This company is in Florida. But for reference:
http://www.mpja.com/ZD-929C-Solder-Station/products/460/dirt... cheap...
I used this station/iron for quite a few years, myself. Cheap tips, cheap irons, terrible tip selection. It's too bad you can't use the Hakko.
I'm not fresh on the difference between a thermocouple and a thermistor sensor, but perhaps you can interject an opamp to tweak the gain? Once you get a replacement iron, anyhow, you can record the voltage at various temps to map it out and then... well, hah, yeah, this is a huge waste of time... one that I did at one point in making a DIY temp controlled station.