Heathkit AV 3-U Millivoltmeter

[Yorkie]

Yes, a useful piece of kit. If you find that the meter pointer tends to stick at about the centre of the scale, my memory tells me that that is a known fault. It is apparently caused by static charge between the pointer and the meter front 'glass' - which is some form of plastic. I can't recall what the 'standard fix' for that was though - sorry.

Al.

Yes that's right Al.

It happened on all Heathkit meters - the Valve Voltmeter for example. All you need to do is to wet the end of your finger and touch the plastic 'glass' front of the meter which discharges the static and returns the needle back to normal. A useful bargaining tool to tell the seller that the needle sticks so maybe the meter is faulty. I didn't haggle over the price - I thought £5.00 was fair and I think it's a bit unseemly to be haggling over a couple of pounds.

I have a friend who is now well into his late 80s who I often used to take to Radio Rallies with me when we were both active radio amateurs. He always haggled as a matter of principle (his principle that is). His opening gambit was "What would you take off a pensioner for this?" presumably meant to make the seller feel guilty and akin to a pickpocket if asking for anything but rock bottom price.

It seemed to work like a charm.

However, I recall one occasion when he went into this routine and the stallholder said "what price is on it?" My chum replied "£8.00". The stallholder said 'Well give us £8.00 then or eff off'. My friend wasn't the least bit taken aback and said "I was thinking that a fiver would be about right" and started walking away. When he was almost out of earshot, the trader shouted after him "Go on then - a fiver". A fiver changed hands and neither party seemed the least bit put out by this exchange of words, which I thought was more in keeping with the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. But then I was new to Yorkshire back then, and didn't know the ropes!