Hey, Fly320s, this one is for you

[kgbsquirrel]

"If you can’t fix it with a hammer, it’s an electrical problem."

Well, sorta.

Back when I was doing service calls for a TV shop,  first thing I would do is check to see if it was plugged in.  It was amazing how often that was all that was "wrong."  I'd have to charge them $5.00 for the service call, which was almost always a problem, but some customers had a smack-their-forehead sense of humor about it.

Next thing was to give it a good schmecken on both sides, which sometimes brought it to life, but that was a legitimate diagnostic technique since it meant one of those glass bottles packed with vacuum and electrons was loose in its socket.  

This was an excuse to open up the tube tester and I could inevitably find a weak tube I could replace for $2.00 or so + the $5.00 service call.
 
Anything more than that, I'd have to bring the set in to the shop.

Terry

The moneymaker:

Ooo, that's shiny.

[230RN]

Yes, portable tube testers are impressive gewgaws.  One of the first things I learned was to pull the tubes one at a time, test it, and then plug it back in to its proper socket.  Embarrassing to forget which one went where otherwise.

Up until about twenty years ago I still had two portable testers around the house a-gathering dust.  IIRC, they still had to use vacuum tubes for the anode voltage rectifiers until about then.

[MechAg94]

Interesting.  When I was little, my brother I had a small 13" black and white TV to watch bugs bunny and road runner.  We had to slap it a little to keep the picture stable sometimes. 

My grandfather was an electronics tech in the Navy in WWII.  He did some TV repair on the side. 

[kgbsquirrel]

Yes, portable tube testers are impressive gewgaws.  One of the first things I learned was to pull the tubes one at a time, test it, and then plug it back in to its proper socket.  Embarrassing to forget which one went where otherwise.

Up until about twenty years ago I still had two portable testers around the house a-gathering dust.  IIRC, they still had to use vacuum tubes for the anode voltage rectifiers until about then.

Here's a channel you might like.  Guy taught himself how to make nixie tubes and has made a small business of it.

https://m.youtube.com/user/daliborfarny

[RocketMan]

I have a Hickok 580A lab grade tube tester that I need to refurbish one of these days.  It's a project that will be a lot of fun, hopefully.
I built a digital tube tester last year that was designed by a guy that used to work for Phillips in Holland.  It's a real nice piece of kit, and the plan is to use it to test and verify the 580A refurb when it's done.
I miss the warm glow of my old tube ham radio gear that I sold years ago.  Sigh...

[230RN]

Interesting about the precision Hickok tube tester.  Most of the time emission was a good enough parameter... I mean, like no regular tube tester was equipped to put full plate voltage on a 1B3* tube.

My boss gave me a Hickok something or other** oscilloscope when it was time to quit.  I did real good with customer relations on service calls, so he wanted to show his appreciation.


Terry

* A common high voltage 20-30 kV rectifier for the screen voltage on TV sets.  Fed output into high voltage doorknob capacitors for filtering.  Why did they call them doorknob capacitors?  Here's why:



(Pic credit in properties)

**  I recall it being a 505, but it seemed bigger than the images of the 505 oscilloscope I can find on the net.