Hi from Gold Coast, Australia

[Jack Whittaker]

Greetings to all from Jack Whittaker

I guess it is appropriate that I should make some comments of introduction about my hobby interests and background. My wife and I live by the sea on the Gold Coast in Australia. I am a builder and not professionally in electronics.
I think I am only 20 but my hair has changed colour and got as mite thinner.

I sat for my Amateur Radio Licence in 1947 in New Zealand. I had graduated from crystal sets through to building a ham band communication receiver of considerable complexity by that time, I held the licence ZL1ACA for some 50 years. I have had the call-sign VK4CGO in Australia also for some years.
My fascination with radio and “ home brewing” remains alive and active although I have not been actively on HF ham bands for several years or have livened up the iambic keyer. I have always gained more pleasure from building my own equipment rather than simply becoming a user of commercially made equipment, from crystal sets to tubes, with a brief spell using transistors and IC s . I still like using the tubes / valves.

I love building things –“rolling my own” - creating projects from products of my imagination - which does not always follow the entirely orthodox ideas.
Instead of hf , SSB and ham radio construction projects, I have switched back to the Audio part of the spectrum, building amplifiers of several configurations in the old style---- push-pull 6V6, EL37A, 6A3 etc of varying circuitry – triodes to ultra linear.

I have indeed been very fortunate in having the vital transformers made specially for the purpose of my building projects by a man with a lifetime of experience and knowledge in this field. The success of these amplifiers really does depend on these transformers and I have been lucky indeed. Bill still expertly does the finest and most intricate work and is now 90 years old !!! Bill is most remarkable and lives in New Zealand --- a great guy indeed.

I have just completed building a very successful stereo amp using only 6 tubes.
The twin triode 6336A tubes in the output have turned out very well indeed. This has followed a few experimental hasty haywire lash ups, as I had very little data on these
voltage control tubes. I am running a very low HT voltage but with quite high current / low impedance and it works really well. Special transformers were of course needed and made for me by Bill.

What I need now is a small quiet running axial fan to keep the tubes cool, AND the special cooling devices which I have vaguely heard about. When air temps reach into the 30s C, I fear the 6336As would destruct . They would be distressed without cooling of some form in almost any conditions.
Does any one know where I could obtain these cooling devices?

I can patch in a copy of the story on my earlier radio building if anyone is interested.

All the best Jack

[Geek]

Greetz Jack!

Always good to see another tubehead arrive