[EdHolland]

As part of other errands this morning, I stopped at the hardware store and bought replacement grommets. $6 out of the door for a pack of 6!!! fortunately I had another two as eight were required. Am I being tight, or is that a ridiculous price for small pieces of rubber.

I removed the speaker, and gave the chassis a good cleaning - it needed to come out anyway to access the grommets on it's mounting plate. and got it all back together OK, except the dial cord for the tuning indicator has also broken, so will replace that later. I was more or less expecting this, since the other cord let go at first sight.

Once it was back together, I arranged the bench carefully, put knobs on the chassis, and hooked up the dim bulb tester, double double checking the chassis connection and plug orientation. I applied power, and the bulb lit fairly brightly at first, but steadily faded to the dimmest of dim glow. At first, nothing, but eventually a hint of received buzz (not power supply hum) and a station on AM. As it warmed up further, there was a pretty good reception across the range. Switching to FM it made all the right noises, and tuned in stations, although it does seem in need of alignment and not delivering the best audio - then again, FM reception in the work area basement isn't the best.

Anyway, lots of progress, and definitely a very viable project. Time to replace the paper caps and bring this up properly. I have not decided what to do about the four section filter cap yet (80, 40, 40, 40 uF) and although it works for now, I think it should be replaced as it is going back to our friend.