[Tubejunke]

That's always a bummer! Anyway, scanning pray bay I notice these Commercial Trades Institute VTVMs quite often. Hardly ever a bid and always low dollar, but I'm tellin' anyone wanting an accurate, dependable bench/portable VTVM to try one of these. I have all sorts of Hickok, Simpson, etc and I really hate to admit that this little school meter is more accurate than my beloved Hickoks' at least. Now a good Simpson 260 should be in every electronics arsenal. Now my Hickoks' (203, 209, 209A) are much older and have never been restored in any kind of way. I just love the super size meter scale, but they are more iconic I guess than something I would use regularly. They do work and are built like tanks.

Back to Simpson, there may be folks who will contradict my statement on their greatness, but the fact is that they have been making them since around the 40s and they still make shiny new ones today. So there are a ton of them around in all sorts of condition. I think mine is a model from the 90s and really works great. I guess I should add that they (Simpson 260s) aren't VTVMs, so I may be misleading not saying that. Their VTVM was a 303 which I am pretty sure they don't make anymore, but can be found fairly easily for a reasonable price.