Hickok 209C

[miniman82]

Where has this thing been all my life? Cure for the blind technician, that's for sure, dial is nearly 8" across! Gonna use it to replace my RCA volt ohmyst, anyone else have one?

[snelson903]

nice !!

[Paul Knaack]

I've got two 209a's. The black faced one has been recapped and calibrated and works real well. The other one is still needs to be gone over.

[Tubejunke]

AT LAST! Some folks here interested in these great old meters. I have mentioned these several times here, but couldn't drum up much of anyone with anything to say. I have been a pretty big Hickok fan ever since I ran across a 6000A tube tester a number of years ago. I don't have the C model, but instead the A like Paul who's black face 209A makes me jealous. I have never found out for sure when the black faces were introduced. Seems like I read that they are the earlier models, but I don't know. I just know those black units really can look nice when cleaned up well.

In general I have never heard anything but two thumbs up for most any Hickok equipment from the early days (30s) through the 60s. They were the DuMont of test equipment, yet all but forgotten about now. I don't know how they faded away making such utterly well built, dependable and accurate test equipment, but they did.

I hope that we can share some knowledge here on Hickok VTVMs of this basic type. I just may have a .pdf for the 209C, and I know I have the 209A material. Also there are plain 209s out there that lack the peak to peak and zero center DC. I also have a 203 which is worth mention here I think. It's about the same as the plain 209, but with a smaller meter and much more practically sized housing.

I replaced most, if not all of the caps in my 209A thinking that it really needed the revamp to work. Turns out that all that was wrong was the 6SN7 had unequal emissions on the two sides causing the bridge to be completely out of whack. So if your meter pointer ever starts slamming as you change functions and/or ranges, check out your 6SN7 on a decent tube tester. Caps never hurt anyway, and are quite often necessary for function depending on dormancy time and other factors we all know.

Great replacement for the Voltomyst Miniman! I recently got a WV-97A Senior V.O. and I'm not very impressed, BUT it may be a great meter with some evidently needed work.