hickock tube tester

[linux-works]

anyone know anything about this?



model 6000a tube tester.

it was a free gift, so I can't complain

[xwarp]

I would not complain either!

Good for working on older tube equipment although your unit has transistor and diode capabilities.

Can go for a decent amount on that auction site.

(if I did not already have an I-177 tester, I'd be pm'ing you with trade offers!)

For more info, hit up www.antiqueradios.com and post about it in the test equipment forum there.

[linux-works]

I've started searching for info on this and I found a site that talks about calibrating it.

I guess a tear-down, at least, is in order   I'll try to get to that this weekend.

not sure I have a single tube in the house to even plug into it.  maybe I'll head over to quement electronics for a few sample tues.  (oh, right, they went out of business 10 or 20 years ago.  doh!)

I just noticed that the date on this thing is 1964.

[xwarp]

Why would you bother taking it apart if you don't plan on using it? 

My suggestion would be to leave it alone and list it for sale. Market value for that unit is about 175-250 and if you destroy the rollers or paper, you kill the value.

There is a market for tube related equipment. As stated, if I did not already have a good tester, I'd be making you an offer as I do restore old tube radios.

Sell it and use the $ towards equipment you will use.

Your property, do as you see fit.

[linux-works]

because its a requirement, here.  if we don't take things apart, we get yelled at

(aren't you curious?  I sure am, to see what's inside.  even if its mostly just wires and switches).

[KD0CAC John]

Not that I know a lot , but if it wasn't for taking things apart , I would know a whole lot less
I have one of the military TV-7 testers all were licensed by Hickok if other labels on them , mine is from Hickok .
My main interest is ham radio gear .
I have a bunch of internet links , this one is a good overall , breaks down into 2 sections for what tester to use for different uses .
http://tone-lizard.com/Tube_Testers.html

[KD0CAC John]

On another subject , related only because I clicked on notify to be sure I stay with thread ,
It seems that when ever I click on notify in a thread , I get many unrelated notifications ?

[PaulAm]

You can open it up pretty easily by taking out the screws around the perimeter.

You'll be disappointed at the insides though.  There'll be a multitap transformer, a bunch of switches, maybe a rectifier tube, a handful of resistors, a cap or two and a bunch of wire.  This was a service instrument designed to give the tech a replace/OK decision on tubes, usually at the customer location.

There were 2 basic types of tube testers - emisions and mutual conductance.  That latter, which this one is, are in demand and will bring pretty high prices.  Put an add on the antique radio site with a reasonable price and it will be gone within hours.

Even testers which read micromhos aren't standardized though and readings from one brand of tester do not match up with other brands.  From our current state of the art, it's a pretty pathetic piece of test equipment.  People have built computer controlled tube curve tracers which do map the actual device characteristics of tubes; those are pretty cool and give you real data to work with.