Old Tech: Tube Testers


 Old Tech

Tube Testers

In the pre-flatscreen era, and the pre-solid state electronics era, our TVs were full of a lot of vacuum tubes with limited lifetimes.  When the television misbehaved there was an option for a do-it-yourself repair before you called the service company, the a local store with a tube tester.
 
Our local 7-11, drugstore, and other shops had self-service tube testers and had an inventory of the more common tubes.  Pep Boys provided a helpful guide to take you to the tubes in your set that were the possible cause of your problem.
 
 

Unfold the little guide...
 
 
...and find your problem in the little pictures, then find the "tube group" to match your tubes so you know which tubes to pull and cart off to the tube tester.  And here is one:


Some retro HiFi enthusiasts still cling lovingly to their vacuum tube amplifiers.  Since the old vacuum tube TVs aren't compatible with modern TV standards, old television sets don't have the same following.

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