6DS4 tubes

[Christian Fandt]

Upon the date 10:09 AM 7/11/99 -0500, Bob & Bettina Groh said something like:
>Dave,
>
>You either have a lot of bad tubes with open filaments or (more likely)
>your tube tester is not working.  I checked my 1971 ARRL Handbook and did
>find a listing for the 6DS4 - 6.3V high-mu triode.  You can check the
>filament connection on the tube with an ohm meter (expect somewhere around
>6 ohms or so?? ).  If ok, check the filament  sockets on the tube checker -
>should have 6.3VAC there.  If both check out, back to square one.  But I'll
>bet one or the other is not right (maybe the switches on the tube tester
>are not set right??).

Bob's suggestion about the tester not being setup correctly or that its
Nuvistor socket is defective may be on the money. As far as tube tester
setups are concerned there has been very occasional mistakes published in
setup charts (don't know what make/model tester you have). Also, if no
6.3VAC found between correct two pins of your tester socket, simply unplug
the unit, open it up and look for broken wires on that socket. If you have
a schematic of the tester which could guide you through the switching of
the fil. leads, use that to troubleshoot. That could be tedious but
nevertheless possible given the complexity of the setup switch wiring found
in many tube testers. If it was a Heathkit tester or some other brand kit,
possibly the person assembling it may have made poor solder joints. Even
factory-made instruments may have had a loose/poor solder connection. I've
seen that once in a while on different pieces of electronic equipment.

>
>Basically you have to have a filament glowing for the tube to have a prayer
>of working.  And that means it should definately be warm or even hot within
>30 seconds or so of turning it on.

After five or ten minutes you should get a rather hot tube shell if the
filament was burning; even able to burn one's finger (one of ten personal
digital thermometers with overrange indication built right into us ;)

Good luck Dave.

Regards,  Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt,         Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY  USA      cfandt at netsync.net
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