[DeckApe]

Thanks, folks. I have been considering plopping down $60 on one of those dreaded "cheap Chinese" variacs that I see on eBay (unless I can find a better price, of course), because...

...well, I'll be blunt. Until I get my feet under me in this hobby, I'd rather spend the time working on radios than rebuilding testing gear (excluding tube testers, of course; I know any tube tester I get will have to undergo the same overhaul that a radio would).

Doesn't mean I don't want one of the 40-pound variacs eventually.

NEXT QUESTION: Understanding that a mutual conductance tube tester is pretty much where it's at, what's the diff between mutual conductance and dynamic conductance as far as end results are concerned? I know that Hickok had a patent on "Mutual Conductance," but I'm not necessarily willing to pay $$$ for a Hickok 572 when I can pay $$ for, say, a Jackson 648 and get the same results.