Valve Technology, Have We Really Progressed?

It seems incredible that most of us are routinely accepting performance that we confidently believed had been superseded decades ago!

Way back in the dark days of the last century, diddy little electric heaters 'warmed' thorium-coated cathodes to red heat, boiling off electrons that would be snatched away through a vacuum by a high voltage anode.

Naturally, from power up these thermionic valves could take a minute or two to even function at all, and several more minutes before operation would be considered stable.

Have we really progressed as much as we believe in the last 50 years, when we have to accept a similar totally dead period whilst your "state-of-the-art" equipment boots up?

At Murraypro we have always taken a pride in providing equipment that is ready for use virtually as soon as it is switched on; we have to say "virtually" because it takes a moment for any power supply to establish!

However equipment such as our Test Chest will be producing its full specification output signals a second or so after switch on, and will be fully operational in around three seconds.

Our customers tell us they consider themselves lucky if rival equipment wakes up inside a minute, whilst at least one competitive product takes far longer!

That's significantly slower than valve equipment; so how's this for progress?

Used just five times per day, in one year the keenly priced Test Chest's rapid start returns an additional bonus of well over 24 hours extra productive time.

CEO Tony Drummond-Murray emphasises that this grab-and-go tester doesn't just offer instant generation.

Additionally, it furnishes a wide range of analysis capability too, immediately accessible via the intuitive touch screen, and he is particularly proud of its hands-free "Which-Wire?" mode, which will automatically display and identify a very impressive variety of sources.

Want to know how long a spare video cable is? Just plug one end into Test Chest and its TDR utility will instantly show you its length and integrity, all without even uncoiling it.

Murraypro will be putting Test Chest through its paces at ISE, in Hall 12, Stand F:60.

Visit www.murraypro.com or email [email protected] to arrange a demonstration.

This article is also available to read at BFV online here, page 18.

(JP)