Knight T-150 questions

[Doug Hall]

Hi folks,
   I just acquired a Knight T-150 AM/CW transmitter. Got it working last
weekend, and have finished cleaning it up. I got it with the intention of
giving it as a Christmas present, and I'm trying to make sure it's working
"to spec" before I box it up. It puts out 100 watts on CW (60 watts or so on
6m, even!), and the screen modulator works just fine. The power transformer
looks a little on the light side to me for a rig with a pair of 6146's. But
I digress.
   The question I have relates to the VFO. Just how good/bad was the VFO in
the T-150? I really don't know what to expect. This one doesn't produce the
cleanest CW note in the world, and I'm not sure how far to pursue it. The
problem is not drift, it's the quality of the note. On 80 and 40m it's
so-so, and above that it gets kinda "whoopy". I can only imagine what it
would sound like on 6m CW. It's certainly better than, say, a Heath VF-1,
which, by the way, was the first VFO I ever used with built-in band-scanning
:-) Sometimes I detect an abrupt change (albeit a small one) in frequency
when the key is held down for a while, although I suspect that's a different
problem. Even with a crystal plugged in I can detect an ever-so-slight
"whoop" on keydown, as if the oscillator is slow to start. It's not a big
deal on AM, and the old rig actually sounds pretty good with a D-104 hooked
to it. Better audio than my DX-60B by a good bit. I think I could drive my
SB-200 with it and hold my own on 75m.
   So, Knight T-150 owners/users - what should I expect? Is the T-150 best
left to AM (and occasional CW) service, or do I need to dig into the VFO and
look for that T9 CW note?
   It's a pretty neat little transmitter, by the way.
73,
Doug Hall, KF4KL
Raleigh, NC

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