27th Aug 2005, 6:55 am | #1 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Ashland, Oregon, USA
Posts: 1
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RTD Valves
I am new to the forum. I live in the United States and have collected vacuum tubes for 50 years and have a large collection of receiving and transmitting tubes including some European valves.
I recently found on eBay a NOS ECL80 valve with a "RTD" logo along with its original "RTD" labeled carton. It was offered by a seller in England. This fascinated me since my initials are "RTD". Long story short, I won the bid and have the valve. I can not find any information on "RTD". The valve and carton do not indicate the country of orgin but I assume it to be from the Europe, possibly England. I am seeking information on "RTD". Was "RTD" an actual valve manufacturer or was it a company dealing in electronic equipment that purchased valves from an independent valve manufacturer who manufactured and printed the "RTD" label on valves for "RTD"? In either case what is the orgin of "RTD" company? Thank you for your help Robert T Deuel, K2GLO |
27th Aug 2005, 8:24 am | #2 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 799
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Re: RTD Valves
Hi Robert I've had a Google on RTD and all I can find is this reference not a great deal of info I'm afraid.
http://audiosonica.blog.excite.it/permalink/70309 HTH Mike |
27th Aug 2005, 10:45 am | #3 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,784
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Re: RTD Valves
Robert, I've never heard of RTD either. The ECL80 was primarily a TV valve (very common!) and your example is likely to be late production, maybe 70s. At this time UK production had ceased and valves were being sourced from all over the place, especially Eastern Europe and the USSR, and relabelled. Some of these relabellers are very well known (Pinnacle, Colomar, Bentley Acoustic) but there were many more smaller operators and I suspect your RTD originates from one of those.
Best regards, Paul |
29th Aug 2005, 10:03 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,145
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Re: RTD Valves
Hello,
As a school lad in 1960 I worked for the firm that 'produced' the 'RTD' valves. It stands for RADIO and TELEVISION DISTRIBUTORS'. The firm was called D and B Television and their address was 131/131A Kingston Road, South Wimbledon, London S.W.19. The old telephone number was 'Cherrywood 3955' long since gone with the wind... The valves were often reclaimed from old equipment, were tested, cleaned and finally the name 'RTD' together with the valve number were printed using an old ADANA printing machine. I printed thousands and when Mullard changed the valve printing to yellow in 1963, the old ADANA was overhauled and we also changed to yellow ink! If the old firm purchased 'surplus' new valves, I had to scape the numbers off with a razor blade and reprint them RTD! Hoping this may help solve your mystery. Regards. JOHN. |
29th Aug 2005, 11:48 pm | #5 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,784
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Re: RTD Valves
John, that's an amazing story!
Paul |