T&L Publications

When I heard that Toshiba Corp. was on the verge of bankruptcy, memories of my early days in electronics came back. I remember how a very early experience with component level electronics was repairing a car stereo amplifier with a blown TA7205AP IC chip. I went to the local car stereo shop and purchased the IC for $20.

And now....They are under $2 all over the net!
But
If they become discontinued, they will be up to $20+ from the scalpers!

Back in those days, even with relatively high parts and labor costs, it was more worthwhile to repair consumer electronics. It could more likely be that I bought two of the TA7205AP ICs for $20 because there is a good chance that I didn't know if one or both of the originals​ in the amplifier were bad.

Earlier, I recall trips with my dad, to use a tube tester! I can't remember where we took TV tubes to in order to test them. I recall not too many years later testing tubes on my own, too.

Hi Joseph,
Likely I would have run into you, or your dad, at the local drug store since many had tube testers with a zillion sockets and a big roll chart. Oh, don't forget to look at the 'troubleshooting guide', with the squiggly pictures that suggested what tubes may be at fault...Ah, the old days!

Hi Len,
I recall that troubleshooting guide now with those pictures of various faulty rasters!

http://tubedatabase.co/testers/hickok-533a

I don't recall ever seeing a tube tester in a drug store but most Radio Shacks had them up until at least the mid eighties maybe a bit later. Most towns had a TV repair shop too. At least we still fix our cars and our appliances.

Yes, many local chain drug stores had these testers a lifetime ago. They were there to sell tubes so if the tube tested bad, it probably was, but if it tested good, well maybe it was not.
Many had a wheel chart showing various TV screen pictures and suggested tubes that may be associated with the problem, vertical, horizontal, snow, sound...

Here is a BIG link that shows many typical models.
https://www.google.com/search?q=drug+st ... -k0xFxd3M:

Ah.. Those were also the days of high voltage batteries for tube 'portable' radios. Does 6SN7, 5U4 or 1B3 ring a bell

I remember the troubleshooting guide said what some of the different tubes were that could cause the example bad raster picture shown.
I was wondering why even though the tester I linked to looked familiar, it was lacking the display console that the ones in the store had.

The 6NS7 does sound familiar. I remember the 6L6 and 12AX7 also.