03-12-2019, 07:59 PM
Today was a big day for the 47-1230. First a quick update. I installed the 15k chassis mount resistor on the top side of the chassis and used some heat sink compound to help the heat transfer. That thing is absolutely cool after running in FM mode for a while, so I am happy with that decision.
Now, about that big day. I stuffed everything into the cabinet...actually I did it many times, trying to get everything just right. Finally, everything fits nicely and looks great. Well, the pushbuttons are badly off-center, but I couldn't see a way to correct that without some pretty major surgery, so we'll have to live with that. So, time for the first full test in the cabinet, and it's a huge success. Since the dial is mounted to the inside of the cabinet and not to the radio chassis, this is the first time I've been able to see exactly where the pointer is on the dial. AM works very well and I was able to align it so that it tracks quite well on the dial. It picks up a ton of stations and sounds great. FM also works very well. It picks up many stations, some I would not expect it to pick up. And I even picked up some shortwave! And all this is in my basement, using the built-in FM dipole and AM loop antenna. I've very, very happy with the performance. The one thing that is disappointing is the tracking on FM. If I adjust it so it picks up a strong station at the proper spot on the dial at the high end, the low end is quite a ways off. For instance, if I set it to get 104.5 at 104.5, then 93.9 is way low, somewhere around 92.5. I'll probably set it so it's accurate near the middle, and just live with it being high at the high end, and low at the low end.
Other than that, I'm very pleased. I'll post some pictures and video once I get it into some decent light. I can't wait to surprise my Mom with it
.
Rich
Now, about that big day. I stuffed everything into the cabinet...actually I did it many times, trying to get everything just right. Finally, everything fits nicely and looks great. Well, the pushbuttons are badly off-center, but I couldn't see a way to correct that without some pretty major surgery, so we'll have to live with that. So, time for the first full test in the cabinet, and it's a huge success. Since the dial is mounted to the inside of the cabinet and not to the radio chassis, this is the first time I've been able to see exactly where the pointer is on the dial. AM works very well and I was able to align it so that it tracks quite well on the dial. It picks up a ton of stations and sounds great. FM also works very well. It picks up many stations, some I would not expect it to pick up. And I even picked up some shortwave! And all this is in my basement, using the built-in FM dipole and AM loop antenna. I've very, very happy with the performance. The one thing that is disappointing is the tracking on FM. If I adjust it so it picks up a strong station at the proper spot on the dial at the high end, the low end is quite a ways off. For instance, if I set it to get 104.5 at 104.5, then 93.9 is way low, somewhere around 92.5. I'll probably set it so it's accurate near the middle, and just live with it being high at the high end, and low at the low end.
Other than that, I'm very pleased. I'll post some pictures and video once I get it into some decent light. I can't wait to surprise my Mom with it
.Rich
