"Barry N1EU" <n1eu@hotmail.com> asked
Looking at the Ten-Tec Web site, it's difficult to tell exactly how the
238A's inductor tuning knob scale works and how precise it can be set. I'd
appreciate it if someone with a 238A could describe how the inductor scale
is driven and how well it works. I'm thinking of upgrading from a 238 to a
238A.
Barry,
I bought a new 238A tuner a month ago. I have been extremely pleased with
it. The inductor is linked to its knob by a gear reduction "box" inside
the tuner. The scale is from 0 to 30. The knob turns easily but not
"freely" -- you can not "slap" the knob and send it spinning (wouldn't want
it that way, either). I have not had any "backlash" in my knob,
either. Very smooth adjusting the knob/inductor. For my ladder-line fed
dipole at 35' (don't laugh, biggest tree I have :-) ), I can tune 160, 80,
and 40 on or about the 15-20 marks on the knob's scale. It is easy to
eyeball the scale to the half-mark values.
One of the main things I wanted from the tuner was repeatable settings --
something I had a lot of trouble with in my old (non-Ten Tec) tuner. I
have found that the 238A is OUTSTANDING for this feature! When I first
tried tuning the antenna, I made a table of frequency vs. tuner
settings. Now I use the table to go to the exact settings time after
time. I could not ask for any better operation in this regard.
In short, replacing the old-style dial/moving dial pointer in the 238 with
the new calibrated knob is a winner with me! Hope this helps.
73,
Nat
N4EL
|