[Racal] RA-17 VFO-2 calibration

[Grant Youngman]

Looking for some help.  My RA-17 manual is not very clear on a 
couple of points.

I am going to install a new film strip and then try to get the VFO 
calibration a little better than it currently sits.  Based on my reading 
of the manual, when the ganged capacitor is set to the position as 
shown in Figure 7 (well, at least it's Fig 7 in the manual I have) the 
KC scale should be against a manual endstop on the 1000 KC end.

It's a bit unclear what the directions mean.  The way I read 
5.3(b)(ii), the red "STOP" should be just to the right of the centered 
cursor at the endstop.  It says " ... distance from the cursor the to .. 
end of the scale ..is approximately 1/2."  I take the "end of the 
scale" to mean the end of the scale marking to the left side of 
1000KC, which would position the strip as I've described above.  
Currently, I can tune much farther to the left that would be indicated 
if the filmstrip were properly positioned before the dial stops.

I also don't seem to have much of a solid endstop (at either end).  It 
feels more like the only thing stopping the scale is the film pulling 
on the bobbins.  I guess I won't be able to see what's really going 
on there until I have the VFO pulled again.

Calibration is currently within +- 3 KC until I get to the high end of 
the scale where it deviates more like 7-8 KC.  I went through the 
"Minor Correction" procedure in 5.3(a), but that made things 
substantially worse throughout the scale even though it was perfect  
at the 0/1000 KC endpoints.

Can anyone shed any light on all of this?

Thanks .. Grant/NQ5T
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Grant Youngman /NQ5T
http://www.globeking.com