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I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them. They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia and Ukraine but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario, Canada.
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Hi
Dekatron's were actually counting devices as far as I can remember from the early 1950's, they worked by using three phase delayed signals to move the active struck neon pin on to the next neon pin. Max counting rates for the neon filled ones were about 10KHz, but by using other gasses this could be increased to an optimistic 1MHz, there was an output pin for the tenth digit to carry forward to the next decade.
Haven't used one in anger since about 1963.
George G6HIG Dover UK On Tuesday, 20 October 2020, 01:20:28 BST, peter bunge <bunge.pjp@...> wrote:
I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them. They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia and Ukraine but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario, Canada.
|
Hi I have dealt with Russia quite a lot on Ebay and never had a problem ?
?
I am also talking
to them about signal generators above 110 Ghz and learning a lot from them
?
Best Regards Paul
?
Hi
Dekatron's were actually counting devices as far as I can remember from the
early 1950's, they worked by using three phase delayed signals to move the
active struck neon pin on to the next neon pin. Max counting rates for the neon
filled ones were about 10KHz, but by using other gasses this could be increased
to an optimistic 1MHz, there was an output pin for the tenth digit to carry
forward to the next decade.
Haven't used one in anger since about 1963.
George G6HIG Dover UK
On Tuesday, 20
October 2020, 01:20:28 BST, peter bunge <bunge.pjp@...> wrote:
I would like to
buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes for my antiques
collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them.
They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a
specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come
in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any
number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia
and Ukraine
but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times
are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario,
Canada.
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG -
Version: 2016.0.8048 / Virus Database: 4793/15886 - Release Date: 08/14/18
Internal Virus Database is out of date.
|
There’s an active group over on google groups where you should ask re? getting samples of ?all these. neonixie-l@... Dekatrons are gas filled low speed counting tubes, typically used to implement a decade counter.? The Philips E1T is what you are probably thinking of re having numbers on it. ?The numbers are on a decal on the side of the tube. It isn’t a dekatron. Numitrons are filament based ?side view numeric display tubes , typically using a standard seven segment layout for the filaments. DaveB, NZ ?
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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of peter bunge
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 13:20
To: [email protected]
Subject: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] WTB Nixie, Dekatron, Numitron ? I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them. They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia and Ukraine but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario, Canada.
|
Pictures.. pictures.. I just walked over to my "rarities display" ?
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On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 09:20 PM, peter bunge wrote: I see a lot for sale from Russia and Ukraine but can they be depended on? I
suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times are so long that it may not be
possible to claim.
I have purchased on ebay a couple of times from Russia/Ukraine and the packages arrived quite quickly to my mail/freight forwarder in Miami FL. Only thing is that they sometimes send the package with signature request, and that would cost me an additional $10 in fees from my forwarder. But other than that no issues so far with sellers from those countries. Of course one has to do the usual due diligence on them before proceeding.
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Thanks Wilco; The first two are Nixie. Are the others classed as Dekatrons? Is Dekatron a trade name or descriptive like Triode? The Dekatrons I have seen just have pins that light and the numerals are on the front panel,?like the photo below (from Ebay). Your collection is obviously not for sale. Does anyone have a schematic of how to drive Dekatrons? I apologize for this being a bit off topic but there are instruments that use all these kinds of displays. The other photo is of a digital tachometer using Numitrons (RCA DR2000) in our '61 Corvair, featured in Radio Electronics. Peter  ? 
On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 9:25 AM Wilko Bulte < wkb@...> wrote: Pictures.. pictures.. I just walked over to my "rarities display" ?
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Be a little careful with the aesthetics of
some modern (Russian?) nixies.
One electrode has been crafted to serve as
both the 2 and 5, so they both look bad compared to real nixies.
An example of IN-12 off ebay.
Ed, k1ggi
?
?
?
?
I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes
for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them.
They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a
specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come
in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any
number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia
and Ukraine
but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times
are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario,
Canada.
|
I have purchased a lot of older tubes from Ukraine and Russia without problems. Never had any break and one was a monster triode transmitting tube probably 16 inches tall and at least 8 inches in diameter at the widest place. Surprisingly they arrive fairly quicky. I think the longest was like 3 weeks. Actually, some items from the States take three weeks depending on carrier and seller. Regards – Mike ? Mike B. Feher, N4FS 89 Arnold Blvd. Howell NJ 07731 848-245-9115 ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of k1ggi
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 11:20 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] WTB Nixie, Dekatron, Numitron? Be a little careful with the aesthetics of some modern (Russian?) nixies. One electrode has been crafted to serve as both the 2 and 5, so they both look bad compared to real nixies. An example of IN-12 off ebay. Ed, k1ggi ? 
? ? ? I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them. They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia and Ukraine but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario, Canada.
|
Thanks Ed; I had not realized that but did see that the cheaper ones only display symbols, not numbers. Thanks everyone else that has replied. I am keeping other replies off line unless I think there is value to this group, like this post.
On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 11:19 AM k1ggi < k1ggi@...> wrote:
Be a little careful with the aesthetics of
some modern (Russian?) nixies.
One electrode has been crafted to serve as
both the 2 and 5, so they both look bad compared to real nixies.
An example of IN-12 off ebay.
Ed, k1ggi
?
?
?
?
I would like to buy a selection of Dekatron, Nixie, and Numitrom tubes
for my antiques collection.
Dekatron had a ring of neon pins and were mounted with numbers opposite them.
They would increment with pulses. I'm not sure if they could be set to a
specific number or if they only counted forward and backward.
Nixie had number shaped cathodes stacked and any number could be lit. They come
in side and end view.
Numitron tubes had incandecent wires arranged in seven segments to form any
number. They came in round side viewed and DIP packages.
I would prefer to buy a selection because of the shipping cost.
I see a lot for sale from Russia
and Ukraine
but can they be depended on? I suppose Ebay has protection but shipping times
are so long that it may not be possible to claim.?
Please reply off line. Shipping to Ontario,
Canada.
|
?
Back in the day: Baird Atomic made radiation counters that used Dekatrons and other odd "ring counter" tubes for display. These are late 1950's stuff. Probably in the scrap heap by now, but you never know. If you find one. the circuitry as well as the tubes would be of interest to you.
I used to have all this stuff, sigh, cant keep everything....
Regards,
Jeff Kruth
?
In a message dated 10/20/2020 10:26:04 AM Eastern Standard Time, bunge.pjp@... writes:
?
Thanks Wilco;
The first two are Nixie. Are the others classed as Dekatrons? Is Dekatron a trade name or descriptive like Triode?
The Dekatrons I have seen just have pins that light and the numerals are on the front panel,?like the photo below (from Ebay).
Your collection is obviously not for sale.
Does anyone have a schematic of how to drive Dekatrons?
I apologize for this being a bit off topic but there are instruments that use all these kinds of displays.
The other photo is of a digital tachometer using Numitrons (RCA DR2000) in our '61 Corvair, featured in Radio Electronics.
Peter
 ? 
On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 9:25 AM Wilko Bulte < wkb@...> wrote: Pictures.. pictures.. I just walked over to my "rarities display" ?
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First and last use of decatrons i've seen was ca 1963 in a "Berkley EPUT Meter" (events per unit time) counter
Jim
On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, 9:35:15 AM PDT, Jeff Kruth via groups.io <kmec@...> wrote:
?
Back in the day: Baird Atomic made radiation counters that used Dekatrons and other odd "ring counter" tubes for display. These are late 1950's stuff. Probably in the scrap heap by now, but you never know. If you find one. the circuitry as well as the tubes would be of interest to you.
I used to have all this stuff, sigh, cant keep everything....
Regards,
Jeff Kruth
?
In a message dated 10/20/2020 10:26:04 AM Eastern Standard Time, bunge.pjp@... writes:
?
Thanks Wilco;
The first two are Nixie. Are the others classed as Dekatrons? Is Dekatron a trade name or descriptive like Triode?
The Dekatrons I have seen just have pins that light and the numerals are on the front panel,?like the photo below (from Ebay).
Your collection is obviously not for sale.
Does anyone have a schematic of how to drive Dekatrons?
I apologize for this being a bit off topic but there are instruments that use all these kinds of displays.
The other photo is of a digital tachometer using Numitrons (RCA DR2000) in our '61 Corvair, featured in Radio Electronics.
Peter
 ? 
On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 9:25 AM Wilko Bulte < wkb@...> wrote: Pictures.. pictures.. I just walked over to my "rarities display" ?
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Dekatrons.
The UK The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park has restored the Witch Dekatron computer.
It uses a lot of Dekatrons!
"the stores – nine boxes each containing 80 Dekatrons and associated
components."
That is 720 Dekatrons!
I visited in 2016 - it still works. Most impressive!
Web page:
<>
Well worth a visit to TNMOC - it also has the working Colossus.
To keep it on topic, they were using HP logic analysers for
maintenance.
Bletchley Park of course is famous for WW2 code breaking.
You can see Enigmas, Bombes etc.
A pleasant train ride from London but ...
after one days visit you will find that you
need at least another day.
Dean
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I agree about the time needed. I went for a day a couple of years ago
- it is absolutely on my agenda the next time I get back to UK.
Cheers!
Bruce
Quoting "Dean Davidson via groups.io" <dean@...>:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Dekatrons.
The UK The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park
has restored the Witch Dekatron computer.
It uses a lot of Dekatrons!
"the stores – nine boxes each containing 80 Dekatrons and associated
components."
That is 720 Dekatrons!
I visited in 2016 - it still works. Most impressive!
Web page:
<>
Well worth a visit to TNMOC - it also has the working Colossus.
To keep it on topic, they were using HP logic analysers for
maintenance.
Bletchley Park of course is famous for WW2 code breaking.
You can see Enigmas, Bombes etc.
A pleasant train ride from London but ...
after one days visit you will find that you
need at least another day.
Dean
|
Hi Peter
Look on the internet for "Ericsson-Databook.zip, ?Good chapter on Dekatrons and how to drive them.
George G6HIG Dover UK
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On 21/10/20 00:47, Dean Davidson via groups.io wrote: I visited in 2016 - it still works. Most impressive!
Web page:
<>
Well worth a visit to TNMOC - it also has the working Colossus.
To keep it on topic, they were using HP logic analysers for
maintenance. It is impressive, more so than the standard Bletchley Park museum next door. TNMoC is staffed by people like us, some of whom are more than willing to whip out the schematics and discuss how the machines work :) That's my kind of museum!
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The Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing at Harwell. What a magnificent beast.
It used to be in the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. I spent more hours than I should?have browsing in there as I worked next door in Telephone House, Newhall Street!
Pete G4GJL
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Harwell was my place of work for 47 years, so I definitely have a connection to that.? Decatrons were widely used for nucleonic counting. ? I also used to have a PDP8 here in the shack.? A 'straight-8', that is not PDP8I or E, just PDP8.? With its 13 cooling fans, it certainly kept the shack warm.? In 1999 I presented it to the BP museum, long before all the changes there.? Although not on display, it is currently in storage.? Last year we had another trip there and I presented them with a lot more of the documentation that I had acquired. ? A truly amazing place. ? 73, Mike, Mike Stevens, G8CUL/M0CUL/F4VRB. ?
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From: [email protected] On Behalf Of Pete_G4GJL
Sent: 21 October 2020 08:40
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] WTB Nixie, Dekatron, Numitron? The Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing at Harwell. What a magnificent beast. It used to be in the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. I spent more hours than I should?have browsing in there as I worked next door in Telephone House, Newhall Street!
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PDP8, yes... It is only the frontpanel of a PDP8/S but it hangs of the wall of my shack. Reputedly that machine was used on a Shell oil tanker for navigational purposes. We got it in working state, at some point it was taken apart, me saving some bits like this kne. A DECtape reel with OS/8 is also in my collection, along with a core stack. These live peacefull next to the Decatrons.
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PDP8S. I once worked on one of those (with some amateur radio stuff I'd
written). The 'S' stood for serial but in practice it stood for 'slow'! It
was smaller (and cheaper) than a straight-8 but was pretty short-lived.
Here's us trying to get my '8' assembled and running having just delivered
it to Bletchley Park. If anyone wants some Dectapes I still have 'a few'!
73, Mike,
Mike Stevens,
G8CUL/M0CUL/F4VRB.
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-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] On Behalf Of Wilko Bulte Sent: 21 October 2020 11:47 To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] WTB Nixie, Dekatron, Numitron PDP8, yes... It is only the frontpanel of a PDP8/S but it hangs of the wall of my shack. Reputedly that machine was used on a Shell oil tanker for navigational purposes. We got it in working state, at some point it was taken apart, me saving some bits like this kne. A DECtape reel with OS/8 is also in my collection, along with a core stack. These live peacefull next to the Decatrons. -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
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Paul Bicknell
jim
Pete_G4GJL
