This page initially created on December 10, 1999.
The 26D6 tube is used in the R-392 as the final mixer stage. As far as I know, it's a 6BE6 with a different filament rating. Each R-392 has only one 26D6 tube.
During the last few months, several people have advertised small to large quantities of 26D6 tubes for sale on the R-390[A] listserver. As far as I know, all of these sellers are reputable. Also, in my opinion, their prices are reasonable. So you probably won't go wrong to buy tube(s) from them. But if you are interested in another deal, read on...
Recently I bought a quantity of 100 of these tubes, intending to resell them as a "public service" to R-392 owners. I paid 30 bucks for the tubes, plus 10 bucks shipping. (That's 40 cents per tube.) After receiving the tubes, I struggled with trying to figure out how to handle shipping to any purchasers. Ultimately, I decided to chicken out and let the purchaser(s) deal with shipping. So, these tubes are offered for sale with the following catch:
Buyer pays for and provides means of shipping. This means that you (as a buyer) must ship me a shipping container, with pre-affixed postage, and with your mailing address already printed on the shipping container. You must also provide any packing material which you feel is appropriate (such as bubble wrap, foam, newspaper, or whatever.) You can provide prepaid mailing/postage for US postal service, UPS, or Fedex; I don't care. They all are equally inconvenient for me.
And, of course, you've got to provide me with a check for however many tubes you are buying. I'm selling the tubes for 40 cents each; same price I paid for them.
I reserve the right to take up to 2 weeks to mail out the tubes, because I don't get to the post office all that often. In addition, I will not make any shipments between Thanksgiving and New Year's day, because waiting in long lines at the PO gets me really, really PO'd.
Please note:
I do have a tape gun, so I'll apply tape to properly "seal up" any shipping container which you send me.
If you've got special circumstances (like maybe overseas shipment?), send me an email and we can discuss.
The tubes were sold to me as NOS ("new old stock") and that's exactly what they appear to be. They are all boxed, identified as "JAN 26D6", manufactured by RCA, stock number 5960-188-0987. (in addition, the boxes say "A-10/67"; probably a manufacturing date code.) I have not tested the tubes.
As of August 21, 2000, I have 63 of these tubes still available for sale.
Send your checks (and pre-addressed, pre-paid shipping container/packing) to:
Mike Dinolfo
4027 Barbour Drive
Fairfax VA 22030
USA