Posts: 177
Threads: 19
Joined: Feb 2014
City: The Motor City,Detroit MI
I have never yet done an alignment on a radio, and I'm trying to read how it's done. I get some conflicting information. Some say IF alignment can be done by ear, others say it can be horribly screwed up doing it this way. Can an IF alignment be done without a signal generator?
Posts: 15,691
Threads: 551
Joined: Oct 2011
City: Jackson, NJ
Yes it can.
No I do not recommend it.
Posts: 61
Threads: 5
Joined: Mar 2014
City: Holiday TN
IMHO, by the time you can get close by ear you will have aligned enough of them with a signal generator you would go back and verify it with test equipment anyway. It's a game I like to play now and then.
Take care with too much pressure on your alignment tools if you are tuning stuck slugs with internal Allen holes. They can crack. Cracked ones are a bear to get out. Then you get to measure the pieces and try finding a replacement.
Hamfests are a good source of used alignment tools - no such thing as too many - also signal generators.
Posts: 1,130
Threads: 79
Joined: Jan 2014
City: Annapolis, IL
I too recommend using the generator and meter. The meter can see what your ears cant hear. Might get by on a simple am superhet, but when you get into more complex shortwave, FM and esp television, you really need the equipment.
If I could find the place called "Somewhere", I could find "Anything"
Tim
Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me , believes not in me but in him who sent me" John 12:44