Hi all , I'm looking for some genuine NOS 6M5 tubes .
Not interested eBay etc.
I don't want to convert it to 6BQ5.
Ive done that conversion before a couple of times and would prefer the original set up using 6M5.
I have many units that run 6M5.
So if you have any genuine NOS I would be very interested.
Thanks Pete....

A 6M5 in class A single ended wants to see a 7000 ohm load, a 6BQ5 5000 ohm. With 5000 ohms a 6BQ5 will give to 5.7 watts as against the 4.3 watts of the 6M5 into 7k. Not that you should be able to hear the difference anyway unless the new 6BQ5 is a Chinese or Russian new production, in which case anything is possible!

NOS Mullard 6BQ5s sell for US$199!

What I dislike about the 6M5 is the pinout, with G2 on Pin 1 and G1 on pin 2. That leaves it wide open to leakage across the socket and even silver migration in the early examples. The 6BQ5 has a far more sensible pinout for G2 and it's a newer, tougher design.

Good luck in your search!

Hello Ian, I have lots of 6BQ5s here but I want to keep these chassis original.
Yes it's a long shot , some genuine NOS 6M5s did pop up ,but I missed out...
Hope you're well..pete

Now as I am on one side of the border in Wangaratta and your in Albury there is a problem.

However, if its dead a 6CK6 video output, suspiciously has the same characteristics. The catch is suppressor on 6M5 is IC and on 6CK6 you need to tie pin 6 to the cathode.

I get the feeling that the 6M5 pentode appears in other valves.

Do note I decontaminated the tractor twice this week. That invites torrential rain: Hope your enjoying it.

Marc

Marc,
Hello Marc , yes the green green grass of home we have had that much Rain.
Winter is over thank goodness!!
All good here though .
Strangely enough I found out that years ago lots of surplus Tubes ended up in Asia from Australia from surplus Auctions.
In the pile were 6m5s and in Asia they had no use for the 6m5 and so every now and again they pop up there unused.
Somd will turn up at some stage I'm sure , It's just spares for my working chassis's..I have many units that run the 6m5 ..
Hope ya well,, pete

Now as I am on one side of the border in Wangaratta and your in Albury there is a problem.

I watched a video on Youtube the other week which was about a colonial border dispute that raged for a while between VIC and SA and in it was a mention of how NSW and VIC agreed to use the River Murray as the majority of their shared border. I once thought that the border lied equidistant between the NSW and VIC shore lines but apparently not so - the VIC shore line itself constitutes the border for that state and the river itself is part of NSW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEtPzt6v6UI

G’Day Pete,
I have numerous 6M5’s which I usually dig through to find a good one for a job etc.
However, I did come across a pair of Miniwatts which although used, look new and were sorted and matched for a customer who never turned up to get them. Maybe I scared him with the cost!
Also I found one in box AWV new, and one in box Miniwatt new.
So, if you get desperate some day I’ll probably still have them. Or good used for sure.
As said before I normally use second hand ones for repairs, to keep the costs down.
Maybe new ones will never be available again.
Regards, JJ

Maybe new ones will never be available again.

Pretty safe bet, methinks. 6M5s have been scarce for a long time.

G Day JJ,
Happy to buy them if you want to part with them .
Funny I have people message me all the time wanting 6Gw8s which I have plenty of ,but I don't sell tubes and those I hang onto for Kriesler 1197..
Recently I was in a shed full of tubes to the roof and I thought ,wow there must be some 6m5s in here ,
Nup! That's where I got all those TV filter caps from ..etc etc. ..

Pete

Brad, The truth is I now need a pass to cross the river , but the cops here don't enforce it and I cross the border and don't get pulled over .
I'm told this is because they don't have the funds to pull all the cars over at the border.
My doctor is over the river so I have to go there regularly.
I'm supposed to apply for the pass by law now , but their website never works !!!
It's just a mess .

I should add here ,That if a person tried to head south and leave Wodonga, I don't think you would not get far.
They turn a blind eye here and it's probably because both towns need each other, particularly regarding hospitals ,school etc

Pete, I'll grant you this, with both Sydney and Melbourne in lockdown, the border closure is pretty pointless even though some regional areas in NSW and VIC are affected.

Last year, on the weekend that Chairman Dan declared the beginning of Melbourne's second wave I drove from Sydney to a farm about half an hour out of Shepparton to collect a 1930s AWA console. From there I drove to Ballarat to grab some lunch and then decided it would be easier to get back to Sydney via Melbourne because I wasn't in the mood for driving on anymore two-lane roads, so that is what I did.

Fortunately I did not stop in Melbourne that weekend, just drove through on the ring road and then hit the Hume Highway. Not stopping wasn't deliberate, I'd filled the tank in Ballarat and had no other need to stop, though at the same time, I didn't realise that the second wave was on its way. It was more of a case of good luck though I got back home virus-free and this was back before vaccines were available. I suppose all this just means that being cautious and careful counts for a lot.

I wouldn't mind betting that the problems in Canterbury and Cumberland are down to people just not keeping their distance, and also attending the Victoria Park protest the other week. Naff all of them were wearing masks and hand gel wouldn't have been a big ticket item either. Much better to take the loud hailer and just claim that there is no such thing as a coronavirus.

To make matters worse, for people like us, due to some incompetence at Australia Post at the moment, delivery of parcels in regional NSW is being cut back because they don't have enough trucks to handle the volumes. It's time the dopes that run that organisation handed back the gold watches I reckon.

Brad , many things are not consistent regarding borders.,plus it's a huge area .
1500 cases in NSW today, Many people may not agree with me ,but the only way forward now is to be vaccinated,!!!
A person would be foolish not to do so.
My wife is over seas and has covid,her mother has covid and her father .
Venie my lady had one shot and so did her mother , They both still got covid ,but are getting through it.
The father refused to get his First shot and is now in hospital with breathing problems .
So although venie and her mum only had the first shot it has helped them ward off the worse of it .
In there Street 5 people are dead from covid so those people who think this is a walk in the park and brush off the idea of being vaccinated are taking a huge risk.
Ive had both my shots , All I got was a bit of ringing in the ears and I was tired...
Food for thought.....Pete.....

Many people may not agree with me ,but the only way forward now is to be vaccinated,!!!

I agree 100%.

A person would be foolish not to do so.

I agree with that too.

In spite of me having some mild side effects to the Pfizer vaccine on the second dose, it was still worth it and I feel much safer, especially with the number of people disregarding the basic precautions. My closest shopping centre is Crows Nest, a place where people just congregate and socialise despite North Sydney Police Station only being about four blocks away.

One would think that when uniformed officers are sent to deal with a matter they randomly pass through shopping precincts on their way back to the station and infringe people who are doing the wrong thing and just making matters worse for the rest of us.

I am looking forward to the day we hit 80% double dose though.

I've probably got about 20 or so spare 6M5's but none are NOS, they are used out of old radios. The majority are those Philips ones that get all dirty inside and need to have the pins cleaned every so often.

Given their apparent rarity I might just hang on to them for now.