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April 1960 Electronics World
Table of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Electronics World, published May 1959
- December 1971. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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 Until solid state electronics had supplanted
the majority of vacuum tube type televisions and radios, portable tube testers were
essential equipment to successful, efficient troubleshooting and repair in businesses
and people's homes. Yep, believe it or not the stories told about doctors and electronics
repairmen visiting homes are not just fables. I remember as recently as the 1960s
having our family doctor make house calls when I or one of my fours sisters got
sick. Both doctors and TV servicemen ceased the practice at about the same time
- probably the result of a Brotherhood of Electronics Technicians and General Practitioners
collective bargaining agreement ;-) Many column inches of editorials, articles,
comics, and letters to the editor were devoted to the trials and tribulations of
in-home servicemen and the experiences they had dealing with customers. Do a search
of
television radio service on RF Cafe and you'll find lots of examples from
my collection of vintage electronics magazines.
This advertisement for B&K Manufacturing's line of vacuum tube testers is
from a 1960 issue of Electronics World. I still have a
B&K Dyna-Quik Model 650 vacuum tube tester (top photo in ad
below) given to me in the 1980s by
über engineer
Jim Wilson when I worked as a technician at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in
Annapolis, Maryland. The $179.95 cost in April 1960 is equivalent to $1,537.13 today
(2018), per the
BLS Inflation Calculator.
B & K Manufacturing Co. Ad
 Successful Servicemen
Save Customers
Sell More Tubes
Make More Money
With B& K
Dyna-Quik
dynamic Mutual Conductance
Tube
and Transistor
Testers
Many thousands of servicemen today insure their professional reputation and make
each job more profitable - with B&K testers. Each model is based on actual servicing
experience, and combines both speed and accuracy. Each is designed to meet individual
servicing needs. Each is a top value, with features that mean more for your money.
Measures true dynamic mutual conductance - not just emission. Makes complete
tube test under the actual dynamic operating conditions of the TV set. Tests complete
set in minutes. Shows your customer the true tube condition. Sells more tubes right-on-the-spot.
Saves costly call-backs. Pays for itself over and over again. It's good business
to choose B&K.
Model 650. Fastest and most complete portable Tube and Transistor Tester. Checks
ever 99% of the tubes most widely used in television receivers. Tests each section
of multiple tubes separately for Gm, Shorts, Grid Emission, Gas, and Life. Includes
spore sockets and filament voltages for future new lube types.
Test. Transistors, too. Net, $179.95
Model 675. Completely reliable, long-service Automatic Tube and Transistor Tester.
Only 60 indexed phenolic Dyno-Cards test over 99% of tubes most widely used in television
receivers. Tests each section of multiple tubes separately for Gm, Shorts, Grid
Emission, Gas, and Life. Easily kept up-to-date with extra cords and punch included.
Tests transistors, too. Net, $169.95
Model 550. Low-cost professional model for limited budgets. Provides 52 tube
sockets to test more tubes faster, easier. Accurately quick-checks most of the television
tubes usually encountered in everyday service work. Tests each section of dual tubes
separately for shorts, grid emission, gas content, and leakage. No multiple switching.
Big value. Net, $119. 95
See Your B&K Distributor or Send for Bulletin ST24 N
B&K Manufacturing Co. 1801 W. Belle Plaine Ave. Chicago 13, Ill.
Canada Atlas Radio Corp, 50 Wingold, Toronto 10, Ont.
Export: Empire Exporters, 277 Broadway, New York 7, U.S A
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