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Yes, please restore this tube tester. While i do not work with tubes, I love listening to and watching your videos on these old machines.

This is where my career in electronics began in my uncles grocery store. He sold Radio /TV tubes. It was my assignment to help people do the tests , especially the ladies. Markup on tubes in a grocery store was good profit. Tube sales were slow as no one else was pro active in sales. I earned a commission on every tube I sold. In my senior year I signed up for RCA Technical Institute in New York City. The rest is all my history of a lifetime in electronics. I am glad I had mentors like Mr. Carlson.

In the early 70s, I worked for a chain Drug Store in the states. They had a large tube tester in the corner of the store. Prior to bringing your tubes in to be tested, you would pick up a pamphlet with numerous stickers in pairs. 1 sticker went on the tube and the other on the chassis so a person could put the tubes back where they belonged. It was amazing to watch a person bring in a lunch bag with a bunch of tubes to test. I recall one customer getting angry and hit the machine with his fist, the manager told him to stop or leave the store. Eventually, he bought a few new tubes and put them in the lunch bag with the others. When he got outside, for unknown reason(s) to me, he dropped the bag on the sidewalk. He was really mad and wanted the manager to refund his money. I just went back to scooping ice cream and laughing to myself. They took the machine out a few years later.

Would love to see the restoration of this since it shares some similarities to my 50s Taylor 45c. I think these are some of the best for beginners since they can give a good/bad indication as well as been cheep and easy to use.

I absolutely love the really artsy Art Deco stuff, and the rarer the better. This thing deserves a full restoration and needs to be used as your main tube tester for future videos. Probably one of my favorites along with the Supreme Vedolyzer.

My father-in-law started his activity in the electronics industry as a field man for Tung-Sol. This would have been the mid-1930's. He had a route (various drug stores, hardware stores and such). He would inventory the tubes, bill the store, restock, and test the tester. He had some great stories.

Mr Carlson proves once again he is a time traveler. How else do you get such old electronics, in good shape? He obviously built a time machine out of old tubes and handmade circuit boards and went back to restock all his tube and test equipment needs

Yes, I would definitely love to see you restore & calibrate this lovely meter!

I've only used a store tube tester once in 1966, when I was 16. My father asked me to test all the time tubes in our television set. Every tube tested bad, which I found hard to believe! Shortly after that, I purchased a late model Precision Apparatus tube tester from the estate of a radio and television man. Testing the tubes with that tester showed the tubes as good. Since then, I never trusted store tube testers.

You sir truly own some beautiful pieces of historical art.

Of course you must restore this item. I never miss any of your restoration videos they are quit informative on the vintage tech.

Yes, definitely want to see the restoration of this tube tester!

Id love that tube tester just lit up , even the neon bulb 💡 is awesome ..old stuff beautiful ..awesome piece test kit Mr Carlson hope you restored fully bud

Wow the humour in this episode! The jibes at "doubtful" and the black-hole of the bad tube within a tube... becoming a grandfather has brought out a bit of cheeky joy!

Yes, please do restore that lovely tube tester. I had to laugh with surprise at the ear piece, I'd never seen one before. How many people knew what it was? I have a suitcase type tube tester.

Yes I would like to see the restoration. When I was a kid there were vacuum tube testers in Radio Shack stores. My two favorite stores back then were the Hobby Shop and Radio Shack. Thanks for sharing another great video!

Yes, Paul I would like to see the restoration of this device. I believe we can learn a lot from an odd piece of equipment that is expertly restored. I am looking forward to your videos and it is great to see you back, I hope all is well.

My father was a pharmacist for Eckerd Drugs back in the 70's & 80's and they had a tube tester till about the early 80's. (my great grandfather was friends with Eckerd family way back when, they hunted and fished together, and whenever Jack Eckerd would pass through town he would stop and see dad to check on the family :-) When they stopped selling tubes they gave dad the tester AND all the tubes that were in the locked case below the tester... I miss those days... And I miss my father!!!

This being an early (1940's) tester you might bring us through what a typical customer repair looked like back then. Contrast that with the roadblocks we currently suffer under just to change the battery on a cell phone.

Absolutely fascinating!...Please put in the queue for a restoration video!!

Love learning little bits of trivia like deckle vs decal.

Excellent Paul. Thanks for sharing. If you have time, it'd be great to see this restored. 👍

If there's one thing Mr. Carlson is good for besides his vast technical knowledge then it's how he is able to and does explain EVERY - SINGLE - THING he shows in his videos, which is why I keep watching. He leaves no room for imagination with how the stuff works. Keep up the good work Mr. Carlson!

Although I do not like some aspects of KZfaq, people like you being able to share all of these interesting & fascinating things that we love with a whole bunch of people across the globe is invaluable ! Gotta love teh internet !

Awesome tester. I'm old enough I remember going into Thrifty Drugs with my Mom (or older brother) and testing our TV tubes. Was always a cr*pshoot if they'd have a replacement for the bad tube in the bin below the tester...but if they did and the new tube fixed the TV...WooHoo! Those were the days. Needless to say you get my upvote to restore this one. Looking forward to it!! DT

Yes! Please restore this historic piece! Thank you!

Mr Carlson It would be beautiful to see you wave your doctor electronic magic on this beautiful 1940's test equipment. I so love watching your vids and seeing your work as it reminds me of the days when I was a child and seeing repair worker's actually repairing the machines.

This channel would not have been complete without a tube tester review. Fantastic!

Mr Carlson, I would like to see this tube tester restored. Thank you for the techniques and knowledge which have made available to us.

This was great Professor Carlson and thank you for the explanations and tour of this classic tube tester. Brings back memories for me when I was a kid going to Sears (early/mid-1960's) and next to Customer Service was a tube tester. Absolutely would like to see this tester restored.

Thumbs up for the restoration project!

Neat! It's a Radiotechnic Labratory Tube tester. This has to be from the early 40's the shortcircuit detection patent (US2033347A) was granted in 1936. Apparently "Airline" was the trade name for Montgomery Ward branded tube radios so I'm betting that's the store this was made for.

For the rookies in this hobby like myself, seeing a tube tester restored is valuable information, please add it to your list.

With out a doubt, your funniest video. It's doubtful that without the tube quality indicator I wouldn't have laughed so much. It's brought to mind the Simpsons and Moe's love tester.

Love it.. more testers need a 'doubtful' And a restoration would be super.

I'm from Michigan, and went to College in Sault Ste. Marie just across the creek from Ontario, and in my 72 years of life I have never heard the pronunciation 'deck-al'. I learn something new every day, eh. BTW, I call a variable resistance adjusting a voltage a potentiometer, or 'pot', and I call a variable resistor adjusting a current a 'rheostat'. And it looks like that's pretty much the definitions you'll find online as well. BTW, I have a Heath tube tester to refurb, so your channel was the first place I came to learn more about tube testers. In fact, it's the first place I come to pick up tips on all of my old tube gear. I've seen several tube testers over the years, and I've never seen one of those that you have, so they must be pretty rare.

Mr Carlsons you are good at electronics and restoring vintage shortwave receivers and alignment vintage shortwave receivers

I have a bunch of tube testers because when I started there were still plenty of tube and hybrid TVs and radios in service so they were needed fix the junk I picked up to fix and sell or for myself. I have a military I-177b two box setup from the early 50s that will accurately test almost any tube ever made. I have a suitcase modern tester I was given by one of the TV repair shops I picked up reject customer sets to repair. I also have a cool wooden box one from the late 30s very similar to what you have in a much smaller box. I also have several Belton CRT rejuvinaters that were very useful to bring back TVs with weak picture tubes. I don't really use them or the many boxes of tubes I gathered up over the years. I don't really want to get rid of them but who knows, some are probably worth a lot of money now. Always enjoyed fixing and modifying anything I have. Pretty cool piece of gear and useful for fixing antique radios to this day if you have the charts which I'm sure it does.

I would suggest that since this was in a grocery, hardware or drug (or other type) of store with public accessibility, they wanted to keep someone from pulling out a screwdriver and seeing what was inside. Maybe just for curiosity, but maybe for malice. Hence the use of nuts on machine screws to attach the front panel. The chrome strip attachment clips are definitely similar to what is seen to hold similar strips on 1930s and 1940s cars. That is a classic attachment mechanism for the times. I think that this is definitely an early 1940's vintage tester. The late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s testers would have been much more complex. These devices would often check only the tube filament and maybe listening to the signal from transmission between anode and cathode (later replaced by a transconductance meter). Hence, only three (or four) connections to many octal and loctal tubes. The four to seven pin tubes would have needed more switch settings to configure the pins on the front-panel sockets. It may have even tested mechanical "vibrator" devices (which I recall were four to six pin devices) used to generate pulsed DC to step up to high voltage DC for early radios (basically a mechanical switch-mode power supply). Having no miniature tube sockets (let alone Compactron or Nuvistor), and none of the older 3-pin tube bases like the "Pee-Wee" and European types used starting in the 1920s. As for bulbs, I've seen some older equipment like this where there were early bayonet sockets used. The filament would have had a "side", and so putting the bulb in 180-degrees out of the sweet spot would cast a shadow on the dial. That was not a problem with the screw type sockets or the bayonet types that had one pin track higher than the other. The neon bulb used to be available in several types, but all would trigger at 90 volts, so I'm surprised that your unit didn't have its neon bulb light up. The "D" electrode types were very useful for polarity determination, as could the pin-type (like the NE-2), with other types available, but not as intuitive for polarity detection. This would be a fun restoration to see. Sorry to hear of your loss and the joyous news about a new grandchild. Condolences on your loss, and congratulations on your new family member!

That’s a beauty, I love tube testers and love watching you restore them and I love restoring them.

You make learning electronics fun, in part because of diversions like the one here: 8:41 - 9:04 😂

In my opinion this is worth a video restoration even if its only because its so old. Liked the teardown. Randy/GA

New to the channel. Didn't know Bob Ross did electronic teardowns as well! Such a relaxing video.

I vote restore. I would also like to see 7 and 9 pin miniature sockets installed (maybe replace the unwired sockets) so that modern tubes could be tested. Figuring out the necessary settings on the tester for these modern tubes sounds like a fascinating exercise.

Dear Paul: I remember going with my dad taking tubes from our living room TV to Walgreens pharmacy to check them in the tube tester in the store.

That may not be the most valuable thing, but I love it! A great pice of Americana worth preserving.

Paul, I can't believe you own a bucket truck. I have no earthly use for one, but I am still oddly jealous!

I really remember the tube testers at drug stores and hardware stores when I was a young. I remember trying to fix our family's radios and TVs by putting all the tubes in a bag, taking them to the store, and testing them. Today, I really doubt the quality and calibration of those retail store testers. They usually seemed to identify a lot of tubes as being bad. And, chances are, they didn't have the tubes you needed in stock to sell, anyway. I remember buying tubes we didn't actually need, and the problem not being fixed. I also remembered when the professional TV repair guy would make a visit, he's carry in some big tube caddies, and just immediately start substituting tubes, not using a tube tester at all. When you understood the circuitry, a lot of potential problems were obvious.

Put them all on the list Mr. Carlson, every single one.

Absolutely old stuff like this has some strange childhood magical feeling about them 😊

Thanks you for explaning the difference between a de-cal and a dek- all.

Darn right you should restore this tube tester! It's so interesting how you trouble shoot!

Please restore this. It is such a cool looking and (as you say) rare piece.

I sure have learned a lot from you. Thanks.

The pronunciation of decal made me smile. I got hooked on Corner Gas during a trip to Prince Edward Island, and Brent Butt pronounces it like you do. You're right... down in the states we say Dee-cal not deckle. :-)

Seeing this restored would be great! Thanks for all you do.

By all means please DO proceed with the restoration of this unit! No hurry, but please do make the video. This one is quite interesting. I learned a bit that I wouldn't have expected to have learned with your showing the things you did on this one. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to use LED'S on this one to illuminate the metering display, but I do understand your desire to keep it as original as possible. With almost every device of this vintage, there are always things you "could" do for one effect or another, but there are always consequences of every action of that sort. You and your videos are much appreciated!

jay the florida pool pump motor repair guy when service calls Longwood approved ! that was good info 2 see/know 👨‍🔧Mr Carlson's Lab

As an American I really enjoyed this episooooude of Mr. Carlson's Lab.

Yes Paul, I certainly would love to see you restore this good looking tube tester. It is so good to see you back with these projects. Hello from Tennessee.

AWESOME piece. YES, PLZ restore. BTW I was wondering if you would, or have, restore a WW 2 U.S. Army Signal Corps SCR-508/608 (Sherman tank radio) or SCR-610, 509 (Jeep radios). The 508 was common in tanks and 1/2 tracks whereas the 610 and 509's were more common in light vehicles. The 608 was for artillery units. The 508 and 509 operated at 20.0mc to 27.9mc. The 608 and 610's operated at 27.0mc to 38.9mc So all these radios could communicate with one another at least in the cross over area of 27.0-27.9mc. They are relatively short range, between 5 to 10 miles and a lot of fun. I have restored probably a dozen of each for friends who own military vehicles. These are the radios I learned how to work on this stuff. I would love to get your take on the process of restoration on these radios to see how well, or poorly, I did. Especially on the tuning and aligning process. Thanks. As always I look forward to more exciting videos from you. 🥸

I would love to see the restoration of this device, especially given your comment that very few of them have survived. It both has a historical value, and would likely serve as a good lesson in how early electronics were constructed, which I find very insightful into understanding how they have since evolved - and as importantly, why things evolved in that way.

Absolutely would love to see the restoration of this beautiful piece

Yes please, I would very much like to see the restoration of the tube tester. Thank you

About that 3-wire socket... 1. I'd search the table in reverse to find matching tube. 2. There were directly heated cathodes - heater wire *is* the cathode in that case. Directly heated diode would have just 3 wires. 3. The red wire in the middle of the front panel intrigues me - it might be for the lamps that have anode terminal on top of the bulb. This would allow to test indirectly heated diode or directly heated triode. Best regards and glad you're back.

Wow that is an old one. About 45 years ago now I fixed first TV. Eventually moved on to get ECE degree and left that career behind, but still enjoy watching the videos to recall my early roots in electronics. Things sure have changed.

It's interesting to think of some fellow in a fedora walking into the drug store in 1943 and testing a vacuum tube and then going home and shoving it back into his old RCA and listening to war time radio. Different time. Different place. Different everything. Please restore this old time capsule soon!

I surely would love to see the restoration of this old tube tester. I’m a big fan of vacuum tubes! Love anything and everything about them. So you bet I want to see the restoration of this rarity.

Yes this needs your touch! It is a beautiful piece of history. Thank you for the videos I have learned more from you than some of the teachers I had in college on electronics!

Yes I would love to see 👀 the restoration of that, vacuum tube tester.

Yes, I have 2 testers that I plan on tackling. This would be very informative.

Oh what memories that brings back. I remember having to walk into Thrifty's Drug store, to find the tube tester. I found one that supposedly still works at a electronics store in San Bernardino called "Mac's Electronics" Just another one of the places where you can find old vintage parts for whatever you can think of.

this tube tester is so neat. Electricians tester NE34. looks like out in the country the radio repair people were sparse so mom goes to town and checks the tubes and gets supper. 😎

MR. CARLSON, KINDLY TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY. HOW MANY CHILDREN YOU HAVE AND IF THEY ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR WORK AND THEY WILL CONTINUE TO WORK IN YOUR HUGE WORKSHOP AND WILL MAINTAIN THE WORKSHOP AFTER YOU. I PRAY FOR YOUR LONG LIFE AND WISH YOU CROSS THE 100TH BIRTHDAY 🎂

Absolutely! It's working but I wonder how accurate. Only the Mr Carlson treatment will reveal the truth

Yes! We would like to see the restoration of the tube tester. Thanks.

awesome stuff ..what a sweet looking tube tester form back in the day ... big thumbs up

Yes restoration of the tube tester is something i am interested in seeing

"Doubtful" leaves no doubt about that poor tube. I got a real laugh out of that. But all joking aside this is really a real gem of a project to restore. I can't wait to follow along.

If/when you do restore it, could you also cover the significance of the 'Airline' term on the decals. Thanks for another interesting and informative video Paul.

Love to see this restoration. Lovely bit of kit. Thanks for sharing Paul.

Most definitely like to follow the restoration process of this. Thank you so much for sharing

Seeing this restored would be awesome!

this tube tester just shows that right to repair was once a selling point for products. pity that is not the way it is today

Yes, i would like to see the restoration of this tube tester. I picked up a Mercury 2000 tube tester a few months back and it needs some work. So, i am interested in seeing how you tackle this restoration. Thanks for great videos!

Any restoration you do is enjoyable, and I like the antique vacuum tube equipment the most.

This video was also worth watching. Thank you!

Thanks for bringing us along to take a look at this device. I can tell you definitely had fun filming this video. I, for one, would definitely like to see this device restored. I think it's doubtful that such a video would go unappreciated.

I love that you’re posting more frequently! Of course restore the tester!

What amazes me the most is that back in that day the average professional homeowner would know how to use that tester with ease. Someone else I watch on KZfaq points out that automobile owners manuals used to tell you things like how to time your car, how to tune the carb, give you an electrical schematic...Now they tell you how to turn on the radio...

Mr Carlsons your Elarly 1940s Rtl airline tube tester is cool

Very cool. Would love to see it restored!

Wow, neat. Made right up the road in Evanston IL.

Nice item, beautiful, thank you for sharing.

This would be a fun restore I would love to see it fixed up.

Well, I learned something. That device has always been a rheostat to me --- so I'm from "back in the day." Yeah, let's restore, should be easy compared to most other things you tackle. This is especially interesting to me as I used these things in drug stores in the 1950s to test TV tubes (yeah, I guess back in the day!). Thanks, great as always.

Oh heck yes. Do a "quickie" restore project. Just highlight the steps and notable problems that you encounter. I'd love to see it. Thanks for the video. I always appreciate and look forward to your projects. Cheers.

Mr. Carlson, I have been watching you for over two years - it is one of the best pick me up to watch your work. I love it. I have meaning to inquire, I have an old 1980s TenTec 4 mutiband ham gear. I serviced the VFO works fine changed all the caps. BUT it badly needs alignment. Would you be interested in having fun with it and of course I will be great full. Cheers!

I’d love to see this restoration. Nice!