[R-390] TV series overview

[Frank Hughes]

Overview of TV models from Roger Kennedy's site:

http://www.alltubetesters.com/articles/tester_guide.htm

The Military Models

Most all military testers utilized the Hickok circuit design. TV-2 series,
TV-3 series, TV-7, and TV-10 series. And the AN/USM-118A/B series Cardmatic
models as well.

The TV-2 is very good tester. Time consuming and a little complicated to
setup. All the parts were military grade and built for battle so the
testers are rugged. This is a very good tester if you don't mind the setup
procedure. The meter displays percent quality which is not direct Gm but
the actual Gm value can be obtained by the use of a chart or some basic
math calculations.

The TV-3 series are also good testers. They also contain a built in VOM
(volt ohm meter) which in today's environment is mostly useless. However,
it does display Gm directly and measures shorts/leakage to 300K ohms and
has three Gm range scales: 3000, 6000, 15,000

The TV-7 series is a good and popular tester. The meter displays in a
single numeric scale which can be directly converted to actual Gm by using
a chart or doing the math. This unit has up to 5 Gm ranges depending on the
model you obtain. The TV-7 D/U was the final model built and has the most
Gm ranges with the latest upgrades and best overall performance of the TV-7
series.

The TV-10 series is yet another good tester. The TV-3 and TV-10 are almost
identical except the TV-10 series does not have the built in VOM operation.
This unit measures directly in Gm.

The military cardmatics AN/USM-118A or B versions are the same as the
commercial Hickok 1234A or B version or the Western Electric KS-17xxxxxx L1
or L2 versions. The only difference is the military grade components and
the cost to make them, which the US taxpayers covered. This is an excellent
tester with a +/- 4% accuracy in readings when properly serviced and
calibrated. You do need to obtain, or punch the cards for the tubes you
will be testing. The meter reading is percent qualty but the tube reference
manual that came with the unit makes it easy to calculate the actual Gm
test value. No knobs to switch all operation set up by the tube test card
you put in.



I sent him a TV-10 to be updated and calibrated, plus some solid state mods.

As he is a one-man operation, I was not in a hurry, and in a few months I
received a very nice TV-10 that I have used for many years now.
73
Frank
KJ4OLL