Supply Side is a series of occasional articles about companies in the supplier marketplace.

Steve Sanett is director of business development for Penta Laboratories in Newbury Park, Calif. 

Radio World: What is Penta Labs and what range of products does it offer?

Steve Sanett: Penta Labs is a manufacturer originally located in Santa Barbara, Calif. It commenced production of electron tubes in 1951, mostly supplying the U.S. government with power grid triodes, tetrodes and pentodes of various power output, ranging from 500 watts to 250 kW. It was a division of Raytheon for 15 years, acquiring an expanded range of expertise. 

Penta has now expanded into the vacuum capacitor product line with both fixed and variable capacitors.

[Read a history of Penta Labs.] 

RW: What broadcast bands and power levels do your products support?

Sanett: We manufacture a complete line of tubes originally made by Eimac, Amperex, Thomson CSF, Burle and Penta.

Our most popular tube types are 4CX7500A, 4CX7500A, 4CX15,000A, 4CX20,000 A, C, D, E. We manufacture about 75 different types including non-broadcasting types such as magnetrons and thyratrons.

RW: The shutdown of the former Econco facility, known for rebuilding vacuum tubes for transmitters, has drawn attention in the radio broadcasting industry. What services does your company offer in this area?

Sanett: We have been working diligently reducing costs of tube production so we could convert users from re-built tubes to new current product tubes at equal or lower pricing and warranty. We prefer to start with new materials that have not been subjected to multiple rebuilds and shipping back and forth of used and old burnt tube cores, usually in bad condition. 

RW: What else should we know?

Sanett: Penta has been around for 75 years. We have high-quality customer service and great turnaround for any issues that may arise.

We are currently the largest supplier in the world of ham radio type tubes, with a large presence on the internet. We stock most of the tubes that are used in the broadcast industry and can ship the same day that we receive the order.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The post Penta Labs Offers Range of Tube Options appeared first on Radio World.