I suspect that for many of you the name Numitron is new, while for many others it will bring back (hopefully fond) memories. The venerable electron tube (a.k.a., thermionic valve) has all but disappeared from the mainstream electronics world, and along with them related old technologies such as the Nixie tube (featured in previous N&V articles), Dekatrons, Numitrons, and Panaplex displays, and (to a lesser extent) Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFDs) have also faded into the background.

This particular project was designed to showcase Numitron tubes (Figure 1), which are still available for a reasonable cost on eBay from old Russian cold war stock. As stocks (rapidly) dwindle, their cost increases steadily until they will be gone forever. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to build a useful project showcasing this beautiful cold war era component.

FIGURE 1. A Numitron tube (with a penny for scale) ready to install.