Tube tester...anyone own their own?

If you want a general idea if your tubes are good or bad and are reasonably matched get a home grade Hickock or TV-7DU for a few hundred $. You will not get repeatable results from these testers. Each time you test a tube you will get somewhat different results.

FWIW I haven’t found that to be the case with my Hickok 800A. In fact on a number of occasions I’ve recorded measurements of a given tube, then repeated the measurements after many months of light to moderate use, and obtained essentially the same results.

I’m very careful, of course, to set the "Line Adjust" and other adjustments on the machine ("Bias" and "English") accurately, and to allow both the tester (which contains one or more tubes) and the tube under test a sufficient amount of time for warmup.

Best regards,
-- Al

I hadn’t been aware that Alan Douglas had passed away, but I see via a quick Google search that he died unexpectedly in 2015 at the age of 72. Very sad.

I have the definitive and beautifully done series of books he authored on "Radio Manufacturers of the 1920s."

On another note, Grant (Tvad), great to see you back here! Hope all is going well for you.

Best regards,
-- Al

I’ve been very pleased with a Hickok 800A I purchased from an antique radio collector in the 1990s. I’ve never had it calibrated, but testing I’ve performed on many NOS tubes (that I know to be truly NOS/never used) as well as various used tubes, in relation to my antique radio collecting hobby as well as in relation to my audio system, has given me high confidence in its accuracy. And the measurements it provides these days seem consistent with the ones it provided in the 1990s.

In searching for a Hickok or other quality tester it would probably be beneficial to include a perusal of the various antique radio-related forums in your search. And possibly also some of the links shown under "For Sale, Services, etc." around the middle of this page:

http://www.antiqueradio.com/radiolinks.html

Regards,
-- Al