Re: Dip Meter TC Tuner

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Steve Cook by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-g8cyerichmond.freeserve.co.uk>

It might be worth looking at a flea market at a ham radio meet, or for an
old valve (tube) radio at a car-boot sale. Most of these were dual or even
triple gang, common values per gang were 365 & 500pF. They tend to be big,
but very well built (this means they don't drift much in value with
temperature unlike some modern solid dielectric ones, or suffer from
vibration effects). Early solid state receivers also commonly have
air-spaced tuning capacitors of similar values but smaller physically.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: Dip Meter TC Tuner


 > Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
 >
 > You can still get the 365 pF variable capacitors somewhere.  I just bought
a
 > cheap radio and it has one in it.  The hangup might be that minimum order
 > quantities are huge.
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 10:19 PM
 > Subject: Re: Dip Meter TC Tuner
 >
 >
 >  > Original poster: "Matthew Smith by way of Terry Fritz
 > <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <matt-at-kbc-dot-net.au>
 >  >
 >  > Hi Steve/All
 >  >
 >  > >Might have to cannibalize one out of a cheap AM radio.  If you know of
 >  > >sources, please post it or email me directly - they are becoming
scarce
 >  > >items.
 >  >
 >  > Can't speak for anywhere but Australia, but I have seen ex-military
 >  > variable caps on Yahoo auctions over here.  But you're right, neither
 >  > Farnell nor RS have them listed (I haven't tracked down a Digikey
 > Australia
 >  > yet).
 >  >
 >  > Old wireless sets should be plentiful in junk shops, so that may be the
 > answer.
 >  >
 >  > This does raise the question: how do people build radios now if you
can't
 >  > get variable capacitors? (Apart from trimmers.)  I'm sure that they
don't
 >  > use variable inductors and I didn't think that RC oscillators were
 > suitable
 >  > for high frequencies; forgive me for being out of date...
 >  >
 >  > Cheers
 >  >
 >  > M
 >  >
 >  > --
 >  > Matthew Smith            | Business: http://www.kbc-dot-net.au
 >  > IT Consultant            | PGP Key:  http://gpg.mss.cx
 >  > Kadina, South Australia  | * Tivis Project * Community Connect *
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >
 >
 >