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Range Doubler meter

I have a Micronta (Radio Shack) analog meter made iirc in the 70s that I bought at a hamfest in the last 10 years. It calls itself, and I remember the ads, a Range Doubler meter, and has a knob to switch from V-A to V-A/2.

I figured that V-A/2 would give readings that are half the real values, but it seems like it is the opposite. They are twice the real value and I have to take that value and divide by 2 (V-A/2?).

Is this the way it is supposed to be, or did mine get miswired somehow? Did anyone other than Micronta sell range doubler meters?

I don't use it much because when I need analog I have a Lafayette meter I bought in the early 70's that I like better, but I think the range doubler feature should be very helpful. I wanted the meter in the 70's and maybe 80's but couldn't rationalize buying it new, since I had a VOM and really needed a VTVM.

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Reply to
mm
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My Range Doubler shows 125 Volts, if I set the main knob to the

250 V range and input 125 V. If I then set the doubler knob to V-A/2, the needle goes to 250 V, and I have to divide by two to find the voltage at the input.

I guess they wanted to give us more ranges without having to print more numbers onto the instrument.

Regards, H.

Reply to
Heinz Schmitz

Mine has sufficient scales that mental arithmetic is not needed! The range-doubler switch reduces the sensitivity from 50KO/V to 25KO/V, but allowes all measurements to be taken on the upper half of the scales. For example if I am measuring 119v I can choose whether to read the value off the 0-250v scale or the 0-125v scale. It is the Archer

28-4014A model, which i bought in 1981.
Reply to
mike.j.harvey

I think so. This is a crappy idea anyway.

Reply to
Homer J Simpson

Sears sold almost the same meter as Radio Shack, for $60, only it added a battery test function.

Reply to
larry moe 'n curly

Thanks, and thanks all.

If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

Reply to
mm

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