VFO Knob

A VFO Knob, sometimes called a Tuning Knob, Tuning Dial (as on vintage analog receivers), or on some HTs, a channel selector or MULTI knob, is the knob that adjusts the Transmit/Receive operating frequency of a transceiver, receiver or transmitter, on traditional base station and mobile rigs, along with scanners and vintage domestic broadcast receivers, the VFO knob is typically the biggest knob on the radio.

It is typically a smoothly rotating weighted knob with knurling and a finger indentation for rapidly spinning the knob, some VFO knobs, such as that on the Yaesu FT-991/A have a stiffness adjuster, which can allow the knob to smoothly rotate and even spin for a few seconds after a quick flick, or stiff for finer adjustments, some other knobs such as those on the Trio/Kenwood R-2000 are stiff by default and the tuning steps can be changed electronically via a row of buttons above the knob, for traditional analog tuners the VFO knob should be able to smoothly tune the receiver without any discernible steps.

Other methods of Tuning and Frequency Entry

Tuning Buttons

Some radios, mostably low end portable broadcast receivers, do not have a VFO knob, instead the user must click through frequencies using one of two navigation buttons, this is common on some vintage Sony shortwave receivers, the Yaesu FT-60 also has up/down frequency selection buttons in addition to a MULTI knob and a direct entry keypad, Quan Sheng and Baofeng HTs, which lack a MULTI knob, also have these buttons along with direct entry.

Direct Frequency Entry

Direct Frequency Entry is common for HTs and higher end portable shortwave receivers such as the Sony ICF-2001D/2010, along with some portable scanners, the operators simply inputs a desired operating frequency on a keypad, this keypad often controls other aspects of the radio, direct entry via the computer keyboard is also used for Software Defined Radios, on HTs such as the Yaesu FT-60, memory channels are given a unique number, which the operator can key into the keypad to jump to a specific channel.

MULTI Knob

The MULTI Knob is common on HTs, on HTs such as the Yaesu FT-60, it is a clicky knob which is user configurable for the frequency step per click (12.5 kHz by default) it is also used for navigating menus and changing settings, larger radios such as the Yaesu FT-991/A have a seperate knob called the MULTI knob but this functionality is not combined with the VFO knob, since there is room for more knobs and switches on a larger radio.

Channel Knob

The channel knob or selector is common for commerical, public safety and licence-by-rule radios, instead of freely selecting a frequency, the knob selects between various numbered channels, set either by a CPS Codeplug or Crystals as in a crystal controlled radio.

The radio may speak the channel number or name of the selected channel.

This is common for radios that are meant to be fool proof and easy to use, such as commerical, licence-by-rule and public safety radios.

Radios without VFO knobs

Some radios by design do not have a dedicated method of frequency entry, this includes extreamly cheap scanning broadcast receivers, as well as computer controlled receivers like the iCom PC-1000 and most Software Defined Radios where a virtual VFO knob, direct entry via the keyboard, or the mouse scroll wheel, is often used instead.