To the right is a picture of a TenTec Jupiter that I upgraded, which in my opinion, makes it look like a real radio. It now matches the 302 tuning pod shown next to the rig. The main tuning knob looked like a piece of cheap plastic and is not weighted for smooth tuning. Although the new ones are plastic too, the main tuning knob is now weighted and has a great feel to it. Almost as good as the early Omni VIs.

There have been some comments about Ten Tec's main tuning knobs wobbling. Most of the wobble comes from the brake skirt but a lot of it can be taken out by carefully seating the set screws equally. I usually just run the set screws down till I feel resistance and then turn each of the screws an equal amount by watching how far the allen wrench, screw driver, etc, turns.

The smaller upgraded knobs are plastic also, but they don't look cheap like the original ones. The skirts on them look more like brushed aluminum. I noticed that the Orion now has these same type of knobs. The set screws for the smaller knobs are at a different location which makes the smaller knob shaft much easier to turn. The shafts have a very tight tolerance as they go through the front panel. When the old knobs set screws were tightened up this must have increased the shaft size just a little as it went through the front panel - so it made each knob/shaft hard to turn. The shafts are slotted and that is were the original set screws made contact. So if you can visualize squeezing the forks of a tuning fork together you know what would happen to the shaft if it were made of plastic. So these modifications are not just cosmetic, but are also for functionality.

All this beauty for under $30 US.

The part numbers for those that may want to upgrade their Jupiter are:

564 Drag Main Tuning Knob
93466 smaller knobs (there are 4 needed here).

Click here to zoom into the main tuning knob or click on the picture on the right to enlarge it.