[glyphmon]

Perhaps final update?

Tube tester, an EICO 625, came in, and while yes, I'll need to go through and verify that these components are all within spec, it did work to test (with an observable difference) both the new and replaced tubes.  New ones tested positive very quickly.  Old ones were much closer to the questionable range and took longer to reach that point, so that seems to make sense given what we've observed for voltages, I think.

I did a calibration on the signal generator which was appreciably off.  There was an ESPN affiliate station (880 KHz, I think) that I was able to receive in my truck, so that's what we used.  Where was nothing on one of the convenient dial markings on the signal generator.  It took a large adjustment to the trimmer to get the generator to where I could get a zero-beat, but I don't think it was egregiously off-frequency.  I guess it's just a very fine-adjusting trimmer.

With that done, performed an alignment, now about a week ago, but the power level was way down for some reason I couldn't fathom until I got to the end and tried tuning to different stations.  Even my AM transmitter was coming in poorly.  Until I switched the input selector to radio mode.    The entire alignment was done based on the audio bleeding over despite being disconnected from the output section.  Not sure whether to be impressed or not, but it's one lesson I hope I only need to learn once.

#46 bulbs came in today and replaced the one for the shortwave band indicator.  With that reinstalled, I did one final alignment with the input switch in the radio position and managed to get a little more oomph out of the various adjustments.  The local station, WDEA 1370 still is coming in at just a hair under 1400 on the dial, and there's virtually nothing else that it picked up tonight.  1370 has a weird little variable whine to it, but I know it's not this radio specifically because another analog dial radio I have gets the same thing.

Shortwave is much more active and, though I'm not sure of the frequencies exactly, since no station I've tuned in so far seems to want to identify the frequency it's broadcasting on, I did pick up about three stations with pretty decent clarity.  Among them, I think, was another Cuban broadcast and Radio Romanian International again, which conveniently was the short-term goal that got me started in this whole process in the first place.

There is what I think might be described as a small amount of motorboating at the very top end of the shortwave range, but I don't think I'm getting much of anything in that area anyway besides a bunch of high-pitched tones.  Those have been pretty consistent since we got this into operating condition, not sure about the motorboating, but I think that's only since lubricating the tuning capacitor the first time.

I did pick up a grounding rod and some bare copper wire for a ground.  I know I'll have a bear of getting it down into the ground - there's a lot of scrap granite from quarrying operations everywhere in my yard, including next to the house.  Is there an acceptable minimum depth that I could strive for?  I'll also be stringing up the antenna outside and we'll see how these two improvements may impact the performance.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the potential from interference from the transmission line nearby?  From my last post: My house is along a small, regional transmission line running at 43.5 kV.  Where I am at inside with the radio(s) is probably 70 feet from the lines at a right angle.  What sort of impact would one expect to be experienced from a line at this level, at this proximity?

Thank you everyone for your assistance in getting to this stage.  About to switch fully onto refinishing the cabinet next.  At least there will be prettier pictures.

Best wishes,
Roy