[Premium-Rx] Watkins Johnson 8711A Question - Update

[Charles Steinmetz]

Greg wrote:

>The encoder has a plastic shaft, it's loose in the control guide 
>bore and has a lot of free play in all directions so apparently this 
>is where the problem is. How would you proceed with this one? Can 
>the encoder be fixed or do I look for a replacement or does it need 
>a front panel?

Replace the encoder.  This is one of the many weaknesses of the 8711 
series.  In addition to going wobbly (often exacerbated by the owner 
installing a heavier tuning knob for "better feel"), the nylon shaft 
is a very significant source of spurious leakage in these 
models.  The encoder can be replaced with one that has a metal shaft, 
which is a big improvement on both counts.

I can't find my notes with the the part number of the metal shaft 
encoder just now, but if you spend some time with the encoder 
catalogs you should be able to find it.

(Better yet, sell the 8711A and get a Ten-Tec RX340.  ;-)

Best regards,

Charles