Jeff.Miller@samba.acs.unc.edu (BBS Account) (08/09/90)
I bought my first IR conversion tube from Fair Radio Sales in Lima, Ohio a few yeasr ago for maybe $10, call information in Lima for their number, they might still have some. I have since seen various types at C & H Sales for a bit more, I think they are located in Pasedena, CA. For a while they also had a good deal on IR filters, charging $3 or $5 for the nice big ones everyone elses wanted $20 for. Maybe they have more. You do know that these "first-generation" tubes require a 5-20 KV anode voltage and a 2-10 KV focus voltage, and have pretty poor image quality, don't you? I have yet to see 2nd generation microchannel-plate based tubes go for less than a few hundred. A very good alternative you might want to look into is using a video camera. I believe the type you want would be a CCD type. There was much discussion on Steve Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar BBS about the infra-red sensitivity of these devices a while ago. It may well be that those cheap DAK video cameras are of the proper type. Putting an IR filter in front of one will make it sensitive to only IR. Just walk into a home electronics store and point an IR remote control at a camcorder when a salesperson isn't looking for a good demo. -cornhead
john@anasaz.UUCP (John Moore) (08/09/90)
In article <763@beguine.UUCP> Jeff.Miller@samba.acs.unc.edu (BBS Account) writes:
]I bought my first IR conversion tube from Fair Radio Sales in Lima,
] ...
]You do know that these "first-generation" tubes require a 5-20 KV
]anode voltage and a 2-10 KV focus voltage, and have pretty poor image
]quality, don't you? I have yet to see 2nd generation
]microchannel-plate based tubes go for less than a few hundred.
Aren't you confusing starlight scope tubes (image intensifiers) with
infrared tubes? The starlight tubes amplify light over a wide range
of wavelengths. I believe that they prefer UV. Infrared tubes
go for the infrared. The old ones, at least, required that you have
an infrared spotlight to illuminate the target, which is not required
with starlight tubes.
I have a some first generation starlight tubes (purchased from C&H
for $100/3 20 years ago). They require ONLY anode voltage (~15kV)
and no focus voltage. Unfortunately, they have to be stacked 3
deep in order to get enough light gain, and when I tried that, they
arced between the tubes. I didn't have a 45Kv supply. I never got
around to insulating them so they wouldn't arc.
--
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