[Elecraft] Re: soldering stations

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The biggest differences that I've seen between the expensive and cheap DMM's
are:

1 - Speed. Cheap DMM chips take a second or two to produce a reading.
Expensive ones are almost instantaneous. That's only a small nuisance unless
you are trying to find a 'peak' or 'null' in the reading while making an
adjustment. A cheap DMM requires a lot of patience when doing that and
you're required to wait a couple of seconds for the display to 'update'.
Personally, I prefer my 'scope or an old fashioned "VOM" with a d'Arsonval
meter movement when doing adjustments that require finding a peak or null in
a voltage level. 

2 - Accuracy. The accuracy of cheap DMM's is really quite good, but the
cheaper ones usually display fewer digits. Still, we almost never need to
know that a voltage is say 9.2215 volts - 9.1 or 9.2 is FB 99.9% of the
time.

3 - Ruggedness. My fluke has bounced off of a steel deck of several ships
from a height of several feet without a scratch, much less a problem. I'd be
surprised if some of the cheap ones could withstand such treatment. Still,
what DMM *deserves* to be treated that way? (Careless me...) 

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----

I got one of these soldering stations from Circuit Specialists when I
started on my K2 and it works great. The DMM is very good  too.  I don't
notice any difference between it and a $200+ Fluke.

73/ Bob - W5BIG