Blew $150 on a bad coax cable tester last month

I picked up that HST-3000 knockoff from an online surplus place for fixing a Cessna 172 radio issue. The thing kept giving false readings on the antenna coax, so I spent three days chasing a problem that wasn't there. Turns out the tester itself was junk and I could have just used a multimeter and a known good cable. Has anyone else run into fake test gear that wasted their time?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennys722mo ago

Did you buy it from that sketchy "AeroParts Express" site by chance? I got burned by their "military grade" cable tester that couldn't even tell the difference between a good cable and a paperclip. Now I just stick with my Fluke multimeter (bought new, not used) and a simple continuity test.

blake3221mo ago

The whole "military grade" thing gets me every time (like, what does that even mean anymore?). I've noticed this pattern with a lot of stuff, not just tools. People slap that label on anything to make it sound tough, but half the time it's just cheap plastic painted green. It's like how "professional grade" at the hardware store just means it costs twice as much and breaks the same way. Glad your Midwest Avionics find worked out though, sometimes the smaller places actually care about what they sell.

the_margaret2mo ago

AeroParts Express did get me once but this was from a different outfit called Midwest Avionics. Their cable tester has actually held up fine for the last two years even with daily shop use. Sometimes a solid deal comes from places that just aren't big name brands.