what multimeters do u have
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,968
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From: So Cal
Originally Posted by Bob Ayers
While we are showing our ages, who can remember the
"All American Five" ....35W4, 50C5, 12BE6, 12BA6, and 12AV6
"All American Five" ....35W4, 50C5, 12BE6, 12BA6, and 12AV6
Hope I still know how to use the old slide rule.
Jim Henderson
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: Charleston, SC
I've got a couple that came from Radio Shack around 20 years ago. They were free and I needed a multimeter!
Also got a couple boxes of old vacum tubes salvaged from stuff junked out in the woods. I'm not doing anything with them, are they worth anything?
Also got a couple boxes of old vacum tubes salvaged from stuff junked out in the woods. I'm not doing anything with them, are they worth anything?
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,968
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From: So Cal
Originally Posted by The Fife
I've got a couple that came from Radio Shack around 20 years ago. They were free and I needed a multimeter!
Also got a couple boxes of old vacum tubes salvaged from stuff junked out in the woods. I'm not doing anything with them, are they worth anything?
Also got a couple boxes of old vacum tubes salvaged from stuff junked out in the woods. I'm not doing anything with them, are they worth anything?
Take a look at EBAY, search for vacuum tubes and vaccuum tubes, note the uu. Single u will only get a small handfull of hits.
If they are used tubes the value is likely to be small unless they are special. New tubes are worth more. On the regular internet market, tubes go for around $5 and sometimes way up, even on common tubes. A common 12AU7 in new condition can go for around $0 and sometimes much more for special brands.
Take a look at http://store.electron-valve.com/ or http://www.vacuumtubes.com/
for street prices on new and used tubes. You won't necessarily get these prices but a useful guide.
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 389
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From: Charleston, SC
How do you go about testing these things? From what I remember, none of them had any corrosion on them and the lettering was still there. They came from lots of random stuff - tvs, a few radios, whatsits. You name it.
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2003
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Wow this thread seems more about tubes than anything. Im a bit to young to have see any exept in audio amps mic preamps.they still use em for a warm tone in high end components. But anyway I have a craftsmen thats less than a year old, Not a good as a fluke but i do Like the digital thermometer. Its great for checking water temp in the radiator.
Last edited by The_Ryan_Lilly; May 28, 2004 at 12:31 AM. Reason: Spelling
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 5,130
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From: Brea CA
Yeah tubes, it's amazing the world’s most expensive amplifier is a tube amp. Not that high tech either, hey let's boil some electrons. I like 'em though, they have a certain mystic with their orange glow plus they sound better, FETs come close. Is it the transconductance vs. transresistance?
Back to multimeters, ya know a direct thermocouple input sure is nice. I have one of those Craftsman meters too, for all of its features you sure can't beat the price. Hope it lasts longer than the other Craftsman meters I've had, they seem to last about a year before something goes wrong with them. Where are they made, in China? Luckly they've been just within their one year warranty so I've upgraded twice in the last two years. Maybe three's a charm. Speaking of temperature, next thing I wanna get is one of those laser sighted temperature guns.
Back to multimeters, ya know a direct thermocouple input sure is nice. I have one of those Craftsman meters too, for all of its features you sure can't beat the price. Hope it lasts longer than the other Craftsman meters I've had, they seem to last about a year before something goes wrong with them. Where are they made, in China? Luckly they've been just within their one year warranty so I've upgraded twice in the last two years. Maybe three's a charm. Speaking of temperature, next thing I wanna get is one of those laser sighted temperature guns.
Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
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I bought a Radio Shack Extech #22-816 meter the other day in desperation. It seems to work well and it was on sale. It has a direct thermocouple input also.
There is a recent thread on meters in G&W forum also.
There is a recent thread on meters in G&W forum also.
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From: Laveen
Wow I remember some of this stuff, I have a couple of flukes, one is an older model 27 but its still watertite, I went to school when the portable meter was a TS 352 and the typical bench meter was an ME 26 VTVM, it had the diode tube in the probe that looked like a *****. I worked on the old R390s and I used some of the VTVM differential voltmeters. I also found some of the old "digital" freq counters that used a vertical row of lights next to numbers to indicate frequency, I think one went all the way up to 1mhz, I wish I would have had somewhere to keep it.
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: So Cal
Tubes are interesting and still made in Eastern Europe, lots in Russia.
When I was going to the U in the late 70s, they tried to talk some of us EEs into becoming vacuum tube engineers. They said there was a growing demand due to most of the engineers dieing off and losts of high power electronics had to use tubes. Also the audiophile market loves tubes for high end stuff.
I like tubes just because it is like a lot of retro stuff, doing the old sometimes hard way. And besides I like high voltage and things that go poof.
Jim Henderson
When I was going to the U in the late 70s, they tried to talk some of us EEs into becoming vacuum tube engineers. They said there was a growing demand due to most of the engineers dieing off and losts of high power electronics had to use tubes. Also the audiophile market loves tubes for high end stuff.
I like tubes just because it is like a lot of retro stuff, doing the old sometimes hard way. And besides I like high voltage and things that go poof.
Jim Henderson
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