If you homebrew your transceiver control software, you can easily extend it to
display the correct amplifier Tune and Load settings for the current frequency.
This enables rapid QSY without marking up your amplifier front-panel.
Data is stored in a text file, one line per frequency in ascending order. Given
the relatively small number of entries (~50), a linear search for the nearest
frequency works fine even in Visual Basic on a 386. If you're a perfectionist,
you can provide an optimized entry for each 10 kHz segment; alternatively, you
can provide a few entries per band and have the software interpolate. The
file-driven approach makes it easy to support multiple amplifiers (like your
backup).
I thought about adding steppers for the Tune and Load caps, but bandswitching
would still be manual.
Dave
AA6YQ
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