[Boatanchors] testing 0A2 tubes?

[Sandy W5TVW]

There has been a lot of comments on this thread.  The ONLY device I have 
seen that will test gaseous regulator tubes accurately is the Hickok 539 
tube tester.  I am not sure, but the Military TV-2 may do this too.

73,
Sandy W5TVW
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Mijal" <bluebirdtele at earthlink.net>
To: "Eugene Hertz" <ehertz at tcaf.org>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] testing 0A2 tubes?


> Assuming your tube tester works correctly.
> Which brings up an interesting point.  How many of the folks out there 
> actually calibrate their "real" tube testers? May explain why so many 
> tubes test beyond good and turn out marginal or worse.
> I don't feel like I really need a tube tester for the work I do here. I'm 
> more comfortable with a substitution process using recycled tubes. Don't 
> need an ESR tester either. But that's just me.
> Good luck Eugene, I hope you checked the power resistor and voltages in 
> the circuit also.
> 73's
> Greg
> WA7LYO
> in sunny Feenix
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Eugene Hertz" <ehertz at tcaf.org>
> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 8:14 PM
> Subject: [Boatanchors] testing 0A2 tubes?
>
>
> Hello all, while trying to troubleshoot a possible regulation problem in a 
> transmitter, I decided to test my 0A2 tube in my tester which is an 
> I-177-B military thingy.  Apparently, the test it can do is limited and 
> they caution that this is only a partial test.  However, the results are 
> bizzare! So I thought my tube was bad because it tested around 500 (on the 
> scale, however I dont think its micromhos that its reading for 0A2 tubes) 
> but the needle would bounce around terribly while pressing the "GAS 1" 
> button. With each purple flash in the tube, the needle jumped sometimes to 
> zero. I even let the gas1 test stay on for 1 minute or so in case there 
> was warm up involved.
>
> So I decided to buy some more tubes. I bought a bunch on ebay from a 
> seller who has VG feedback and said the tubes were used but tested strong. 
> However on my tester, one was nearly a dud (scoring less than 50 on the 
> scale) others seemed very weak and "bouncy" while only 2 were "strong 
>  >500" and stable.
>
> What does it all mean? Is stability of the needle something that is good 
> or indifferent? The manual says >200 is good, but is 1000 better than 200 
> or is a tube like this either good or bad with no in between?
>
> Is there a better way to test these things? Should I throw out this tube 
> tester and get something "better?"
>
> thanks
> Eugene
>
>
>
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