Well first, the noise only happens when the dial is spun rapidly,
therefor not very often, and second the noise is due to the plastic
dial system. The "magic cure" is not to spin the dial really fast.

The way the dial works is there is a large translucent disk (dial)
that has the numbers on it, and in front of it is a large clear
disk that has some white rectangles painted on it. The two disks
have gear teeth around their edges. There is a different number
of teeth on each disk, so they rotate at a different rate. There
is an idler gear that couples the two disks to each other, and that
is the source of the noise.

DO NOT GREASE THESE GEARS! But you can apply a little oil to
the pivot of the idler gear, but no lubrication to the teeth.

There is always some noise in any gear train using bull gears.

-Chuck, WA3UQV



K9SQG wrote:
I just bought a Collins 32S1 and the PTO dial seems to turn reasonably smoothly
BUT there is a sound like ball bearings rolling around as the dial is rotated.
My 75S3 doesn't do this, fortunately. Any "magic cures" out there?

73s,

Evan