Another cool widget you can't buy.

[nomadradio]

So, here's another cool widget you can't buy.

Yet.

So far all of this batch of converted Siltronix 80 and 90 with this display are spoken for.

Before they're even ready.

But I chafed because the window in the Siltronix VFO is too small for any 6-digit LED counter/display that I can buy. And the metal work to enlarge the window in a 1/8-inch thick aluminum panel is more labor than I wanted to put into it.

Used a green-backlit LCD for the last couple of years. Black dot-matrix characters look a bit rough, but it does the job and fits behind the window just fine.

An associate suggested I just replace the metal faceplate with smoked plex. Plenty of room for six LED digits now.

And yes, my idiot light DID come on about that moment.

This is the first pic of the first prototype. The glossy face of the thing would look less annoying if I had draped the background behind the camera.

Didn't need to, for now. But the reflections don't look as annoying in person as the pic suggests.

This also solves the "left-hand knob" problem when converting the single-band model 80. Poking a left-hand knob hole in the metal face plate just looks sloppy, with the knob half-covering the "Model 80" legend in the screen print.

And when we have some to sell, I'll take the trouble to shoot a pic that looks better.

73

 

[grimace]

looks good

 

[nomadradio]

Found a pic of the previous experiment. The display looks nice enough, but widening the window was a pain. And the left knob just looks dorky covering up the model number.

73

 

[tecnicoloco]

Maybe Gamma-ray Graphics can help you with a decal overlay for the right switch or for the whole front fascia plate like he does for radios and amps

I am not endorsing him,but the decals or stickers that I bought from him are top notch quality and he can do whatever design you need


My 2 Tacos

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Personally I like the second display better. the yellow is easier on the eyes. Hmmmmmm........you wouldn't happen to have any Siltronix 80 VFO dial faces and mounting hardware would you. I have a model 80 with a few parts missing. Like the dial face and mounting hardware for it. the shaft is fine and it works but no dial and I do want it original.

 

[nomadradio]

Well, this one is available.

Cheap.

This is what happens when you drop one of these on its face, best I can tell.

Single best clue was this reduction vernier. The two mounting ears should be flat, parallel with the outer ring. Got smooshed into the tuning capacitor. Wasn't too kind to the main tuning cap either.

Odds are the faceplate will flatten back out just fine. But I won't be the one who does it.

And I'll have another one or two faceplates soon, not quite so beaten up.

And no, I don't sell any of the other dial hardware. Do have some white plastic dials that we'll never use. But the reduction gears, knobs and such are what we use to rebuild the beat-up specimens. Sure don't sell that kind of part. No other way to come up with them when I need them.

73

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I just need the printed face dial that has the frequencies marked on it. I should have it somewhere but darned if I can find it. Now having said that it will probably turn up. That's the way things happen to me. Searched high and low for my two foot level a couple years ago. I got POed after making due for a couple years with a four foot level or a one foot torpedo level since I rarely use one but I finally went and bought a new one last May. When we opened the camper trailer for the first time in THREE YEARS the first of June there it was in the forward storage compartment.

 

[nomadradio]

Each model, 80 and 90, has a unique dial-scale pattern for each 'version'. The model and type are marked on the dial near the center. This is why we just told people "don't bother" for years when they asked to have one converted to cover a different frequency range. Sure, we could get the frequency to come out of it, but the dial markings would be all wrong once it's converted.

But the digital displays made all that irrelevant, once we began removing the dial altogether.

But yeah, we have a few. Just need to know which one you're looking for. Haven't done a spectacular job of keeping track where they went, but I haven't had a reason to look for them, either.

Just need to know model 80 or 90, and which type digit, 1,2,3,5,6 or 7.

73

 

[nomadradio]

Finally got four of them built. One of each color.

The glossy surface of the smoked-plex front panel reflects everything in the camera. Doesn't seem that shiny just looking at it here.

Makes it hard to get a clear pic of the LED displays, but that's okay. Can't buy one of this batch. They were all sold before we could get them finished.

More of them soon.

But that's what we always say.

73