Changed my mind about spending $400 on a test set after a veteran tech talked to me

I used to think you could get by with just a multimeter and a cheap oscilloscope for most avionics work. Then a guy named Jerry who's been doing this since the 80s pulled me aside at a hangar in Phoenix. He said 'son, you're gonna waste three days chasing a fault that a decent test set will find in 20 minutes.' I blew it off at first, figured he was just trying to sell me on old school gear. Last month I spent 10 hours trying to trace a intermittent comm issue on a King radio using my basic tools. Finally borrowed a buddy's IFR 4000 and found the problem in under an hour. That experience made me realize Jerry wasn't gatekeeping, he was saving me time. Has anyone else had a senior tech give advice that actually cost you money but saved your sanity? I'm curious what test sets you all actually use for troubleshooting analog stuff.

2 comments

2 Comments

sageburns17d ago

Is a $400 test set really saving you time or just covering for rusty troubleshooting skills?

grant.jade16d ago

@sageburns I get where you're coming from but that $400 test set saved my butt on a Collins radio last year. Before I had one I spent two full days swapping cards and tracing signals on a bench, only to find out it was a tiny cold solder joint on a connector pin. The test set found it in 15 minutes flat. I wouldn't call my skills rusty, but sometimes the intermittent stuff just laughs at a multimeter and a scope. Jerry was right, at least in my case having a proper test set turns a nightmare into a quick fix. So yeah, I'm with the original poster on this one.