Gift to

proveme nt over the origina l
To uc h (ACT-T-16K), bu t
man y of those originals are
st ill in the f ield .
The Touch
Th e AC T-T -16K wa s
Regency's entry into the
dir ect-entry programma ble
fi eld ; as a f irst-generation
scanner, there we re ma ny
shortcom ings which wer e
corre cted in subsequent
models. For tho se ow ner s of
the original Touch, we offer
the following modification
notes .
As fac tory issued, t he
Touch may be programm ed
out-of-range by sequent ially
pressing MA, 9, and CL
bef ore entering the desired
fr equ ency. The algorithm
ranges w hic h may be disp
layed are: 10.00-71.255,
110.74-192.655, and 311.00­
515.5875 M Hz. Unfor t u­
nately, th e receiver rf tra ck ­
ing w ill not accommodate
this great a range, even w ith
retunin g.
Without realignment,
most ACT-T-1 6Ks can receive
th e fol lowing freque
ncy ex cu rsio ns w hen
given the ou t-of-band command
(indiv idua l un it s w ill
va ry sl ightly ): 21.4-57 .5,
142.825-178.9, and 406.95­
515.425 MHz. But by some
jud icious rea lignment, the
tu ning f lexibility o f t he
Touch can be pro grammed
to receive far more usefu l
ranges: 15.375-49.785 M Hz
(add ing sho rtwave, WWV,
CB, and 10 meters), 136.74­
171.17 M Hz (addi ng weather
satellites and mi li tary
base communications), and
388.8375-492.1 M Hz (add ­
ing some m ilitary ae ronautica
l, plu s the UHF gove rnment
band).
While it wou ld be delightful
if we cou ld con tr ol
each of the three ranges
separately, unfortunately
we ca n't. All ranges are set
by a ma ster voltage-cont
ro l led o scillator. Let' s
co m pro mise on an opti
m um fr eq uency range
which allows the flexibility
of the scanner to cover
tho se frequencies which are
, 4 8 0 , 1I 5 D P
Pho to B. The K500 is foaded wi rh microprocessor-contro lled features.
mo st act ive: 18-53, 141-1 74,
and 401-501 MHz. Not all
Touc hs w ill w ind up wi th
these identical ranges, but
most shou ld come clo se.
You w il l need st andard
alignm ent tools and a signal
generator for t hese ad ­
justme nts.
Part A: Veo Board
Frequency Range Set
• Check receiver o n al l
functions for normal op eration.
• Rem ove ante nna.
• Remove 4 screws fro m
bottom of cab inet; slide
chassis out.
• Rem o v e 6 h ex-h e a d
screws from top lid of vco
c o m pa rt me n t; rem o v e
screw fr om top of shie ld.
Caref u lly pry up top lid and
rem ove.
• Locate R407 (56k) from
Fig. 1. Sold er a 120k resistor
across it.
• Turn radio on.
• Check regul ated B+ at
standoff term inal adjacent
to vol tage regul ator IC501.
Adjust R534 if necessary to
read between 9.50 and 9.55
volts de.
• Locate coi l L401 (ye ll ow)
as shown in Fig. 1. Carefull y
screw slug outward un ti l it
is flush w it h co il form. Ad ­
vance squelc h knob ful ly
clock wi se; volume sho u ld
be at one-third.
• Press in sequence: M A, 9.
CL
• Enter 141 M Hz into channell
. Press MA.
B
• Scr ew L401 slug slow ly in
until sque lc h breaks (background
noise w ill be heard).
This sett i ng w ill ad just
ban d-ed ge Iimit s o n all
thr ee ranges.
® '" H [ t TAO·
LVTl C
~
Fig. 1. The vco boa rd, show ing pares fo cario ns.
Fig. 2. Tri mpot R534 is on rhe m ixer board and adjusted in
To uc h co nversion.
70 73 Maga zine • October, 1980