[Drake] Multimeter Suggestions for Drake Service

[Jim Lowman]

Good point about the RF signal generator, Garey.  I remember that, and a 
VTVM, was essential to aligning and troubleshooting Drake gear.

In the years that I was in the Air Force and working on air traffic 
control radar systems, the first thing that I reached for was a scope.
Of course, with radar, you're looking at waveforms in the millisecond 
and microsecond range that would never show up on a meter.
The spectrum analyzer was handy.  Generally an unstable AFC (we called 
it "hunting") was a sign that the magnetron in the transmitter was 
double-moding, and the spectrum analyzer showed it as plain as day.

I wish I still had access to all of that test equipment.  It was all 
top-of-the-line HP and Tektronix and the like.

Can you really calibrate a scope with a DVM?  I always wondered, when 
guys would drag these monsters away from a swapmeet, if they would be 
accurate.
Maybe if all one wants to do is look at waveforms they would be okay.  
But we had to rely not only on the accuracy of the time base, but also 
the ability to measure the amplitude of pulses.
For this reason, all of our test equipment had to go in for calibration 
at regular intervals.

73 de Jim - AD6CW