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Alpha junk
5/21/2007 2:54:16 AMThomas Dermody
So I used one of those Radio Shack alpha pots in my Majestic. I didn't really know at the time that alpha stands for the audio curve type pot. When I turn up the volume in my Majestic, for a very small part of the rotation, nothing happens. Then the audio jumps up once, and then again. Then, for the rest of the rotation, the increase is smooth. Not knowing what I know now, I bought an audio taper pot from Radio Daze. Turns out that they sell the same thing Radio Shack sells. I took readings with my meter, and the pot stays at 0 for about 10 degrees. Then it jumps up to about 350 ohms. Then it jumps up to like 10,000 ohms in several very rapid jumps (like maybe 20 degrees of rotation total).

Who the heck makes these? They're junk!

5/22/2007 12:39:47 PMAndrew K
:So I used one of those Radio Shack alpha pots in my Majestic. I didn't really know at the time that alpha stands for the audio curve type pot. When I turn up the volume in my Majestic, for a very small part of the rotation, nothing happens. Then the audio jumps up once, and then again. Then, for the rest of the rotation, the increase is smooth. Not knowing what I know now, I bought an audio taper pot from Radio Daze. Turns out that they sell the same thing Radio Shack sells. I took readings with my meter, and the pot stays at 0 for about 10 degrees. Then it jumps up to about 350 ohms. Then it jumps up to like 10,000 ohms in several very rapid jumps (like maybe 20 degrees of rotation total).
:
:Who the heck makes these? They're junk!
:
5/22/2007 12:39:56 PMAndrew K
:So I used one of those Radio Shack alpha pots in my Majestic. I didn't really know at the time that alpha stands for the audio curve type pot. When I turn up the volume in my Majestic, for a very small part of the rotation, nothing happens. Then the audio jumps up once, and then again. Then, for the rest of the rotation, the increase is smooth. Not knowing what I know now, I bought an audio taper pot from Radio Daze. Turns out that they sell the same thing Radio Shack sells. I took readings with my meter, and the pot stays at 0 for about 10 degrees. Then it jumps up to about 350 ohms. Then it jumps up to like 10,000 ohms in several very rapid jumps (like maybe 20 degrees of rotation total).
:
:Who the heck makes these? They're junk!
:
5/22/2007 5:03:32 PMDoug Criner
Thomas, I had a similar problem after replacing the volume control on my Majestic 90-B: http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/018/M0040018.pdf (I intitially used an Alpha 100-K audio taper which I bought from RadioDaze.)

The original pot is a two-terminal jobbie in the cathode ckt, unlike the three-terminal voltage divider style used in many radios. If you hook up the the wiper and the counter-clockwise terminal, the control works backwards from the conventional direction - i.e., CCW for higher volume. So, you have to use the other terminal, plus the wiper terminal. But, then, an audio tapered pot is tapered in the wrong direction, causing the volume control to be extremely touchy.

I used a 100-K linear taper pot, and it worked better, but still somewhat touchy.

I disassembled the original Centralab pot - it was more-or-less an audio taper, but tapered in a different direction.

The original pot was 75K, I think. You might get a better control range with a 25-K or 50-K pot and adding a series fixed resistor if necessary. I haven't tried that though.
Doug


:So I used one of those Radio Shack alpha pots in my Majestic. I didn't really know at the time that alpha stands for the audio curve type pot. When I turn up the volume in my Majestic, for a very small part of the rotation, nothing happens. Then the audio jumps up once, and then again. Then, for the rest of the rotation, the increase is smooth. Not knowing what I know now, I bought an audio taper pot from Radio Daze. Turns out that they sell the same thing Radio Shack sells. I took readings with my meter, and the pot stays at 0 for about 10 degrees. Then it jumps up to about 350 ohms. Then it jumps up to like 10,000 ohms in several very rapid jumps (like maybe 20 degrees of rotation total).
:
:Who the heck makes these? They're junk!
:

5/24/2007 11:38:51 PMMarv Nuce
Doug/Thomas,
I had to rebuild a graphite rheostat completely on an Edison 7R in order to use the original assembly and all the physical constraints.

marv

:Thomas, I had a similar problem after replacing the volume control on my Majestic 90-B: http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/018/M0040018.pdf (I intitially used an Alpha 100-K audio taper which I bought from RadioDaze.)
:
:The original pot is a two-terminal jobbie in the cathode ckt, unlike the three-terminal voltage divider style used in many radios. If you hook up the the wiper and the counter-clockwise terminal, the control works backwards from the conventional direction - i.e., CCW for higher volume. So, you have to use the other terminal, plus the wiper terminal. But, then, an audio tapered pot is tapered in the wrong direction, causing the volume control to be extremely touchy.
:
:I used a 100-K linear taper pot, and it worked better, but still somewhat touchy.
:
:I disassembled the original Centralab pot - it was more-or-less an audio taper, but tapered in a different direction.
:
:The original pot was 75K, I think. You might get a better control range with a 25-K or 50-K pot and adding a series fixed resistor if necessary. I haven't tried that though.
:Doug
:
:
::So I used one of those Radio Shack alpha pots in my Majestic. I didn't really know at the time that alpha stands for the audio curve type pot. When I turn up the volume in my Majestic, for a very small part of the rotation, nothing happens. Then the audio jumps up once, and then again. Then, for the rest of the rotation, the increase is smooth. Not knowing what I know now, I bought an audio taper pot from Radio Daze. Turns out that they sell the same thing Radio Shack sells. I took readings with my meter, and the pot stays at 0 for about 10 degrees. Then it jumps up to about 350 ohms. Then it jumps up to like 10,000 ohms in several very rapid jumps (like maybe 20 degrees of rotation total).
::
::Who the heck makes these? They're junk!
::

5/27/2007 1:18:08 AMThomas Dermody
Yeah. These pots are junk. The taper is identical at both ends, and it's in steps instead of smooth. I'll have to find something else. I need a 1 meg pot, since I converted the set so it'd have AVC, etc. I'll have to keep my eyes open.

T.



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