![ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob](https://www.qsl.net/kb8qeu/images/Ten_Tec_Jupiter-Front.jpg)
Typical synthesized rigs - like the FT-450 - have several ways of changing frequency faster than the main tuning knob allows. How many of my readers still use LC master oscillators? The tuning knob on a modern rig - any synthesizer-controlled transceiver - isn't "connected" to anything except digital circuits that count degrees of rotation! And a weighted knob, with low-friction gears, was really nice - you could use it to spin quickly across a band, and still have fine tuning increments when it stopped.īut that was then, and this is now.
![ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CiYAAOSwTjpfNRvf/s-l1600.jpg)
And in those days, the size of the tuning knob did matter - a larger knob allowed finer tuning increments, while still allowing a high change of frequency per knob rotation. I'm old enough to remember when a rig's tuning knob was geared down, and the gears turned a variable capacitor, and that capacitor controlled the frequency of an LC oscillator.
![ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob ten tec pegasus alternate tuning knob](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/s2gAAOSwhdRgTplJ/s-l300.jpg)
So why does anyone care about how large it is? That little knob is perfectly adequate in practice. The knob has 1 Hz resolution (if you want to set it that fine in the menu), and there's a "FAST" button to increase the rate, and there's another knob that changes frequency at 100 kHz per click. One thing some people complain about is its rather small tuning knob (it's about 1 3/8" diameter). I own a Yaesu FT-450 transceiver, which is giving me good service.