[turretslug]

Every now and then, it's possible to find ex-Soviet miniature (sort of 1" to 3cm range) CRTs being sold for not a lot on the auction site- I'd toyed with the idea of messing around with one of these to see if it would make a magic eye alternative. If the existing HT isn't enough to make a significantly bright trace, a sniff of secondary AC could be doubled as only tens or low hundreds of uA would be needed including the biassing chain. Probably unwise to go beyond a few hundred volts to avoid undue beam stiffness and low plate sensitivity. The appropriate amount of secondary AC could be applied to one set of plates to generate a de-focussed (i.e. both broad and non-burning) line in one plane with AGC being used to deflect it in the other plane. Things like whether to run elevated cathode (beware heater) or anode would need to be thought about, with necessary level-shifting applied to plate drive (involving not too much complexity with not too many small HV transistors). There's probably a glaring flaw in this scheme that I haven't spotted yet!