Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

First of all, forgive my ignorance. (I got through Serway's 3rd
edition of Physics, but that was a fair number of years ago. I freely
admit to being one of the faceless losers for whom electricity
is "magic stuff" that comes out of the wall socket.) I understand we
will need at least a voltmeter for some of the newer modules. I would
like to be able to perform the full range of calibrations on the
various modules. So, any advice on which multimeter would be a good
choice? (Someone mentioned extech instead of fluke because
the "higher resolution" was better for calibrating oscillators at
lower frequencies.) I'm willing to spend a few hundred dollars on one.

Next up on the parade of topics which yield highly opinionated
responses - a soldering iron. I have decided, perhaps foolishly, I
might be able to pull off a 1/5 or 2/5 difficulty kit without burning
the house down or irreparably damaging multiple digits. (Since I have
2 eyes I figure I can live with the inevitable "poking out" of one of
them.) I want a quality soldering iron that will last but also don't
need one somebody who does this for a living would get.
Unfortunately, the Weller model everyone seems to like looks to have
been discontinued.

The rest of the tools needed to "venture forth" seem pretty
straightforward. I would prefer to get the soldering iron and
multimeter right the first time ;-)