THE CYRILLIC VALVE NUMBERING SYSTEM AS TRANSLATED FROM GOST 5461-59

Well, whilst researching this blog article I really could have done with my Dad here as his Ukrainian multilingual ability would have been most useful, honestly, how do you cope with a 33 letter alphabet?   But no,  I persevered and didn't even contact my pal Gary Skiba who could have helped as well.   Some of you may know Gary as the leading UK Leak guru - I'll certainly be bending his ear when my blog subjects turn to all things Leak, anyhow, I digress, for here is a 'little' primer on Cyrillic valve numbering systems.   Now none of you will have an excuse for not being able to read valveski (oops - Polish!!!!).

The Russian military Standard Operating Procedure for thermionic device numerication is documented in the 1959 issued GOST 5461-59.    The numbering system comprises of a four character system.  Thermionic devices MUST have a complete four character code,  however, where a  character is   not required  as a device descriptor then a dash should be included in it’s place.          On no account must the code ever be shortened from the prescribed four character code (or you will be sent to Siberia). 

First of all, here’s a Cyrillic to European letter conversion table:-