Hi Paul:

It was common in the thirties to test your own tube - without a tube tester.
Simply get an old radio book from the thirties and read about it.

You can breadboard a tube tester using a lot of jumpers and meters. I have
tested tubes such as the 811 and 211 using basic equipment. Fire up the
filament. Get some plate voltage (how about a 9 volt battery?) A
microammeter to measure plate current is also needed. Also, helpful to have
a variable voltage for the grid, to monitor changes in plate current with
changes in grid voltage.

Colin K7FM