[Boatanchors] RME 4350 Dial Alignment

[WQ9E at btsnetworks.net]

Gary,

I have had some luck using a modern synthetic lubricant and a lot of patience in adjusting the drive.  Make sure the tuning cap is turning as freely as possible (clean and lubricate its thrust bearing and only put enough pre-load on this bearing to center the capacitor plates).  Any extra capacitor drag will guarantee slippage.

The only tuning drive that is very good is in my VHF-126 converter (style matches the 4300/4350 receivers) and that is probably because it received little usage.

A lot of the receivers will have severely damaged shafts from a combination of dried out lubricant and excessive tension applied through the adjustment plate.  I have one 4350A that a previous owner replaced the RME drive with a pair of Eddystone reduction drives and it works pretty well although the slow ratio is not as slow as that provided by RME (but it doesn't slip either).

I picked up a couple of cheap Siltronix (Swan's sister division which sold illegal CB gear) VFOs at a hamfest and sometime I am going to see if it is possible to adapt that mechanism to the RME.  One thing Swan got right was a very smooth VFO tuning mechanism.

The 4350 with 4301 adapter is a nice receiver IF you can get one with decent tuning feel.  Frankly, mechanical build quality wasn't a RME strong point.  I have many of their receivers from a RME-9D through the 6900 and I have seen several of the RME-45 receivers with severely worn mechanisms.

Rodger WQ9E

-------- Original Message --------
> From: "Gary H. Harmon, Jr." <gharmon at idworld.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 9:45 PM
> To: "BOATANCHORS2 LIST" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [Boatanchors] RME 4350 Dial Alignment
> 
> As I recall, this RME and possibly other RME receivers had similar problems
> getting the veneer tuning to track.  The coarse knob always worked but the
> front knob would slip in spite of any adjustment done to the three screws.
> Are there fixes to this problem?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks.  
> 
>  
> 
> Gary H. Harmon, Jr. - K5JWK
> 
> 6003 Archwood
> 
> San Antonio, TX 78239-1504
> 
> 210.657.1549h / 210.884.6926c
> 
>  
> 
> "Too many projects, not enough time".
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
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