Thread: Philips B3G63A
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Old 11th Sep 2015, 12:36 pm   #62
frankmcvey
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Cottesmore, East Midlands, UK.
Posts: 858
Default Re: Philips B3G63A

Hi, Donald,

One of the reasons that the Avo 8 is popular in this forum is that, back in the day, it was, perhaps, the premier field instrument for radio work. Consequently when the radio etc manufacturers (and some third parties) released their servicing information, they would state that the sample voltages at the various specified test points on the circuit diagram were taken, say, under no signal conditions with an Avo Mk 8 multimeter (or perhaps they'd just say a 20,000 OPV voltmeter).

There's absolutely nothing to stop you using a modern digital multimeter (like the Fluke), but because the Fluke doesn't load the circuit under test in the same manner as an analogue meter (such as the Avo), the voltages readings that you get will be different from those measured under the same conditions with the Avo, making your servicing information much more difficult to interpret. There's a pretty good explanation of this phenomenon here.

Another reason is that when you're twiddling a control for maximum (or minimum) output, the analogue meter tends to smooth out the voltage fluctuations that make a digital meter present a constantly-changing series of numbers, making it much easier to find a "peak" or a "dip" in voltage/current.

A third reason is that many of us older members were brought up with the Avo 8 - it's a familiar and trusted old friend!

HTH

Cheers,

Frank

NB. FWIW, the Fluke range of multimeters are robust and well-respected - the Fluke 25 replaced the Avo 8 in the RAF as the general-purpose multimeter. I have both, but the Avo remains my favourite instrument.

Last edited by frankmcvey; 11th Sep 2015 at 12:54 pm.
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