[Boatanchors] newbie question

[rbethman]

One of the very first places to go is:

<http://www.tubebooks.org/index.html>

Here, under the Technical books section is an entire library of the 
techniques for troubleshooting, and how everything works.

It becomes a matter of how big a hard drive you have, and what rate of 
download you have.

The different tools have been "basically" covered.  Related to that 
topic, I'd tell you that Jensen and Xcelite are toward the top end 
without being the extremely high priced top end.

I've yet to require any one single tool that required me to spend over 
$100 for.  Some will argue.  They have their opinion, and are entitled 
to it.

I DO have a tube tester.  I did NOT buy it.  It gets rare usage.  It 
also happens, solely by luck, to be one of the better ones.  It was made 
for Western Electric by Hickok.

Others have already pointed out that the *best* test for a tube is the 
circuit it gets used in.

A VTVM and even a DMM can check out a lot of major issues.

The site listed earlier in this message includes tube manuals. (These 
ARE large files!)  They and the prior sentence regarding multi-meters 
can get you through a bunch of basic testing of any vacuum tube.

The pinout in a tube manual will let you see what should and should NOT 
have a connection between them.  (That only applies when the tube is 
REMOVED from the socket.)

This entire group is a great source of information and help.  Don't 
hesitate to ask!  The only dumb question is the one you DON'T ask!

Welcome to the asylum!  There is a degree of insanity by the nature of 
the concept that we are all still using vacuum tubes.

Bob - N0DGN