Does this description make sense?

[venivdvici]

It seems late in the game for me to ask this, but what exactly is a road techie? Didn't repairmen go to the homes for those big consoles and if they couldn't fix it there, they brought it back to the shop? I'm sure some people could carry in their portables to the shop to probably save on a house call charge.

Originally Posted by old_coot88

On house calls, that's absolutely correct. However, most road techies would routinely give all the tubes the 'tap test' to reveal any borderline intermittents and arcing damper tubes (a very common problem). Weak tubes could often be identified by turning the set off for about 10 seconds and then back on. A lag in horizontal lock-in would reveal the oscillator tube becoming weak, a lag in color sync lock-in showed a weak color osc. tube, slow width fill-out showed a borderline horiz output tube, etc. For house calls the old adage was that the set itself is the best "tube tester".

But in the shop, all the tubes were routinely tested on a tester unless the customer specifically requested a cut rate.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by venivdvici

It seems late in the game for me to ask this, but what exactly is a road techie? Didn't repairmen go to the homes for those big consoles and if they couldn't fix it there, they brought it back to the shop? I'm sure some people could carry in their portables to the shop to probably save on a house call charge.

A road techie was a guy doing house calls. In the truck he would carry a toolbox, tube caddy, often a second caddy of lesser-used tubes, a dot/crosshatch generator, mirror and stand, degauss coil, and furniture blankets and ropes for transporting sets to and from the shop.
When big consoles and combos weren't fixable in the home, some shops preferred to pull just the TV chassis and take it to the shop. We generally took the whole unit rather than pull the chassis. I think that's why I got a bad back today.

Being a road guy generally required a lower skill level than a shop tech. But most shop guys would work in both roles as needed. Then there were the "dog shooters" - hotshot techs who specialized in the really tough troubleshooting jobs from other shops.

[venivdvici]

Thanks! Road techies, dog shooters. Cool names. I'm hoping to get my Radio & TV magazines tomorrow. Can't wait to read them.

Originally Posted by old_coot88

A road techie was a guy doing house calls. In the truck he would carry a toolbox, tube caddy, often a second caddy of lesser-used tubes, a dot/crosshatch generator, mirror and stand, degauss coil, and furniture blankets and ropes for transporting sets to and from the shop.
When big consoles and combos weren't fixable in the home, some shops preferred to pull just the TV chassis and take it to the shop. We generally took the whole unit rather than pull the chassis. I think that's why I got a bad back today.

Being a road guy generally required a lower skill level than a shop tech. But most shop guys would work in both roles as needed. Then there were the "dog shooters" - hotshot techs who specialized in the really tough troubleshooting jobs from other shops.