5389 Ville Rosa Lane--Hazelwood, MO 63042 USA
Phone: 314-770-0119 Fax: 314-770-9448
This is a very nice tube tester. Transconductance is measured directly which is read on the old style Weston fan type meter. Instead of a "good-?-bad scale, you compare the transconductance measured on the meter to a minimum on the roll chart. The 981 has a seperate 5KC oscillator for the grid signal, unlike Hickok testers which just utilize the 60Hz line signal voltage for the grid test signal. The Heath TT-1A tester is an almost exact copy of this tester
Tests Mutual Transconductance which is a much more reliable than the "emission" type testers
Measures actual voltages for VR tubes.
Tests 4 pin, 5 pin, 6 pin, 7 pin, octal, locktal, acorn, subminituare, 7 pin minature and 9 pin minature tube
Has handy switch for testing dual section tubes such as 12AX7 without resetting main selector switches for each section.
Nice quality toggle switches.
Leakage is measured on the meter rather than the less accurate neon type bulb.
Lights up "magic eye" type tubes
Settings are on a built in roll chart that has a wide range of settings including many Western Electric types such as 300B and 274A/B.
Built in plate and grid caps. No more lost plate/grid caps!
Nice heavy duty gray hammertone metal carrrying case.