Vacuum Tube-Making on the Comeback in the US

American-made vacuum tubes are poised to make a comeback onto the market this summer.

As the rising cost of vacuum tubes manufactured mostly in China and Russia increasingly cramps audiophiles, musicians and others seeking a particular audio quality, one factory in the US southeast is preparing to bring tube-manufacturing back home.

With assembly line workers getting down to business inside his Western Electric plant in Rossville, Georgia, entrepreneur Charles Whitener expects to restore American-made vacuum tubes to the worldwide market in just a few months. According to reports on such websites as wired.com and audioexpress.com, Whitener's goal is to resume production of the single-ended triode tube known as the 300B, a design that dates back to 1938. His plant, known as the Rossville Works, is home to the Western Electric vacuum tube brand which Whitener bought in 1995 from AT&T.

This summer he expects to introduce a reimagined version of the audio vacuum tube known as the 12AX7, a dual triode tube commonly found in amplifiers for guitars. According to Wired.com, it will be the first US-made tube in decades and it is expected to be followed by numerous other US-made models.

FCC Takes a Deeper Dive into Satellites

Having dismantled its International Bureau, the US Federal Communications Commission has instead created two new departments: the Space Bureau and the Office of International Affairs.

This is a move by the agency to position the US to take a leading role in global space technology. It also gives the agency what it hopes is a greater voice in handling space debris which has become an issue as more and more satellites’ orbits decay.

The talk has been all about wireless and internet and related uses but what is missing from this recent announcement is what this all means for amateur radio satellites. No one has made a statement from the FCC as to how the CubeSats and other ham radio satellites will be handled, if at all, by these new offices.

The departments are expected to coordinate their efforts in such areas as the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference. The conference will take place in Dubai starting on 20th November 2023.