Fluke 8020A Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM): History, Overview, Demonstration, Theory

In this video, I digress from my ongoing series of videos about vintage Heathkit digital multimeters to address the famous Fluke 8020A Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM), considered to be the 'grandfather' of all handheld digital multimeters. I will discuss its history, give an overview of its features, demonstrate its operation for all functions, give an overview of the user's manual, and finally delve deep into the circuit theory while go go through the schematic diagram.

In the course of the above, I will spend some time talking about the origin of the ubiquitous ICL7106 (and related 7107) monolithic digital A/D or voltmeter ICs that have been at the heart of practically all 3-1/2 digit meters of all kinds for decades, and how that grew from the original collaboration between Fluke and Intersil to develop the Fluke proprietary 429100 A/D chip used in the 8020A.

I also take a few minutes to debunk the often made assertion that the Heathkit model IM-2215 digital multimeter is "just a kit version of the contemporary Fluke DMMs models" such as the 8020A and 8020B.

Index:
00:00 About digital handheld multimeters (DMMs)
05:54 History of the Fluke 8020A
11:20 Internal views of the 8020A
21:28 8020A versus the Heathkit IM-2215 DMM
27:37 "beauty shot" of the 8020A
27:53 Overview of the 8020A users manual
34:32 Demonstration of the 8020A in all modes of operation
51:00 Schematic diagram & theory of circuit operation, including the 429100 A/D chip