[Elecraft] Calibrate Solder Station

[David Woolley (E.L)]

Don Nelson wrote:

> 
> Your question prompted me to try my Raytek Minitemp remote thermometer 
> on my Weller soldering station. I get some high temperature readings. I 
> suppose that this kind of thermometer should be sufficient to monitor 
> the how the soldering station is performing. Why not use a general 
> purpose remote sensor instead of buying a specialized tool?

Assuming this is an IR thermometer, I'm rather surprised that it didn't 
read extremely low.  Conductive sources tend to reflect the IR 
temperature of their surroundings, rather than their physical 
temperatures - that's partly why radio astronomy is possible, even 
though the antenna may be at 30 degrees C - the conduction electrons are 
cold, even though the atoms are hot.  Also, the devices read the average 
emissions in their field of view, and soldering iron tips are quite small.



-- 
David Woolley
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