Maestro VFO A encoder and Knob

Wayne Westfield

I am starting to look into building a hardware controller for the Flex 6500 and am looking for information on the VFO.

Is the Maestro rotary encoder the same used in the "Flex Control", if not would someone kindly post the part number and manufacturer?

Also it would be helpful to have the same details for the the VFO A knob.

Sorry if this was asked before to the best of my searching it was not.

Kind regards,
Wayne
KG5MGN

David Decoons, wo2x

The main VFO knob on the Maestro is for VFO (slice) A. The smaller knob is for VFO (slice) B. I doubt you will get a response with part numbers as Flex does not sell parts for field service of the Maestro unit. They also do not publish a service manual for it for the reason explained above (not field serviceable). Dave wo2x

Wayne Westfield

Thanks David. However I am not looking to source the part from FRS. They have shared the part numbers for the Flex Control so I see no reason they would do the same here. This is of course predicated on the hopes that someone at FRS reads this post. B

John G3WGV

If you're building your own controller I don't see why you would feel the need to use the FlexRadio part for the VFO encoder. In fact there are better options - the Maestro encoder is only 64 steps per revolution, giving, to my mind, rather poor tuning granularity, whereas there are 400, 600, even 800 step/rev encoders out there at low cost. Search "rotary encoder" on e-bay for any number of options ranging from $10 or so.

The knob is more of a problem. You'll probably want something weighted and fairly large - a typical VFO knob in fact. The most likely source is someone breaking an old transceiver, so again e-bay is the place to look. Most of these VFO knobs have a 0.25" shaft (unlike the Maestro encoders which are smaller). There are plenty of rotary encoders with a 0.25" shaft.

You might get some inspiration from my controller project Blog: https://g3wgvflex.blogspot.co.uk/

73, John, G3WGV

Tim - W4TME

They are not the same as the encoders used in the Maestro.  The Maestro uses higher quality encoders.

Wayne Westfield

Can u share the part numbers Tim?

IW7DMH, Enzo

You can take a look at here https://iw7dmh.jimdo.com/arduino-flex-controller/hardware/
Consider that the higher pulses/rev ratio is not always the better. Values between 256 and 1024 is good enought to have a good response.
If you like to play with the code you could use some mathematical functions (logarithm) to implement a speed sensitive dial knob instead of a fixed step dial knob.

73', Enzo, iw7dmh

John G3WGV

I completely agree, Enzo. 400 pulses/rev works very well with nice smooth tuning. I also implemented a speed sensitive algorithm for zipping up and down the band quickly while still having a nice slow tune rate. But Wayne seems to want to use the Maestro encoder.

73, John 'WGV

Wayne Westfield

Was thinking at least that way I would not need to hunt up a knob to a shaft of some sort. The suggestions above are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help John and Enzo.