THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

We hear so much about Donald Trump but how many of you realised that he liked early Philips sets - not many I'll bet.   Could this be true or another piece of fake news.   You need irrefutable evidence to make such claims surely, and here it is, look closely at the following photograph:-   As you can see quite clearly, we have a young Donald Trump, in his underpants standing atop a Philips 2531.  The Philips 2531 was quite a technological marvel at introduction in 1930, lasting for a production run of two years in which 42000 units were...

Having broken off from my historical diatribe on Mullard, here are a few useful snippets about the pre CV valve numbering system used by the British Armed Forces - here is an explanation of what the various alpha suffix codings used by the different service arms mean - now you'll at least be able to identify the valve type if not the type number:- British Army Comprises of an alpha coding which signifies the valve use or configuration followed by a numeric code that signifies valve.  The most commonly seen are listed below:- ACR - Army  cathode ray tubeAR - Army...

I have just received an e-mail asking for details of military valve markings so here's a little primer for anyone who might have a similar interest. Valves used by the British military Armed Services were marked with a  CV or common valve name which was defined by the  Inter-Service Technical Valve Committee in 1941.     Often, below the CV number,  a two part  alpha code of the form KB/xx  or JB/xx will be seen  which gives the devices manufacturing specification and qualification .  For the first part of the alpha code, the K designates a valve manufactured to specification K1001 or K1006; similarly a J designates a...

I did titter when I saw the above illustration from a 1950s comic book, what a treat to see the Man With an Electronic Brain and let me tell you, I have met and known a few numpties who would benefit from some electronic augmentation too. But wait a minute, like me, are you thinking that the electronic brain looks rather similar?  Could it be... yes, I think it is, what do you think........? Well beat me on the bottom with a copy of Radio Bygones magazine, that electronic brain bears more than a passing resemblance to the Defiant M900...

Confusing or what, the GPO had their own Valve - Thermionic numbering system comprising of a sequence of numbers in range from VT17 to VT207.  Although this alphanumeric code followed the same form as the US Signal Corps one it was quite different.    I have produced a look up table that related GPO VT number with UK CV number and commercial equivalent numbers - a first for the internet I think.  Enjoy:- GPO VT NUMBER CV NUMBER COMMERCIAL NUMBER   VT19 CV1612 VT9B VT24 CV1636 LS5 VT25 CV1637 LS5 VT26 CV1600 CAT1 VT27 CV1601 CAR1 VT31 CV1638 4101D VT33 CV1642 DER VT34 CV1614...