Writing Sci-Fi That Has A Tube Tester In It

[jabney]

I'm an indie/punk rock/rock/'standards' lyricist hoping to stretch my legs by writing long-form material. Currently the area of literature I'm assaulting is the off-planet quest. I want the country where the quest is taking place to be both high-tech and retro. And my primary narrator/hero is detail-oriented. So I'm 'inventing' a tube tester that will be mentioned briefly to add a little color to the story. Since I don't plan on patenting it, I'd be happy to post an excerpt describing the device as long as that wouldn't be considered spamming (the story itself is a non-commercial work because of the way it developed, although I may re-use the characters).

I have some experience with tube testers (Sencore 140, early Western Electric KS series) and wish somebody would re-start the manufacture of the 6EU7.

best,

john

[Pano]

Welcome to the forum.
This may be a first for us, a science fiction story about a tube tester. You should post a link.

[jabney]

Originally Posted by Pano

Welcome to the forum.
This may be a first for us, a science fiction story about a tube tester. You should post a link.

Not sure if you want a link. The orange-themed website where I'm posting the story is not politically neutral, although the ongoing series I'm posting to (called, 'Write On') is relatively neutral. The 'Write On' assignments usually revolve around a, 'Callow youth who is the chosen one sent on a quest for the sacred jewel of Togwogmagog in order to save the kingdom.'

The excerpt is probably all I'm going to say about the tube tester itself. Although the abandoned factory where it was made may be a source of peril for my protagonist.

Here's what I mean:

The Togwogmagog Tube Tester Corporation was formed to take advantage of the 'Terramania' that swept planet-wide after the discovery of Quantum Entanglement Radio (QER, later re-acronymed to QR for some obscure reason) and the subsequent discovery of the music and music technology of Terra. There were no tubes to test on-planet at the time, but Togwogmagog logic said there soon would be. And the founders were correct. The Otis, Westinghouse & Dover Space Elevator franchise holder for the Realm (that would be Uncle Ray) needed justification for going into space. And what could possibly prove better suited for the hard vacuum of outer space than the manufacture of vacuum tubes? Several things actually, but it seemed a brilliant idea at the time.

Since the Realm had stopped making most things (other than money), it fell on the clever craftsmen of Togwagmagog to pick up the slack. And pick up the slack they did with the TTT 83. OWD Space Elevator hadn't decided which tubes to manufacture yet, so TTT Corp decided to cover all the bases (so to speak) with umbilical adapters. An adapter has a female tube socket on one end, and a terran-standard DB-25 plug on the tester end. The TTT 83 has two DB-25 sockets while the 'budget' (yeah, right) TTT 80 makes do with one.

To test a dual triode tube on the TTT 83, you plug in one umbilical and you plug your trifold into the data port. You bring up the TTT app on the trifold, plug in the tube and wait until the 'ready' signal sounds or lights up (or both on the TTT 83C). By using two umbilicals on the TTT 83, you can test both sides of two dual triodes at the same time. The dual socket umbilical developed for the TTT 80 allowed two umbilicals to be connected to the TTT 83 which thus allowed the testing of eight tube sections at one time. It is reported that none of TTT's customers ever took advantage of this feature, although the TTT 83 commands a significantly higher price on the used market primarily because of this additional capability.

TTT is now out of business. Primarily because OWD Spacetubes almost never fail.

best,

john

[woody]

Rocket ship Galileo also had a few lines about how easy vacumm tube design would
be in a hard vacumm.

[pinkmouse]

Check out George O Smith and Ralph Milne Farley, both golden age writers who nailed valve/tube tech in sci-fi.