Recently CD collections of military test equipment manuals have
become available. With excitement I bought a collection of "31
Tektronix Manuals".
To my disappointment the "manuals" were in fact simple notes; some
just parts lists, others simplified calibrations instructions. There
are no schematics or service information. Beware.
On the question of life of TV and monitor tubes I seem to recollect
that life was extended by limiting brightness. Monitor quality
certainly makes a difference, we have 15 year old IBM monitors that
cost around $3,000 when new but still work perfectly yet only expect
modern PC monitors to function for a couple of years before they fail
and are discarded as beyond economical repair.
