Dave's Radio Adventures

[Bronal]

Over the past year or so, I've been enjoying the YouTube channel run by Dave Tipton, who lives in Brisbane, called Dave's Radio Adventures.  Dave is a vintage radio enthusiast, who posts very well-made and comprehensive videos on the restoration of vintage radios (and sometimes radiograms) ranging from the 1930s to transistor radios from the 1960s, although his chief interest appears to be valve radios from the 1940s to 1960s.  He does the whole lot, from rebuilding the radio to restoration of the cabinet, and many of the results are spectacular.

 

As can be imagined, many of these radios contain very tasty valves made by Mullard, Telefunken, Radiotron, AWV etc and some of the valve types are really obscure - not the kind that are used in hi fi.

 

One thing that does surprise me though is that he rarely changes valves, and then only when the valve is faulty or dead, despite that fact they can be over 70 years' old.  Surely in most cases they would be worn out or nearing the end of their lives?  Does anyone know why?  I was wondering whether this is accepted practice for radio restorers (perhaps because of cost), although there obviously must be specialist suppliers for the unusual types and new production valves of the more common types would probably be just as good.