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What Can Be Done with a Tube Collection?

Posted by Cliff on from the it's-not-old...it's-vintage dept.

caffiend666 asks: "My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 50s to early 70s. Most of his repair equipment is still available, complete with hundreds of tubes, discrete components, switches, tube tester, dot bar generator, oscilloscope, and more. They are selling the farm, and we are trying to dispose of this equipment gracefully. Anybody know of a good way to donate them as a complete set for a write-off? The condition of the equipment varies from great to horrid. There are some pictures showing a little of what we have, on my website. Any advice or stories for selling 35+ year old electronic equipment? Does anyone know of a museum that would appreciate the equipment?"

4 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. already slashdotted...tsk tsk by biggyfries · · Score: 2, Funny

    you should really sign up for Geocities Pro, if you're going to have slashdot traffic. :)

  2. Donate them to your church... by sockit2me9000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You must have faith if you post a geocities adress to slashdot.

  3. '82 Subaru by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have a '82 Subaru hatch-back filled with old text-books. Anyone want them? Car comes with the deal, you tow.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  4. Ah, the good old days. by sakusha · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does anyone else recall the olden days when the local dimestores had tube testers, you could bring in your tubes and test, and then get replacements from the rack under the tester? I remember going down to the local Woolworth's all the time, our TV was always on the fritz and I seemed to be able to repair it most of the time. The Woolworth's machine always had a stack of little stickers with pairs of numbers, so you could put a numbered sticker on each tube and the same number on the socket, so you could put them all back in the right spots.

    I remember an old "how-to article" in Mad Magazine about how to repair your tube TV. It went something like this:

    1. Open the TV and remove all the tubes.
    2. Take them down to the store and test them one by one in the test machine.
    3. Identify the defective tube(s) and buy replacements.
    4. Put all the tubes back in position according to the little numbered stickers you used when you removed the tubes. Oops, did we forget to mention that in step 1? Uh-oh, now you're in trouble!