[oscarmyers]

I'm new the to the forum, couldn't find a introduction thread so I'll put it here. Active duty Navy in Virginia beach and is a former Aviation Electrician turned NFO. Been wanting to get into tube radios for sometime and finally found a nice Philco 46-1203 to get started. I was wondering what kind of test equipment would you guys consider essential for getting started and operating safely. Looking forward to learning and getting my tinker on!

[Eric Adams]

Welcome to the Phorum. I would recommend an isolation transformer and variac. A DVM and RF signal generator would be good to have also. Now lets wait to see what the group thinks

[codefox1]

A fistfull of DC ammeters of diferent values which can be had cheaply at times is nice, and a working or restorable VTVM also will help. A cheap modern digital frequency counter will tame the vintage RF generato you may get, and just about any working tube tester that has sockets for the vintage sets you think you maybe working on would also be nice. I use an old fashioned lamp dimmer to tame down the soldering iron and also sub for a variac, although there is no isolation and it don't work on solid state sets.

[morzh]

In fact unless you want your bench to look like the old repair shop, a Fluke or a less expensive Tenma and such DMM will do you just fine, being an ammeter and a VTVM at the same time. And for the price of one Fluke you could have 5 Tenmas.

[oscarmyers]

Thanks for the feedback. I already have a Fluke 117 meter. Although I wouldn't mind having some mad scientist gear on my bench. :-) Any suggestions for reputable used test equipment dealers online? Also another question, I came across a repairman case full of antique NIB tubes at my local antique store. Guys asking about $100 for it. Is it worth picking up? If I had to guess it has 30+ tubes in it.

[gregb]

Until you are familiar with what tubes do what be careful with those case deals. The carry cases were used by the TV repair guys and most times are full of TV tubes that will do you no good for an old radio.
For test equipment it will depend on how deep your wallet is and how far you want to go with the hobby. A DMM for sure, an RF signal generator, one of those cheap digital scopes or a signal tracer of some kind. That will get you going and cover most cases.

Gregb

[Warren]

"Cheap" digital scopes? ... Wish i saw one of those before I bought my Tektronics 200mhz dual trace analog.

[gregb]

Bought mine on ebay a couple years ago, not as nice as yours but only $239.00. Dual trace, 20mhz, two probes, works great for radio work.

Gregb