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Vintage Test Gear and Workshop Equipment For discussions about vintage test gear and workshop equipment such as coil winders. |
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15th Jun 2021, 6:25 pm | #1 |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 647
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Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
I was looking at a picture of a Hickock 800 valve tester recently and was surprised to see that one of the variable controls is marked "ENGLISH". According to one on-line source the purpose of this control is as follows:
"The meter bridge balance is determined by the relative positions of the upper and lower halves of the ENGLISH control. The ENGLISH control is designed so that the two halves form the two legs of a balanced bridge circuit. As the control is turned clockwise the two halves decrease in resistance by the same amount thereby decreasing the sensitivity of the bridge so that higher transconductance readings are displayed without over scaling the meter." That's all pretty clear but why on earth call it "english"? Is this a particular foible of Hickock and was it confined to this tester? The Hickock 750, for instance, has an apparently similar control marked "RANGE". Hugh |
15th Jun 2021, 7:39 pm | #2 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,784
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
The Americans do have a tradition of calling various things 'English' for no obvious reason. Maybe somebody on a US forum can explain what it means.
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15th Jun 2021, 7:44 pm | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
The meter scale in question is written in English, I don't think it goes any further than that:
https://bama.edebris.com/download/hi...al_retyped.pdf https://tubedatabase.co/testers/hickok-600a Lawrence. Last edited by ms660; 15th Jun 2021 at 7:47 pm. Reason: link added |
16th Jun 2021, 8:36 am | #4 |
Guest
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
Wasn't that a term for a bit of side on a ball for some sport or another? An offset?
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16th Jun 2021, 10:03 am | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
The Replace ? Good scale is written in English.....no surprise there.
The English dial is marked 0 to 100 and also marked at three specific points corresponding to the three u mhos scales. The valve chart gives the settings for the English dial, the indication when under test being taken from the English scale (Replace ? Good). The chart also gives a u mhos figure for the valve, to read that on the meter the u mhos range is set by the English dial (to one of the three specific points that are marked) and the appropriate meter scale is read. Lawrence. |
16th Jun 2021, 10:46 am | #6 |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 647
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
Lawrence is absolutely right.
Having carried out a search on the antiqueradios.com forum it seems that Hickok's use of the term "english" causes surprise on both sides of the Atlantic but the explanation is: "Simply English-language. You can read the results in English: "good" or "bad." Nothing deeper." That still doesn't explain why they used the term on only some of their testers. On others it seems to be called "Range" or sometimes "Shunt" (or have I misunderstood?). Anyway my question is answered, though I still feel it would have been better to use a term like "Rating" or "Good/Bad". Perhaps they changed to Range/Shunt at some point. Finally, I seem to have misspelt "Hickok" in the title and text of my initial post. Mods please feel free to correct that to aid future searches. Regards, Hugh |
16th Jun 2021, 11:54 am | #7 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,314
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
Some e-mails I get I wish I could turn up the 'English' knob, as parsing them makes my brain hurt!
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16th Jun 2021, 3:44 pm | #8 |
Octode
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Belper Derbyshire
Posts: 1,906
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
Good afternoon,
I don’t suppose it could mean “English” as in switching the device to display imperial measurements as opposed to metric measurements. Though I have never seen imperial measurements for electrical subjects. Christopher Capener
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19th Jun 2021, 2:01 pm | #9 |
Triode
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Posts: 22
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
The term "English" is meant to indicate a particular "spin" imparted to a billiard ball to cause it to curve or react in an unusual fashion.
On a tube tester, the term implies adding or subtracting a "factor" which allows the Good/Bad quality of a tube to be quantified and displayed on the meter. Think of it as a type of Bias control for quick Good.Bad testing of a tube... YMMV of course...!!! 73...Jordan VE6ZT |
24th Jun 2021, 4:59 am | #10 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Olympia, Washington, USA.
Posts: 663
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
As a Yank, we always used the term "English" as a term of force applied to an object.
As in: "You need to put more "English" on that wrench to loosen that bolt up." Yeah- We speak funny here. |
24th Jun 2021, 7:09 am | #11 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,799
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Re: Hickok Valve Tester - "English" control
Quote:
Best regards to a Stockden from a Stockton! (somewhat amusing, given the context) David
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