help with diagnosing intermittent spark loss. please help!

My truck has developed a intermittent spark cut, to the point where it usually dies in might take a little while to restart. I have replaced the coil, I believe it is losing spark from the coil. my plugs, wire, rotor and cap look fine. I have stuck a spark plug tester on a spark wire, and when it starts sputtering and dying, it was loosing spark. What steps should I take to see what's causing this? My next option is order a $200 distributor. Is there anyone that can point me into a correct diagnosis of my problem?

i read yesterday that if your ignition switch is going, you can test to be sure by running a wire from pos. side of battery to pos. side of coil and start it that way. if it doesn't miss or sputter like b4, then could be your ignition switch. if it does then id move to the distributor. they are both pricy but a switch is a little less than a distributor so id say could be a better place to start being u can test it to be sure.

when is running, I have used a test light on the positive side of the coil, even when it's sputtering, it never loses power.

hmmmm. make sure plug wire boots are sealed well, i just got new wires, didn't really know how much they affect the engine till i replaced them. other than that, the distributor is the only other thing. does the distributor have "contact points" under the cap and rotor or is it an electronic. if its points, they normally are easy to spot wear and tear. i switched to an electronic distributor on my b2k cause the points one was screwed and i had a similar issue.

no, mine has the electronic ignition control module inside the distributor, that part itself is 150 dollars. It also has a pickup in the distributor as well. I would love to test these things before I spend money to replace them, I have never been 1 to throw parts at something