After getting the comments from Rich about this, I've gone over to vertical
mounting, and found (fortuitously?) that I end up with far more sanitary layouts
and easier mechanics. However, I am motor driving, so I don't have right angle
drives to worry about. Having said that, I got a whole load of bevel gears at a
hamfest this year for about 15 cents each, all with 6 mm holes in them. (Metric
gears, but that's no problem...)
The biggest difficulty is making sure that the connection to the front of the
vacuum variable capacitor is electrically good. I use an electrolytic capacitor
clamp to hold the cap, and a piece of thin copper sheet under the clamp to make
the connection. Because of inductance, this might not be too good at VHF though,
and possibly I need to make a proper collett out of aluminium - or brass - for
the new amp. However, in the antenna tuner for 160 and 80, there's no problem.
I guess if you're going mobile with one in the rig, vertical mounting has
advantages, especially if you're going off road - or in California, where
CalTrans seem able to make the best roads rough!
73
Peter G3RZP
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