[Milsurplus] Question about ME-77 multimeter

[Jack Antonio]

I use ME-77s as carry around meters, as they are rugged, and
a lot of the times, I'm interested in more of a presence or
absence, or relative value of a voltage.
They hold up well in truck tool boxes, and back packs(although
I don't do much hiking up to mountain tops anymore).

But one drawback is the ranges. 1, 10, 100 and 1000 volts full
scale puts the voltages I usually measure (24,250,12 etc) in the
lower part of the scale.

So the question is, who did the military issue these things to
when they were a first run item? Were they meant to be general
purpose, or did they have a specific application?

Just curious,

Jack Antonio WA7DIA/4