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January 24th 04, 04:47 AM

(Ray D. O'Mann) wrote in message . com...
Hi Folks!
Dumb Question #1: How can I test vacuum tubes without a tube tester?
Namely, 6AK6, 6BE6, 6HR6, and 12AX7.

Not really a way...Either you can use a tester, or have others of the
same tube to try substituting. Those tubes are fairly cheap for the
most part. The 12AX7's probably the highest cuz the audio crowd has a
high demand for them. But you may have capacitors dried out, or other
problems.

Dumb Question #2: Is there a solid-state equivalent to these tubes?

There may be, but I don't know where. They used to make some of those
for old collins and drakes.

They are from an old Knight Star Roamer that keeps dying.

Dried out capacitors are by far the most common problem in old radios.
Tubes do die, but it's much fewer and farther in between. Depending on
the circuit, a dried out cap can cause anything from hum on the audio,
to total loss of reception if the cap is in a critical tuned circuit.

Dumb Question #3: Is the above worth doing?

Oh yea, if it's worth using when it works. MK