[winkydink]

Hi morzh,

My tube tested is a rather basic one, a Heathkit TC-2. It does not have a Gas Checker, although I can test for shorts.

Ron and your advice regarding the capacitors was very close with regard to what actually was the case.

I farmed out the repair to Jeff of Radiotiques, who identified the problem and fixed it quickly. This was his assessment.

" Finished the repairs this morning. I found a coupling capacitor that was leaky, replaced it, and the radio works fine. I also replaced 3 other paper caps, tightened the dial cord, and realigned the receiver. The company that you used to repair the radio replaced some of the old paper caps using NOS (new old stock) capacitors. The danger is that the NOS molded caps are actually paper caps inside and can go bad. That was the problem with the cap they installed from the output of the 7C6 (audio driver) to the 50L6 (audio output). Its not that they did bad work, simply that they assumed the NOS capacitors would work fine. "

Two points.

(1) I would highly recommend Radiotiques. Jeff has done quality work for me, has fast turn around time and has excellent pricing [though this is not an advertisement]

(2) I WOULD NOT recommend a certain repair shop in Pittsburgh. I had a total of 6 radios repaired by them and 4 of the 6 have had problems. I have learned a great deal since then, and in hind sight, would not use them given a second chance.

I am going to look over another radio that I had repaired by the Pittsburgh company. That radio had a bad audio switch (not their fault), but does not play well after the swich has been replaced. I am going to very carefully check for lose wire and see if any other paper capacitors have not been replaced (I was told that they were, but I have since found out this wasn't exactly the case). I will start there and see where it leads.

Thanks again Ron, Morzh and all the other members of the Phorum who have helped along the way !