Hopefully I've put this in the correct forum...

You might remember when Tandy first came to Australia, they sold valves with gold-plated pins (with Lifetime warranty), and each store had a valve testing machine installed.

Does anyone know what happened to those valve testers? I can only imagine a warehouse full of them somewhere. I would like to get one if it's possible.

Also, what memories do you have of Tandy and valves?

I remember the Tandy/Radio Shack "Tube Testers" and the Realistic "Lifetime Warranty" valves well.

As a teenager in the late 1970's, much to my mums horror, I used to drag all kinds of electrical junk home that was found on the hard rubbish. Back in those days you could find complete coloured bakelites, 1950's TV's, Quad monoblocks and buckets of valves all on the nature strip.

I would take all the valves I ratted to the local Tandy store to test on their testers. The testers I recall would test for emissions, shorts & gas. One problem with the testers, being American, they wouldn't test a lot a valves common in Australia like 6M5's. Nor could they test Rimlocks or P base valves. There was also a legend that the Tandy valve testers were rigged to give false readings so as to encourage you to purchase their Realistic "Lifetime Warranty" valves.

Luckily for me a relative gave me a Paton ET4A valve tester when I was 15 (which I still have) and I didn't have to bother the local Tandy store anymore. I was also told then that my interest in valves was silly as they were obsolete and that there was no future in having any knowledge in valve technology.

There is one available in the US:

http://www.cxsupplies.com/vintage-60s-1960s-radio-shack-i2227042/

I remember the boast in the Tandy catalogues about their valve testers, made at a time when people were shunning anything with valves in them, apart from the workshop duty assigned to 50s and 60s plastic radios which invariably got covered in paint splatters and cigarette burns.

About fifteen years ago, Woolworths purchased Tandy Australia, ran all 500-odd stores as a stand alone business for a short time then merged it with Dick Smith. Both Dick Smith and Tandy ended up selling the same product lines under different brands and then Woolworths decided that not enough money would be made so shutting Tandy down came about. All those valve testers would have ended up on the tip I reckon.

It would not surprise me if they were set up to provide false readings. Tandy wouldn't have made any money by stocking hundreds of dollars worth of valves in the solid state era whilst telling people their AWV and Philips valves were 'Mickey Mouse'.

Another thing too... Tandy wasn't a discounter. Buying a valve off them would not have been the cheapest option.

Monochrome,

Quad Monoblocks?? .... as in Quad Accoustical Manufacturing Company?? .... as hard rubbish?? Gulp ... surely not.

Do you have any that you wish to throw out?? I'll be around in a few minutes ....

Cheers,
Ian

Good old Tandy. I do not remember the valves at all except for modern eBay auctions I have seen Realistic on offer.
The boss was kind to me there. I’d go in with 50 cents each week and look in their bargain bin,
and I think they must have started looking after me with good parts and good prices.

My first working Crystal radio kit was one of those Tandy springboard ones,
as was a transistor radio before that which I never got working. Glad I didn’t give up!
Then there were several 30 in 1 type kits, and finally I got the killer 200 in 1 donated
to me by a friend who received it as a gift, but he never took it up!

That reminds me of the 'good old days' of my youth.

I also had a 'springboard' crystal radio, although it needed a very slight modification to get full performance. I later acquired a springboard transistor amp. Connecting the two together produced a crystal radio with lots of volume in the earpiece, and good selectivity. At night 3NE could be clearly heard.

About a year later a teacher gave me a real valve radio, it was from one of those large radiogram consoles. It was (if I recall correctly) a HMV Ranger Mark V, and had 10 valves. I may talk about this radio more in another thread.

Tandy were certainly not cheap, however in the 70s and early 80s the merchandise was good quality, so I think it was mostly worth it. In 1977 I purchased a SA-800 stereo amplifier with speakers etc. This amp is still in use today, and makes good sound. During that time I was a regular Tandy customer. However once they started getting cheap rubbish from China, their days were numbered.

Tandy were certainly not cheap, however in the 70s and early 80s the merchandise was good quality

What I liked about Tandy back then is that they stocked a different range of gear than Dick Smith. They usually had better and more diverse switches, bezels, relays, etc. I think Archer brand stuff was made in the USA.

I still have a Micronta multi-meter that I bought many years ago. It's good quality and I use still use it on occasion when I doubt my digital meter.

What I didn't like was that in my neck of the woods they persisted with handwritten sales dockets, even into the 90s and demanded your address details so you ended up on their mailing list, like it or not. I used to invent names and addresses.

Well I actually found and bought one! ( I will get a Pic tonight)
I remember as a teenager one of the Tandy stores in the city up until the late 80s
having one and a few years later after it had been taken down asking where it went.
they told me the former manager had taken it with him but managed to track him down
to a car radio shop near my folks place.
spoke to him and he had no interest in keeping it and was happy to sell it to me for $40 with all the
paperwork etc.
A few years after that I came accross an uncased unit with a broken test switch at a local Adelaide electronics surplus shop called Robbies (most electronics hobbiests in Adelaide back in the day would be familiar with that name) and after a dodgy repair to the switch found out it worked and now had spare transformers for my main one.
They were a very basic Good /Week/Bad and % tester but has still been an invaluable thing to have.

I had the 150 in 1 spring kit as a kid. It was the duck's nuts until the 200 in 1 was released. You can still buy these kits at Altronics and there is a wider variety of them. Buy the time the 200 came out though I'd stepped up to the more traditional soldering kits from Bill Edge (later Jaycar) and Dick Smith.

Does anyone remember Dick Smith's delivery trucks emblazoned with the slogan, "The Electronic Dick"?

Does anyone remember Dick Smith's delivery trucks emblazoned with the slogan, "The Electronic Dick"?

Yes I do, and IIRC, I have a photo of one somewhere here in a book about Smith. If I can find it I'll scan it.

So I guess we’d now know if the tester was rigged?

The manual, but unfortunately not the kit, for the crystal radio kit is the oldest thing I own,
and the only thing from my childhood I still have.
The oldest thing that was originally mine of course... old valve radios don’t count.
I don’t know how it survived, because the next oldest thing I own is from into my teenage years.
Image Link

I used to work for Dick Smith when the service department started in North Sydney and then on to Ryde. Gary Johnson was there before buying Jaycar.
The "Electronic Dick" van was very well known and discussed.
Great times, also worked for Tandy Electronics service dept computer section.

I also remember seeing the Dick Smith delivery truck parked outside the York St store with "Electronic Dick" on it.

I suppose you might remember Dick Smith sold 2 CB power supplies, one was "The Little Dick", the other "The Big Dick".

I worked as a manager for Tandy back then & had the sad job of closing the Vermont South store after some 20 plus years of operation. That store's Valve tester went the the Vermont south tip and there lays today under someones house..lol