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183:, usually with a neon lamp connected in series with the filament/heater and a current limiting resistance fed directly by the mains. There is therefore no need to select the appropriate filament voltage for the particular tube under test, but this equipment will not identify tubes that may be faulty in other (more likely) ways, nor indicate any degree of wear. The same checks can be made with a cheap
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199:, with all elements other than filament connections connected together as the anode, at a fraction of its normal emission. By mistake referred to sometimes as Emission Tester because they are a crude measure of emission in directly heated types (but a measure of unwanted heater-cathode leakage in indirectly heated types). Switches will need to select the correct filament voltage and pins.
137:(thermionic valves). Tube testers evolved along with the vacuum tube to satisfy the demands of the time, and their evolution ended with the tube era. The first tube testers were simple units designed for specific tubes to be used in the battlefields of World War I by radio operators, so they could easily test the tubes of their communication equipment.
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of an emission tester is that it can test a good tube as bad, and a bad tube as good, because it ignores other properties of the tube. A tube with low emission will work perfectly fine in most circuits, and need not be replaced on that indication alone, unless it measures much lower than specified or
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by Orange
Amplification. While the AT1000, AudioTubeTester and the Maxi-test brand testers offer precise measurements of transconductance/Gm and emissions/iP at full or near-full voltages, the Orange tester offers a very simple numerical quality scale. The AudioTubeTester has a unique feature of
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From the late 1920s until the early 1970s, many department stores, drug stores and grocery stores in the U.S. had self-service tube-vending displays. They typically consisted of a tube tester atop a locked cabinet of tubes, with a flip chart of instructions. One would remove the tubes from a
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of an emission tester is that from all types of tube testers, it provides the most reliable warning of tube wear-out. If emission is at 70%, transconductance can be at 90% still, and gain at 100%. The best and most popular version used by the German army was the Funke W19 .
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A tester of this type applies DC voltage to the tube being tested, and datasheet values are verified under real conditions. Some parametric testers apply AC voltage to the tube being tested, with verification under conditions which simulate DC operation. Examples include the
384:; a radio or television set would have multiple identical sockets, so it was easy to mistakenly exchange tubes with different functions, but similar bases, between two different sockets. If testing showed all tubes to be working, the next step was a repair shop. As
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malfunctioning device, such as a radio or television, bring them to the store, and test them all, looking up the instructions from the model number on the tube and the flip chart. If a tube was defective, store personnel would sell a replacement from the cabinet.
219:, the current which the cathode is capable of emitting, for the given plate voltage, which can usually be controlled by a variable load resistor. Switches will need to select the correct filament voltage plus which pins belong to the filament and cathode(s).
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The mutual conductance tester tests the tube dynamically by applying bias and an AC voltage to the control grid, and measuring the current obtained on the plate, while maintaining the correct DC voltages on the plate and screen grid. This setup measures the
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284:, a type of tester developed by the Jackson Electrical Company of Dayton, Ohio. The main difference is the use of ‘proportional AC voltages’ in place of applying the current directly to the grids and plate.
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the amount of current that should be considered "100%" has to be known and documented for each tube type (and will be different for different emission test circuit details)
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which is just a variation of the continuity tester with a neon lamp, and which allows to identify if there is any shortcut between the different pairs of electrodes.
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they test the tube under static conditions, which are not even near the dynamic conditions the tube would work with in a real electronic device
215:, feeding the filament with the correct voltage, and an ammeter in series with either the plate or the cathode. This effectively measures
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in televisions. Devices typically had a removable back with a diagram showing where to replace each tube. There were only a few types of
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The most modern testers perform a multitude of the below tests and are fully automated. Examples of modern testers include the
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The tube checker is the second-simplest of all tube testers after filament continuity testing. Tubes are used as a low power
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grids will be forward biased to some extent - some fine control grid wires are limited in their ability to withstand this
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At that time, tubes in consumer devices were installed in sockets and were easily replaceable, except for the
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screen by use of a plug-in adapter, or on a dedicated curve tracer. An example is the
Tektronix 570.
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line of tube testers, along with the Funke W20 and the
Neuberger RPG375.
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is an electronic instrument designed to test certain characteristics of
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they do not measure key characteristics of tubes, like transconductance
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devices took over the market, the grocery-store tube-tester vanished.
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tubes with grids might not even show the real emission because of
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they do not perform the tests at real load, voltages and currents
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A full set of characteristic curves for vacuum tubes, and later
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in the cathode, hidden by the grids under normal conditions
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Know your Tube and
Transistor Testers, Robert G. Middleton
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Weston TV-8/USM31/686 parametric tube tester, testing a
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A "Sylvania
Electric" multimeter tester for vacuum tubes
437:"Jackson Tube Testers | | Tales from the Tone Lounge"
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
365:An RCA self-service tube tester on display at the
528:"Does Your Process Need Tube Testing Machines?"
226:if the ammeter is in series with the plate, or
564:Electrical and electronic measuring equipment
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230:if the meter is in series with the cathode.
171:quick tube matching +/- percentage display.
508:Radiomuseum: Electron Tube Curve Tracer 570
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280:A variation on the emission tester is the
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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488:"Mutual Conductance vs. Emission Test"
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341:Oscilloscope tube curve tracer plug-in
292:Usually, emission testers also have a
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
523:"The idiot's guide to tube testers"
222:Older testers may call themselves
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34:needs additional citations for
156:Space-Tech Lab AudioTubeTester
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760:Arbitrary waveform generator
663:Transformer ratio arm bridge
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179:The simplest tester is the
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333:of the tube, indicated in
282:dynamic conductance tester
207:Next in complexity is the
181:filament continuity tester
175:Filament continuity tester
806:Electronic test equipment
765:Digital pattern generator
658:Time-to-digital converter
653:Time-domain reflectometer
357:Self-service tube testers
347:for semiconductor devices
324:Mutual conductance tester
277:if it indicates a short.
367:Oklahoma History Center
785:Video-signal generator
445:http://tone-lizard.com
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613:Microwave power meter
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141:Types of tube testers
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16:Electronic instrument
638:Peak programme meter
187:'s resistance test.
43:improve this article
228:Cathode Conductance
160:Maxi pre-amp tester
770:Function generator
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294:short circuit test
288:Short circuit test
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729:Spectrum analyzer
668:Transistor tester
598:Frequency counter
593:Electricity meter
583:Capacitance meter
466:External link in
398:Transistor tester
300:Parametric tester
224:Plate Conductance
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58:"Tube tester"
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54:Find sources:
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32:This article
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811:Vacuum tubes
719:Oscilloscope
704:Bus analyzer
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603:Galvanometer
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492:. Retrieved
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448:. Retrieved
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351:oscilloscope
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135:vacuum tubes
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
739:Vectorscope
673:Tube tester
643:Psophometer
623:Megohmmeter
441:Tone Lizard
408:Bogey value
403:Tube socket
382:tube socket
168:DIVO VT1000
131:tube tester
99:August 2014
800:Categories
753:Generation
744:Videoscope
633:Peak meter
618:Multimeter
494:2010-12-08
450:2015-12-22
414:References
213:B+ voltage
185:multimeter
69:newspapers
683:Voltmeter
678:Wattmeter
608:LCR meter
335:micromhos
266:advantage
252:hot spots
197:rectifier
697:Analysis
688:VU meter
628:Ohmmeter
571:Metering
459:cite web
392:See also
217:emission
162:and the
648:Q meter
578:Ammeter
83:scholar
158:, the
154:, the
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237:are:
90:JSTOR
76:books
474:help
272:The
264:The
62:news
378:CRT
318:6L6
307:AVO
45:by
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