Antique Radio - Warm-up Time

Warm-up Time

Most valve sets needed a few seconds for the valves to heat up, though there were exceptions. Warm-up times changed as valves went through several generations of design.

  • Bright emitter valves universal in the early 1920s came on in a small fraction of a second, effectively instantly.
  • Direct dull emitters typical of the late '20s and 1930s came on in around a second. This type of valve continued to be popular in battery sets for several decades more.
  • Indirect emitters used in more or less all mains valve radios from the late 1930s onward were slow to reach emission temperature, with wait times routinely exceeding 10 seconds.
  • The last generation of valves was nuvistors. These tiny devices reached emission temperature fairly quickly.

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