MX-11769

MX-11769 is the designation for a specification for image intensifier tubes for the United States military.

The designation is often used to refer to the format of the tube specified inside of the specification, as all iterations of the specification reuse the same format to facilitate backwards compatibility.

The format is a modified version of the MX-10160 format, with the key difference being a ribbon cable (often called pigtail) leading from contacts in the side of the image intensifier tube to a small electronic circuit, which can be plugged into compatible housings to allow manual gain adjustment, usually in the form of an potentiometer on the exterior of the housing. Usual the resistance of that potentiometer is around 180KΩ, where higher resitance lead to a higher gain.

Its possible to convert a MX11769 to MX-10160 format by desoldering the ribbon cable and replace it with a resistor (usualy between 150-180KΩ. On newer tubes from L3Harris its even simpler, there the ribbon cable is simply plugged in and you din't need to replace it by a resistor.