It can get confusing, but it's not difficult once you know how.
Keep the channel selector on channel 12. Switch the control knob to 'manual'. Tune the VFO to channel 12. See that little button on the right side that says 'Manual Cal'? Pull it out. Tune VFO until the tone stops. Push in the calibrate knob. Now the numbers on the VFO should more or less line up to the actual channel.
If you want higher frequencies, tune the channel selector to a higher channel. The D201 will go about 8 channels below channel 1 if you put the channel selector on channel 1. Doing this will of course throw the dial indicator out of sync with the actual frequency. Solution: Get a frequency counter.
Expect the VFO to drift. Won't be very noticeable on AM but SSB can be a pain. With luck the TX and RX frequencies are lined up. Since it's a 201 it will already have an open clarifier- kind of redundant with an open VFO. I modded my 201A to use the clarifier as an RIT - a receive-only tune. Makes up for the offset in the TX and RX frequencies.
There were a lot of mods for the 201. Some of them were quite good. Many were horrible hacks. A lot of people put fans on the back of their radios to keep them cool (they produce a tremendous amount of heat) but expect that cooling action to affect the VFO. It WILL drift. Truth be told, the VFO in the 201s was never designed for transmit operation. It is extremely temperature-sensitive. I can open the cover on my 201a and the frequency will change 3 kc just from the lid being open.
Use extreme caution with the actual channel selector. They are known to be a weak link in these radios and replacements are completely unavailable at any price. The radio needs a working channel selector in order for the VFO to work, although there are certain work-arounds that can be done to make it work if the channel selector goes bad. The Siltronix model 90-3 VFO makes a nice replacement and is a lot more stable than the original VFO.
201s are a lot like a beautiful woman. They require special handling and can be quite demanding, but treat them right and they will make you very happy. Think of it as a 'Sunday' radio. Not something you use every day, but it's a nice treat. I put my 201a into semi-retirement about 2 months ago.
