Just scored the most unexpected tube analyzer at auction. I got it for about 1c per pound I think ... it's one heavy beastie. Looks almost like it just rolled off the assembly line... it is in outstanding condition!

I'll have to find the mating plug for the tube socket adapter to play with it but it sure is pretty. I might make a socket adapter panel from an old tester perhaps.

Looks like a New London copy sorta.......... hmmmmm

GEE, if the manual says use blue knob to... or use the yellow knob to....
and your colorblind, I guess your screwed!!


NICE score there.


Tell us more when you get it figured out and working.

Dave I will ... it's in line behind the New London 901, the Hickok 539B, the Hickok 580, The RCA TK41 camera, and mowing my lawn........

Btw .. does anyone know offhand the part number for the winchester connector that mates up with the tube socket adapters? It's a female needed, tester is a male. I'll find it by other means, but there's probably someone here that knows it off the top of their head

Super impressive, always wanted one, but almost never come up for sale let alone in that condition. I looked into the top socket a long time ago when I was going to buy one and they would occasionally surface, if I thought it was a standard Cinch Jones plug design, but then maybe not looking at the pictures of an adapter posted. Might check Surplus Sales of Nebraska or eBay but doubtful. I have machine pin sockets out of CE phenolic block and glued in the pins.
http://www.californiahistoricalradio.co ... taples.pdf

That is sweet Barry. I can't believe how many electrolytics you have in there to restuff.

mksj, thanks for that photo. I do know it's a winchester connector.. the trick is finding one. Or perhaps I may just replace the one in the instrument with something easier to find. Going to be a while till I get to this one.

Yup, MANY electrolytics, although I bet the thing works when I power it up the first time.

Just wow. I have always thought of it as a New London on steroids. They too are hens teeth. That said, I think that they remain in place more than the NLs do. These look more space age and, for whatever reason, are less likely to exit their owner's grasp. Where in the world did this one live?

I do not know where it lived, but I do know where I stole it. An auction that-shall-remain-nameless, and no, it's not the one we love to hate Please don't ask what I paid... I am slightly embarrased. Either no one else knew what it was, or no one else wanted it. Or more accurately wanted to LIFT it

But I'm a happy camper! I should be able to find out where it originated, although I'm afraid to ask. They might ask me to give it back

EDIT: This particular tester hails from somewhere in PA .. that's probably the only info I will be able to get on it, but I am going to keep trying

I can understand your reticence on naming your auction venue. The best auction is the one with only one bidder

I just got an air dryer at an industrial auction the other week and I think I paid 1 cent on the dollar considering the original purchase price. That's my kind of auction.

Yeppers Paul. Auctions are sometimes a surprise.. you really never know who is, or for that matter is not, going to show up. Normally I'd have had at least half a dozen bidders fighting me in the usual bidders frenzy .. in this odd case, none. I was too surprised to even register any shock at the time.

Which, btw, is why I will hesitate to ever put anything I want to sell into an auction lol. At least, any stuff about which the selling price is important to me.

Serial 356? They only made 360 of these. Kinda as rare as a Zenith Stratosphere.

I got mine with the lid and three sets of socket adapters at a ham swap meet. One never knows what will show up.

Jim Cross

Jim, I have the lid as well, but not the socket adapters. I'll build some eventually and I might even have the Winchester connector lying around in some drawer ... I hope.

I thought the number made was closer to 600 but I could be wrong . .. regardless, yea it's a rarity for sure. Love the look of the thing but man, it sure is heavy

Nice score - you're lucky - the potting on the transformers are still good. I have a couple of incomplete 1630's, whose potting slowing oozes onto the chassis. The color coded layout is superb, but unlike the NL, the supplies are not regulated. Also, the oscillator amplitude for grid signal is a bit drifty in mine over the long term, although you compensate for it by doing a meter full scale and gain check

Thanks Mark. I will play with it, but I don't intend to really *use* it for too much if at all. I've got a 539B, a TT-1, and the NL, and both an old Tek curve tracer and a uTracer if I ever get seriously into the tube lab thing who knows.

For now they are basically all museum pieces

I think what would be really interesting to find would be some description of what all of the 5 way binding post connections are for on the top. Some, but not all, are covered in the manual, and in any event they're not obvious like in the NL. It might be apparent what some of them are from the schematics (hey - there's another re-draw project for you, they are really hard to read!! )

Wow, they really are not regulated?.
I would give up my NL 901A long before I would ever give up my RCA WT-100A.

Just what I need right now ... another project lol. Well, maybe if someone gets me the schematic "some day" we'll see what happens

Well, the grid bias is regulated with an 0B2 or it's equivalent, and also provides the reference source for adjusting the full scale sensitivity of the two meters which are both independent VTVM's. Otherwise, the plate and screen are unregulated, but each adjusted by a separate variac thru individual transformers with tapped secondaries. This makes it a little easier to use than, say, a 686 which uses a couple of rheostats across a common rectifier and transformer winding. Re-adjusting the plate in the 1630 doesn't throw the screen way off and vise versa like it does in a 686.

Another thing that's confusing about a 1630, is that they made no provision to check rectifiers with it, just small diodes. You'd think they could have done that with all that wire and iron in the beast.

So I'm trying to restore a couple of these that are not in good shape. All the serial numbers are 150 or below.