NICE/RARE ITEMS AND GOOD SERVICES AREN'T CHEAP AND NEVER ARE THEY FREE!!! BUT, WE STRIVE FOR 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONS AND OUR EBAY FEEDBACKS & INTERNATIONAL REPEATED REFERALS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES!!!
OUR EBAY TRANSACTIONS REPRESENT ABOUT 10% OF OUR OVERALL BUSINESS VOLUME, WHICH THE REST (OF THE 90%) ARE DIRECT AND VIA REFERALS!
LOCAL AUDITION & DELIVERY ARE POSSIBLE & NEGOTIABLE.
POTENTIAL/SERIOUS BUYERS ARE WELCOMED TO COME AND AUDIT FOR COMPLETE SATISFACTION.
IN-HOME LOANER/DEMONSTRATION ARE AVAILABLE! 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!!!”
LOCAL AUDITION & DELIVERY ARE POSSIBLE & NEGOTIABLE.
POTENTIAL/SERIOUS BUYERS ARE WELCOMED TO COME AND AUDIT FOR COMPLETE SATISFACTION.
FOR SALE IS A VERY CAPABLE VACUUM TUBE TESTER - THE HICKOK CARDMATIC SYSTEM THAT HAS BEEN RESTORED/REBUILT AND MODERNIZED TO INCLUDED A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED INTERFACE TO BRING THE AMAZINGLY WELL-BUILT CARDMATIC TESTERS TO THE NEXT LEVEL!
SUCH SYSTEM IS NORMALLY REFERRED TO AS THE "BITMATIC" TESTER. IT INCLUDES EITHER OF THE TOP-RANGE CARDMATIC TESTS LIKE THE USM-118A/B OR THE KS-15874-L2, A CUSTOM-BUILT RELAY & CONTROL BOX, A OLDER IBM LAPTOP THAT RUNS THE CONTROL BOX VIA THE BUILT-IN PARALLEL PORT, AND THE CUSTOM TESTING SOFTWARE + VERY INCLUSIVE TUBE DATABASE.
THE BITMATIC SYSTEM ALLOWS VERY ACCURATE AND REPEATABLE TUBE TESTING RESULTS. THE TEST SETUPS FOR THE TUBES PROVIDED IN THE DATABASE IS AUTOMATIC. NEW TUBE DATA (IN THE VERY-VERY-VERY UNLIKELY EVENT THAT THE DATA IS NOT ALREADY IN THE DATABASE) CAN BE ADDED TO THE DATABASE FOR FUTURE RE-USE.
I/V CURVE TRACING CAN ALSO BE PERFORMED W/ THE BITMATIC, WHICH IS A VERY POWERFUL TOOL TO PREDICT THE TUBE'S PERFORMANCE ACCROSS ANY REASONABLE RANGE OF GRID BIAS VOLTAGE AT A GIVEN PLATES/SCREEN VOLTAGE SETTING. THIS ALLOWS THE USERS TO GET A VERY CLEAR PICTURE OF (1) HOW WELL ANY TUBE MATCHES TO A SIMILAR TUBE & (2) HOW WELL ONE CAN EXPECT THE TUBES TO BEHAVE WHEN THEY ARE USED AT DIFFEENT VOLTAGE SETTINGS! IF THE TUBES HAVE A CLOSELY MATCHED I/V CURVES AT ONE SETTINGS, THEY ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO ALSO BE VERY WELL MATCHED IN OTHER SETTINGS.
TYPICAL 1-POINT SERVICE-GRADE AND/OR LAB-GRADE TUBE TESTERS CANNOT COME CLOSE TO PROVIDE ANYMORE INFORMATION ABOUT TUBES' PERFORMANCE WHEN PROVIDING ONLY THE CONDUCTANCE AND/OR PLATE CURRENT AT ONE SINGLE SET OF TERMINAL VOLTAGES. AN AMBITIOUS USER CAN MANUALLY CREATE THE I/V CURVE USING THE RIGHT TESTERS, BUT SURELY AT A GREAT EXPENSE OF TIME & LABOR.
THEREFORE, THESE BITMATIC SYSTEMS ARE VERY POWERFUL TOOLS - IN THE HANDS OF KNOWLEDGEABLE AND CAPABLE USERS.
BUT - THEY ARE ALSO RATHER LARGE AND COMPLICATED SYSTEMS. FOR THE RIGHT USERS THOUGH, THEY ARE INDISPENSIBLE AND WILL FAR OUTWEIGH THE EXPENSES & EFFORTS - AND SURELY OFFER COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VIEWS OF TUBES' CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR CONNECTIONS TO THEIR ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE IN REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS & EQUIPMENT.
A WORD OF CAUTION, THOUGH - TRULY GOOD TUBES WILL SHOW WELL THROUGH THE BITMATIC'S TEST DATA. TUBES THAT HAPPEN TO "LUCKILY" MATCH AT ONLY A SINGLE POINT WILL SURELY SHOW POORLY THROUGH THE BITMATIC, AND ONE CAN END UP WITH A BOX OF "SO-SO" TUBES AFTERWARDS...
THE CARDMATIC TUBES HAVE AN AUTOMATIC & SENSITIVE SHORT TEST, WHICH THE BITMATIC TESTERS RETAINS.
THE PUNCH CARDS ARE NO LONGER NEEDED SINCE THE TUBE DATABASE REPLACES THEM AND THE CONTROLLER AUTOMATICALLY SETS UP THE TESTER ONCE THE USER SELECTED THE DESIRED ENTRY IN THE DATABASE...
QUALITY TESTS AND GAS/GRID-LEAKAGE TESTS ARE PERFORMED THE SAME WAY ON THE BITMATICS AS THEY ARE ON THE CARDMATICS.
REPEAT THE TEST SEQUENCE FOR MULTIPLE-ELEMENT TUBES, SAME AS ON THE CARDMATICS.
ADVANCED FEATURES SUCH AS CURVE TRACING ETC. ARE FOR MORE ADVANCED USERS, BUT STILL - THEY ARE VERY EASY TO SET UP AND ACCOMPLISH.
NOW FOR THIS PARTICULAR SYSTEM BEING OFFERED FOR SALE - THERE ARE TWO HICKOK CARDMATIC TESTERS, BUT ONLY ONE RELAY/CONTROL BOX AND ONE LAPTOP.
THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT I WAS USING THE SYSTEM IN TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. AND, IT IS A LOT EASIER TO PACK THE CONTROL BOX AND THE LAPTOP IN THE BACK OF THE CAR OR IN MY AIR-TRAVEL LUGGAGE - THAN ALSO TO TRY TO HAUL ALONG THE BIG CARDMATIC TESTER TO THE NEXT LOCATION.
SO I ENDED UP ASKING BITMATIC GURU TO REPLICATE MY 2ND CARDMATIC TESTER AT MY OTHER LOCATION. I PLACED EACH CARDMATIC TESTER WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE, AND RESPECTIVELY TRANSPORTED THE LAPTOP & THE CONTROL BOX BETWEEN THE LOCATIONS ARE NEED BE - AND THAT WORKED GREAT FOR ME FOR A LONG TIME!
THE PICTURES SHOW THE TWO CARDMATIC TESTERS, THE CONTROL BOX, AND THE LAPTOP WITH THE ASSOCIATED CORDS & CABLES. ONE CARDMATIC IS THE KS-15874-L2 AND THE OTHER IS THE USM-118B. I USED THE USM-118B FIRST AND EXTENSIVELY FOR A LONG TIME, THEN THE KS-15874 TOOK OVER AND I MOVED THE USM-118B TO ITS SECONDARY LOCATION WHERE IT SAW MUCH LESS USAGE. ALL IN ALL, THEY WERE BOTH WELL TESTED AND WELL USED TO ENSURE THEIR FULL FUNCTIONAL STATES!
PRETTY SURE THIS 1.5X BITMATIC SETUP IS THE ONLY ONE IN EXSISTENCE.
THIS IS A BIG SYSTEM AS IS, AND TOTAL WEIGHT WOULD BE IN THER ORDER OF 2OOLB AND AT LEAST 3 LARGE BOXES. SHIPPING WILL NOT BE CHEAP, BUT I WILL NOT CUT CORNERS TO RISK ANY TRANSIT-INDUCED DAMAGES!
FOR THE RIGHT USER/OWNER, YES - IT IS WORTH IT!
SO "WHY SELLING" IS THE NATURAL QUESTION!?! YES, I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON SEVERAL OTHER MODERN HIGH-POWER CURVE TRACERS THAT ARE EVEN MORE POWERFUL AND COMPLICATED THAN THE BITMATIC SYSTEMS. AND I SELDOMLY HAVE THE TIME/NEED TO BREAK OUT THE BITMATIC SETUP ANYMORE. SO, IT'S TIME TO LET IT GO...
IN THE RARE EVENT THAT ANY OF THESE PIECES NEED ANY SERVICES IN THE FUTURE, I CAN CONNECT THE NEW OWNER TO THE ORIGINATOR. OR DO SOME RESEARACH AT WWW.TUBESONTHEWEB.COM...
THE TESTER CAME FROM A CHILD-/SMOKE-/PET-FREE HISTORY.
WORLDWIDE SHIPPING.
I WELCOME LOCAL PICK-UPS, BUT CASH PAYMENT ONLY PLEASE - UNLESS PRIOR ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN AGREED UPON REGARDING PAYMENT METHOD ACCEPTED. DIRECT CREDIT CARD BILLINGS IS AVAILABLE, WITH THE SAME APPLICABLY STATED SALES TERMS.
LOCAL PICK-UPS OR SHIPPING TO CA/AZ DESTINATIONS ARE SUBJECTED TO CA/AZ SALES TAX.
ITEMS ARE FOR SALE AT SEVERAL VENUES AS WELL AS LOCALLY. THUS - AS ALONG AS THERE ARE NO EXPLICIT AND/OR OUTSTANDING EBAY'S BIDS/OFFERS, THESE ITEMS ARE ON A 1ST-COME 1ST-SERVE BASIS.
ANY CURVES IN THE PICTURES ARE DUE TO THE DISTORTION IN MY CAMERA'S CLOSE-UP LENS. NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER.
ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME THROUGH EBAY'S MESSAGE SYSTEM. THANKS.
WE CAN BOX/CRATE THESE UNITS UP AND SHIP TO ANY DESTINATION, AS LONG AS THE BUYER PAYS FOR THE SHIPPING AND FULL INSURANCE COSTS. WE USE FEDEX DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL SERVICES OR AIR/OCEAN FREIGHT SERVICES FOR ITEMS OVER 150lb. PLUS, WE CAN ALSO USE THE BUYER'S OWN CARRIER (HOWEVER, THIS SHIPMENT WOULD THEN BE F.O.B IN THIS CASE AND WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE AFTER THE CARRIER'S PICK-UP).
WORLDWIDE SHIPPING. INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENT IS MORE EXPENSIVE SINCE IT IS TIME CONSUMING TO DEAL WITH THE SHIPPING & CUSTOM DETAILS.
THESE ITEMS WILL GO VIA FEDEX GROUND FOR THE 48 US CONT. DESTINATIONS.
OTHER DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS ARE HIGHER.