Well that got me wondering about this supposedly hot shit best under $100 meter I got at the start of this project. I just took a close look, and this is embarrassing, the test leads were reversed.
In my defence, it's new, I'm not used to it and I probably plugged the leads in without glasses. I've only had the leads out once and it was early morning dark a couple of weeks ago when I plugged them in again.
Guess I'll be repeating that transistor check again. May not complete it tonight, I've got to get my mind off this for an hour or two. I will post my revised results when done. It may be tonight but it'll be late. If not, early morning.