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Vintage Test Equipment Tools

What is called an antique today was, during its time, modern technology. Before transistors and integrated circuits, radios and electronic equipment used tubes, also called valves. Tubes looked like light bulbs, had filaments, and glowed red hot. When a radio broke down, technicians used test equipment, also antique by modern standards. The test equipment of yesteryear is no longer useful, being replaced by modern technology. However, antique test equipment is prized by collectors. Many collectors have extensive inventories of the test equipment used when the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, was still alive.

Vacuum Tube Volt Meter
- The Vacuum Tube Volt Meter, or VTVM for short, was a voltmeter used to test voltages. Its function is very similar to a modern voltmeter, except it used a vacuum tube as its main component, instead of an integrated circuit chip. Because the tube glowed very hot, a large box was needed to house the components, to allow for enough room for the heat to dissipate. The VTVM was about the size of a large shoebox.
Grid Dip Oscillator
- The Grid Dip Oscillator, or GDO for short, was a piece of test equipment used to measure radio frequencies. When radio first came out, finding the right frequency to transmit or receive was hit or miss. The GDO helped the operator locate the right frequencies. It used a vacuum tube, therefore the enclosure also had to be big enough to allow for heat dissipation.
Tube Testers
- Tubes were not known for their longevity. Being made much like a light bulb, sooner or later they would burn out. A variety of tube testers were available during the tube age of radio. They were about the size of a suitcase, and usually the case was wooden. A tube would plug into a socket on top of the case. Other tubes would test the tube in question. Because the tester itself was unreliable, a technician had to have a tester to test the tubes in the tester.

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