Are they in any way usefull?For low voltage measurements that don't need high accuracy, sure IMHO. Could be useful in a car glove box to check for voltage on the side of the road for example.
Could also be useful as V & A meters on a DIY PSU that's not high voltage or current as well (say 30V, 5A max). Particularly if they were free.
Those Hickok 209A's are a sight to see. I love the large meter. I prefer the looks of the black face one over the silver one. Rebuilt one a couple of years ago but did not have room for it on the bench. Most likely will pick up another at a swap meet at some point.
Hi Steve:
Yes they are very cool. I just went to and am in the process of looking at your website http://www.stevenjohnson.com, and just saw a photo of a 'Cooper Hewitt Rectifier'. Do you have this in your collection? If so, very neat.
Hey Folks, if you're interested in vintage electronic technology go to Steve's website.
Cheers, Mark
Hi Steve:
Yes they are very cool. I just went to and am in the process of looking at your website http://www.stevenjohnson.com, and just saw a photo of a 'Cooper Hewitt Rectifier'. Do you have this in your collection? If so, very neat.
Hey Folks, if you're interested in vintage electronic technology go to Steve's website.
Cheers, Mark
Yes, It's in the collection. I got it at an estate sale with a bunch of other tubes I purchased. Since it's full of mercury there's not really much I can do with it. Can't really ship it easily and items containing mercury are not usually allowed at swap meets so I guess it stays. It's pretty large. One of my winter projects is to build a stable display stand for it so the cats can't knock it over.
My small family
Here's mine
First my main multimeter used for bench, Fluke 867B Graphical Multimeter that i can't live without, esp its Component Terst function for "power off" troubleshooting:
My "new" multi-function meter.
A HP 3450A build 1970. Peltier stabilized reference and thermotransfer True-RMS converter. O0
The front panel was soaked in WD40 or something like that. I had to disassemble it in pieces and clean them. Lucky nothing of that evil stuff penetrated into the electronics.
It has a fault measuring positive voltages. They are unstable and a bit low. Should be fixable. Negative voltages are spot on.
Can you tell me more about this meter, google is not helping.
Great! Can you check please, is that Sanwa model really made in Japan, not Taiwan, Malaysia or China?Hello.
I bought a cheap DSO few months ago and got a Sanwa PC5000a DMM for almost free in some special offer. I would really recommend this DMM. Solid, fast and precise. Extreme difference after switching from some cheap Chinese crap ;-).
Two high-impedance meters...
Two high-impedance meters...Nice, we haven't seen too many electrometers on here yet. I'm surprised Dave hasn't acquired one yet given his interest in low currents. Electrometers are more versatile and capable than the Keithley 480 picoammeter that he 'repaired' a whille ago. I think this one goes down to 10 fA full scale? Eventually Dave will do an episode on one and everyone and their dog will suddenly buy one, just like the rubidium frequency references .