[mikethedruid]

Fortunately I didn't actually have the power cord connected to anything yet since I decided to remove the plate a previous owner had screwed to the back when they did their "modifications." Why they went about them the way they did baffles me. Instead of buying a small aluminum chassis box, only a few bucks back in the Radio Shack days, and an SO-239, and a 300 to 75 ohm ballun They went to the trouble of removing the old screw type connectors for the speaker and the antenna, then making and mounting an aluminum plate to cover the old connector holes on the back of the chassis, and then add an SO-239 which was connected directly to one of the old antenna leads and chassis ground. They also removed the old speaker connections and replaced that with a 1/4" phone jack. Again, this could easily have been added to that box and the back of the radio left unmolested. The metal work was not badly done. The electrical work left much to be desired, cold solder joint on the SO-239, etc. All in all I am beginning to understand the double entendre of the term "HAM handed." I have appropriate screw type terminal strips coming so I can return things to something like normal again.