C
Chris
Guest
I never used the 8600 but I did use the 8040a which was the functional equivalent to the Simpson 467. What endeared both those meters to me is that they were true RMS meters which let me use them instead of the HP 410B VTVM:
The 410B was introduced in the early 50s I think and remained the standard at least into the 70s. It was a pretty good meter but I never liked it and thought the tube in the probe was kind of clunky even if you could mutter to yourself that happiness was a warm probe when you went to use it. The Simpson and fluke DMMs were true RMS meters and thanks to their signal conditioning circuits very easy to use although they didn't have the high freq capability the old 410 did. I imagine it's all changed now and the whole idea of bit and piece repair of LRUs has gone away. I was already seeing that before I left the aircraft maintenance world and thought the USAF techs would probably end up just black box swappers eventually.
As for me, I don't even dabble in electronics any more and only occasionally open a case. The last time I worked anything I was fixing video projectors for my school in Japan by taking the 8 or 9 we were getting ready to throw away and managed to scramble the good parts to make 4 good ones. Now i'm even retired from teaching.
