Quote:
Originally Posted by init4fun
Back when I was first starting out in the hobby I had the same mentality; "The tube tester says it's bad so it's gotta be bad" even though it still worked fine in the radio. I eventually learned that it's how the tube performs in the radio, and not on the tube tester, that determines whether a tube is good or not. Tube testers sometimes lie, whereas a properly performing radio does not  |
You are correct. Tube testers, even mutual-conductance testers, do not test vacuum tubes in so-called "real world" conditions, so they cannot be relied upon to provide reliable results. Replacement of a weak or outright defective tube with one known to be good has always been the best way to deal with tube problems. Tube testers are good, but they are not infallible. It is for this reason, again, that the best way to deal with a tube which a tube tester tells you is defective is to replace that tube with one you know is good.