[HBR] off-topic reminds me of on-topic questions

[Shoppa, Tim]

You would be surprised, how much it helps with fine tuning to replace a dinky little knob with a reasonable or big-sized knob.

Yes, it's still the same Hz per degree of rotation, but it's a lot easier to nudge a 3 inch knob 1 degree vs nudging a 0.25 inch knob 1 degree.

Unfortunately when the subject comes up most people turn to reduction drives which have the dinkiest knobs of all!!! (It has to be small or it would cover up the Vernier dial).

Tim N3QE

-----Original Message-----
From: HBR [mailto:hbr-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Stan McIntosh
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 9:02 AM
To: HBR Receiver List
Subject: [HBR] off-topic reminds me of on-topic questions

The balanced inductor antenna tuner reminds me of some on-topic thoughts that I have been thinking.  Reduction drives are still available, but they can be pricey and hard to find.  However, I have lately been playing with stepper motors, and I am thinking of trying to adapt (at least) one to VFO use.  If you'll search the term 28BYJ-48, you'll find a motor where you can get 5 motors with driver boards for $15 after shipping, and these pair nicely with a $5 Arduino board and a $2 bluetooth adapter.  These motors may only move in steps, but we're talking about over 4000 steps/revolution (the internal motor is 64 steps/revolution with a 63.something:1 reduction drive in the case).  The reason I mentioned bluetooth is that I'm often lazy with the Arduinos; rather than put controls on the case, I'll just send setting information back and forth from my phone.

Sorry if this is blasphemous by munging solid-state with HBR, but I have been thinking about this as a way to make fine tuning easier.

Regards,
Stan
kd4bth
______________________________________________________________
HBR mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/hbr
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:HBR at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html