[Central-Electronics] Lakshore 'Band Hopper' VFO

[Jim Candela]

Hi group,

  I recently won a auction on Epay for a lakeshore 'Band hopper' VFO. This thing has a built in power supply, has 6 tubes, and will connect to a 20a with no modifications. It looks like my Converted BC-458 goes on the shelf to stay!

  I got the VFO in when I came back from my business trip. I had some
 issues with the dial, and the switches, and then the calibration. After
 several hours of messing with it, I got it working pretty darn well.
 In fact this thing is fantastic!

   The output is ~ 20v P-P into a Hi-Z load (12v p-p for 40m), and is a pure sine wave on
 all bands. With the thing out of the case, and given a 5 minute
 warmup, it drifts ~ 20hz over the next hour. In the case is a different story
 since the heat is trapped. Here it drifts up 300 hz in 30 minutes
 after a cold start, and thereafter it is pretty much like a crystal. The
 tuning rate on 80m is about 15 Khz per revolution of the dial.

  I did some SSB last night on 80m with my Lakeshore VFO into my 20A,
 and this thing really does a great job. I wonder how good the Lakeshore
 SSB transmitter is?

Regards,
Jim
WD5JKO