buying some more test equipment

**ranjam** · 01-14-2013

This is just a quick go through for me. If I was serious, I'd find more. But, for starters;

The Albany Ham Radio Association (k2ct.net) will have a flea market 'listing' on their website, and swap meets that I can't find dates for just yet. But their office is on Delaware Avenue. Ham Swap Meets are where I find lots of test equipment.
Troy is a 15 minute drive North of Albany, and Troy also has a Ham Radio Club. They also have an online 'For Sale' page, and have swap meets.
If ham radio swap meets aren't for you, try old TV service shops, as I've said. Without knowing the area as well as you, I go with cool names and ads that say they service TV's, VCR's(!), and radios. There's John Greco Color Service in Cohoes, PMB Electronics in Troy, Lake Electronics in Albany, Madison Radio in Albany, Electronics Specialists in Albany, and that's just a start.

There has to be a supply house in town, or people who sell parts to these TV shops. That could be (it's hard to tell from their Yellow Page ad) Wells Communications in Troy. I go in and ask if they still see any old timers buying parts, and get a name. Anywhere I go, I get names, or at least leave mine. Even leave your name at all the ham radio swap meets you check out (if you check out any). Just tell them you are playing with old tube radios (that'll get their attention), and would like some test equipment to help learn. Heck, I've walked away with tube manuals, tubes, or even parts like a loaded set of Sprague Orange Drop capacitor drawers. That was cool and weird at the same time, as there was a .02uF drawer and a .022uF drawer as an example. Apparently 'exact value' was critical to some color burst circuits. None the less, I had enough Orange Drops to redo a lot of amplifiers.
There are no 'dead ends'. If you strike out at one place, ask about any old time radio guys in town. They will have some cool test gear for tube equipment. Always remember; way back then a good tube tester was very expensive, so no one threw them out. Good luck, and do tell me what you find!

**dragonworks** · 01-15-2013

There is a surplus store about thirty five miles away I go to all the time. They never have much test equipment, or it doesn't last, but I buy a sandwich bag full of caps and it cost me five bucks. Any tube, two bucks, not many I want, picked up a metal 6L6 and a 5Y3 the last time I went. I usually go at least once a month. They have all kinds of junk, it is pretty cool. Lots of transformers which I am not that up on yet.

**ranjam** · 01-15-2013

Go in there with some coffee and doughnuts, and make sure they know to get names of any old timers that pop in for some surplus parts. Ask who fixed TV's back in the day. It's a start.
The ham folks always have a flea market, where one guy brings his crap trying to sell it to you rather than throw it out. It was expensive in the old days. Back in the 50's, a Hickok tube tester was $200 and a crummy 4.5MHz oscilloscope was more than twice that! Keep in mind back in the 50's the average American worker took home maybe $3K a year. I used to chat up one old time radio repairman who told me even a real lousy VOM cost him a weeks pay! These guys never threw out anything. Keep digging! Somebody knows someone!

**Blue Jinn** · 01-16-2013

Wonder what ever happened to the ones that were in all those Rexall drug stores.... Even my local Radio Shack had one back in 1976.

**ranjam** · 01-17-2013

Originally Posted by Blue Jinn

Wonder what ever happened to the ones that were in all those Rexall drug stores.... Even my local Radio Shack had one back in 1976.

Those would be 'emission' testers, which aren't too reliable or sought after today.

tubetester.jpg

The TV guys (at least around here) seemed to like B&K, and B&K made a plethora of different testers for every budget. Ham guys like to build, so they might have a 'kit' like Eico or even Heathkit. But those aren't as 'good' as a B&K, although if the price is right, I'd take a 'lowly' Heathkit. It makes a fine backup unit.

t1.jpg

**Blue Jinn** · 01-18-2013

There you have it.

I can't remember the model I have. Hand me down from my dad circa 1962. Tests most receiving tubes, I don't think it will test something like e.g. an 807.

**ranjam** · 01-18-2013

807's have the Plate cap, so any real old tester would do. I'll bet your Heathkit can test an 807. However, the 807 has a rated Plate voltage of something like +700VDC, so a bad tube may not show up on a tester with maybe +150VDC for the Plate supply. I've heard many old repair guys say when their tester 'lied' to them, they stopped using a tube tester and went with substitution. But a good tube tester to me is better than nothing, and a shorted tube at +150VDC is still shorted at +700VDC, so I use a tester to find bad tubes, and not try and tell me how good a tube is.
Oh, another thing you can do with a home-made bias probe; check the Plate current as you test the tube. Read the gm (if it is a gm tester) and Plate current, and start your own matching process that way. It's something to do on a rainy weekend.

**dragonworks** · 01-21-2013

if you want the skinny on tube testers go here.

۞۞JACMUSIC Tube tester collection

**dragonworks** · 01-26-2013

went to the of an estate sale, missed the yard sale part of it but I was able to score the following for a hundred bucks, 1 general radio company Megohmeter Type 1862-C, 1 Techtronix 434 oscilloscope with cart cool, one Eico 955 in circuit cap tester, one Superior Instrument company Genometer Model TV-50A a radio and audio, vertical and horizontal bar generator, 1 RCA Senior Volt Meter, ! Allied Knight Scope 83YU144, one scope cathode ray tube brand new in the box, two power supplies, 1 HP frequency generator, two large equipment racks on good casters, all steel, books, 1 really nice speaker, nice solid wood cabinet, might make a cool bass cab, soldering guns, rolls of solder, tons of fuses, some kind of one one hundredth of a second clock, Test leads, new raw meters, and other various junk.