I recently acquired another huge meter; a Hickok 209. Basically I became a victim of the vague descriptions that Ebay allows. It "seems to work as the light comes on" is guite common I notice. Anyway, as promised the light came on, but the meter movement is open! :no:

I know that there are a few people here messing with vintage test equipment, so if anyone has a spare meter movement for the 209 (not 209A, B, or c), please contact me. The other models I mentioned MAY work if when taken apart I can replace the backing or scale and they are of the same electrical specs. I know for instance that the 209 and 209A are physically the same with different scales for added functions in the later of the two. Most likely the movements are the same except the dials or scales. The picture is my 209A. It's all I have at the moment for reference, but better than none.

Thanks

Tube

WOW, really sad to hear that. I saw this and was going to bid on it but an RCA WV-98A came up locally and I grabbed that instead, lucky for me I guess. It was all original so I recapped it and calibrated it and it works awesome.
Good luck with yours and hope you find a meter for it.

Gregb

Thanks for the words of concern. I guess there are many aspects of this hobby that are the luck of the draw. Especially where Ebay or Epray (as some here have called it) is concerned. Actually, I think that this meter was up for auction a few months back by an honest seller saying that it powered up but no matter what he tried the needle didn't move. Naturally I passed. Now here I am with a meter once heralded as about as good or better than anything before and for a time after that virtually nobody today even knows existed. Point being is I'm likely going to be hard pressed to find someone with an extra movement to sell me.

Small world though Greg! My name is Greg out in the real world and I as well and not too long ago got an RCA WV-98A Senior Voltomyst. So you got yours working with a recap. As for mine, I haven't yet got it working, but at least I know the movement is good as until it warms up for several minutes the meter will slam one direction or the other. And yes, I know that is what kills analog meters and is probably what got my Hickok.

Therefor I pretty much leave the RCA alone until I can replace other caps besides the single electrolytic that sits up on top. I think it was 10mfd. I did change that, but I should have trusted the results of load testing the cap on one of now maybe 5 Heathkit C3 or 1s that I have AND a Solar tester. They showed no leakage and I could have waited and found a lower voltage cap than the 500VDC that I used and need for the power supplies of my C3 collection.

As for the Hickok, I have the meter movement out and will soon crack into it and hope and pray that perhaps someone in the past twisted off a lead. For some reason they placed pigtails under the two connectors and nastily tacked in a small (I think 30mfd) cap across the terminals. They at least wrapped it in electrical tape for me to more easily spot out! LOL! It's probably the wrong value as well. I'll have to open up my recapped 209A and see what is in there.

Anyway, good to meet someone who knows the ins and outs of the RCA meter. They are supposed to be really good meters.

Nice to meet you Greg!
I know with my RCA, as with all vintage test gear I get, I just automatically replace all of the paper and electrolytic capacitors, there were only a few. I checked all of the resistors and they all were within tolerance and installed new tubes just cause I have them and wanted to start fresh. I did age the tubes as the manual mentions and checked the calibration which was waaaaaay out as found. After calibration it works awesome and I am truly amazed at how accurate it is comparing it with my Fluke meter. This has become my new favorite meter.

Gregb

I like my working Hickok 209A best. It's so freakishly huge and almost nobody these days has seen one before. I have shown mine to seasoned electricians and a bench tech or two and their eyes get big like a small child's before I get a wow or a holy s**t! I love it! I guess my favorite meter for the sake of durability, accuracy, and still pretty cool looking but practical is my Simpson 303. I have one in pristine condition inside the roll top carrying case. These of course are VTVMs; for the field I would toss a DVOM in a box of tools, or maybe grab the Simpson 260.

I take the 260 to work just to mess with some of the younger guys and even a few older hot dog techs. The young guys try to laugh it off or call it old school. After all; these days it's a ridiculous proposal to use something that requires thought when you can get something that DOESN'T! LOL! The older supertechs just fear them because they know that they would take a while to do a simple measurement. Some used them years ago and still others only saw them in school or college. My boss only believed that the old inferior equipment could only read as high as what is marked around the function selector. He changed the subject and walked away when I tried to explain multipliers.

Anyway, I always have an interesting day when I tote the 260. Somebody must still be using Simpson analog meters because they have a really nice website where analog is ALIVE! To stay with the times, they have some nice digital equipment as well. Check it out some time.