Convert .dwg to PDF and retain scale ratio

I could use some help. I do not use CAD myself but use PDF's created from CAD. I need to find out how I can instruct a CAD user to convert a .dwg file to a PDF so that it retains the scale ratio (think that is what it is called). I want to be able to measure a plan in Acrobat 9 Mac using the scale and units present in the document.

For example, the drawing scale is 1/4"=1'-0". In Acrobat i currently have to change the scale ration from the default 1"=1' every time I want to measure. I think that if the .dwg is converted a certain way Acrobat will default to 1/4"=1'-0".

Unfortunately, acrobat 9 for Mac cannot import .dwf files like the Win version can so that is not an option for me.

Thanks for any suggestions-

The scale ratio you are requesting is actually a setting of Acrobat. It has nothing to do with how the pdf is created.

That is the one thing I do understand as I have to change the Acrobat scale ratio every time I want to measure something from the default 1"=1' to the actual scale of the drawing 1/4'=1'.

In Acrobat's prefs there is a setting under 2D measuring which says

"Use Scale and Units from document (when present)." this leads me to believe that the 1/4" scale could be preserved when the PDF is created making the default PDF scale ration not 1"=1' but 1/4"=1'.

Am I on the wrong track here?

I have no experience in this matter, but I have been thinking.

It seems strange that when plotting from paper space, the scale is always 1 to 1. Have your PDFs been created from Paper Space? If so, could you ask your CAD users to create a PDF from Model Space at a scale of 1 to 48, and see if the PDF retains that scale

That won't change the scale ratio which is being discussed here.

I think you are on the wrong track here Bill