Arfa Daily wrote:
Back when I was an apprentice, like 35 years ago,
the guy that I worked under in a TV workshop,
used to keep a short thin flourescent tube on his bench.
He used this to test for horizontal output stage activity,
simply by waving it around the FB tranny[...]

Old tricks are so cool.

Most of the similar 'bulbs' that I've seen on CRT base connector boards,
have been gas-filled spark gaps. I seem to recall that they used to put
argon in them, and when they went off as a result of an inter-electrode
short in the tube, they lit up white, rather than the orange glow of a neon.

Well, Argon would be the cheapest
--but the Argon stuff I've seen glows purple.
Maybe those are a different gas--or a gas mixture.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache...righter.orange