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tube rebuilds
- Thread starter grich
- Start date
That stinks. Sadly, many of the tubes I've received from Econco have been less that stellar in recent years. The days of tube technology are getting long in the tooth. Anyone that believes and takes to heart all the "savings" of going with the more efficent design of a tube transmitter vs. solid state is pretty short-sighted. The off-air time and the PIA after of tube stuff anymore far exceeds any savings of electric power or initial capital expense.
I'm saddened at the loss of Freeland Products. I've been a customer for may years. Joel, Randy and Beverly did top notch work and stood behind their product. I wish all of them the best!
FYI, there is an alternative to Econco:
Zonum Industries, LLC
http://zonumindustries.com/
[email protected]
(530) 751-0500
I just spoke with the owner, Manuel Munoz (note that Zonum is his name spelled backwards), who some of you may recognize as having been at Econco in the past. He's very much in business and looking forward to talking with anyone who has need for his services. He would like to hear from anyone with a need for rebuilds to make sure that he has rebuilds for their needs on the shelf and ready to go, so give him a call if you're interested in an alternative to Econco.
I have one of his YU148 rebuilds in service in an Energy-Onix ECO-6 and it's been rock solid for over three years now.
Take care,
Lance Parr
Lanco Technical Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 3483
Bryan, Texas 77805-3483
[email protected]
(979) 820-3468
FYI, there is an alternative to Econco:
Zonum Industries, LLC
http://zonumindustries.com/
[email protected]
(530) 751-0500
I just spoke with the owner, Manuel Munoz (note that Zonum is his name spelled backwards), who some of you may recognize as having been at Econco in the past. He's very much in business and looking forward to talking with anyone who has need for his services. He would like to hear from anyone with a need for rebuilds to make sure that he has rebuilds for their needs on the shelf and ready to go, so give him a call if you're interested in an alternative to Econco.
I have one of his YU148 rebuilds in service in an Energy-Onix ECO-6 and it's been rock solid for over three years now.
Take care,
Lance Parr
Lanco Technical Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 3483
Bryan, Texas 77805-3483
[email protected]
(979) 820-3468
I have had an increasing number of bad Econco tubes in recent years--it's not just you. Tubes that run at full power, drop to 50% and then a week later rebound to full power, tubes that last 6 months instead of the historic normal of 18 months, filaments that suddenly open up while being run well below rated voltage. 5CX1500's, 4CX3500A's, 3CX10000A7's...it's not just one type. Each time you have an issue, call Debbie Storz at Econco and ask her to have engineering evaluate the returned tubes that fail early and ask them to tell you WHY the tube failed early. I do that each time but I only use so many tubes. If everyone would demand answers, it would be a little harder for them to deny that there is a problem. They are very good at replacing the tubes but owners get tired of paying extra engineering costs related to the replacement process. I REALLY want their quality to get back to where it was 10 years ago! Got a lot of transmitters that are still going strong and these owners are not going to pony up $35-$50K to replace a paid for transmitter that, except for the Econco tubes, just keeps on chuggin'.OKCRadioGuy said:
I suspect the combination of Harry's death several years ago, and the quality - lack thereof - of current materials hastened Freeland's decision to sell it and go. And the poor quality of materials is likely at the heart of Econco's current problems. Someone - Joel perhaps - told me virtually all the thoriated tungsten available comes from the heathen Chinee.
littlejohn said:
Heathen? You're talking like Race Bannon. ;D (Hope I'm not dating myself too much with a Jonny Quest reference).
I have a BE FM20T that I got 7 years from the original tube. The first Econco rebuild died in a week, but Debbie took care of it. The replacement is in it's fifth year now, with a slight falloff in emission, but still easily makes full power.
In the past I had used Econco rebuilds and got almost 2 years out of them in both CCA transmitters and a couple of Energy Onix Eco 6 boxes.
The only place I have a tube is on a backup for a couple of clients. Everyone else is solid state. All of the AMs have been solid state for awhile now.
The biggest advantage to using a tube tx is if you're in a high lightning area. I've seen grounded grid triodes burp slightly and keep on truckin' with lightning hits that fried many other things in the building. But the days of a tube tx, except at really high power FM (even then...) are coming to a close.
I do like 'em for backup duty. Simple and rugged.
The only place I have a tube is on a backup for a couple of clients. Everyone else is solid state. All of the AMs have been solid state for awhile now.
The biggest advantage to using a tube tx is if you're in a high lightning area. I've seen grounded grid triodes burp slightly and keep on truckin' with lightning hits that fried many other things in the building. But the days of a tube tx, except at really high power FM (even then...) are coming to a close.
I do like 'em for backup duty. Simple and rugged.
Lance Parr said:
Thanks Lance. I've had very poor luck with Econco over the past several years. One tube arrived with open filaments. One dropped to 70% within days. I had switched exclusively to, and have had very good luck with Freeland. I'm going on two years with a Freeland 4CX20,000A in one box and a 4CX20,000D in another and both are still making full power with filaments running below rated voltage and screen hasn't crept up since they were installed.
It's a shame that it appears CPI would rather buy out and eliminate the competition than improve their own quality.
Freeland Products rebuilt tubes have worked well in all stations I have maintained. In the last 4-5 years, Econco has gone downhill in quality. And I always ask for an engineering report on failed tubes. And the best life I got out of recent Econco was 6 months before a failure. And that was tubes ran well under their limitations. Looks like Zonum will be doing my rebuilds now.
Don't forget that some problems (open filaments in particular) can be caused by rough handling during shipping. It seems like freight handling is my biggest problem with everything being ordered from afar these days. One of the great things about Freeland was the shorter shipping routes to the midwest and east coast. Sad to see them go.
True. I'm getting to the point where I like to send stuff USPS due to their more-careful shipping and handling these days compared to UPS and others. I had a friend that worked for a year at the local UPS shipping warehouse. I now know why stuff comes broke via them. He told me that management didn't give a rats about them or the packages, just do it faster and faster in sweltering heat or freezing cold. They are brutal to their warehouse help, so in turn the help throws stuff around and stands on boxes, etc. They could care less... just move faster.
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