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SP4

Sensibly equivalent to:
8A1 A50A AC/S2 AC/SG ARP6 CV1324 CV1324 CV1468 HP4101C MS/Pen MSP4 SPT4A
See also:
Mullard AC Mains Valves - Some Important British Valves - Mullard SP4 & VP4 Advert - Mullard VP4 & SP4 Advert - The Latest Valves - New Valves
    
Extras ▼

 

Mullard describe the SP4 as an indirectly heated HF pentode for use as a speech detector, or RF amplifier, in AC mains receivers. The B5 based version was introduced in 1933 and the B7 based version a year later.
The heating time is given as 35 seconds. Equally important is its relatively thick heater (1 Amp rating) and improved heater-cathode insulation.
Apart from its ungainly size, the main weakness of the SP4 was that it was unsuitable for AGC applications and therefore had no place in the 'modern' type of superhet which became the norm from the mid-1930s onwards, using the variable-mu pentode for RF and IF amplification.
This exhibit has the later version of the shouldered or classic envelope shape with the 'top hat' top cap and the bright gold paint with the B5 base, See SP4 for the B7 base version. SP4 has the initial shouldered envelope shape and is missing the Bakelite screw type top cap that is present in SP4.
The reverse is plain.
The classic envelope is 49 mm in diameter and, excluding the B5 base pins, is 121 mm tall.
References: Data-sheet & 1043. Type SP4 was first introduced in 1933. See also 1933 adverts.

 

Pin Connections
B5
1
2
3
4
5
tc
g2
g1
h
h
k
a

 

Absolute Maximum Operating Conditions
Pentode
Vh
Ah
Va
Vs
Vg
mAa
mAs
ra
gm
4.0
1.0
200
100
-2
3.0
1.1
2.2M
2.3
Thanks to Andy Cowley for supplying the above PDF datasheet.
Updated September 04, 2022.
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