[Boatanchors] Valiant Troubleshooting Question

[Ronnie Hull]

Scott you could also have a parasitic! 
But before you do anything change those caps! And DO check those meter shunts!
Ronnie w5sum

Sent from Ronnie's IPhone

> On Dec 30, 2014, at 15:29, Whitebear1122 <whitebear1122 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>    Last night I tuned up on 80m for one of those delightful bitter cold winter night QSO's.  I haven't used the Valiant for a while.  With the meter in the Grid position I peaked the Exciter as usual, and then used the Drive control to set the grid current to around 7 ma.  At 7 ma, the Drive pot is normally around the 9 o'clock position.  The plate current was pegging the meter for all Aux Coupling positions, power output was nearly 200 watts so I know those 6146's are going nuclear.  I had to back off the exciter to get the plate current and power output back to normal.  At that point there is no Grid current reading on the meter.  If I peak the Exciter, then I have to back off the Drive control to 0.5 (in-between dot 0 and dot 1) to get the plate current back to around 300 ma, again with no Grid current showing on the meter but getting 100 watts output.  
> 
> I can't imagine that a neutralization issue would do this on 80 meters.  10 meters maybe  but I wouldn't think it would show up on 80m.  
> 
> I went to 20m and it seemed to tune up normally, although the Drive control was in the 3 O'clock position to get 7 ma Grid current.   I expect to crank the drive control up on the higher bands so that doesn't concern me.  
> 
> I'll have to open her up and look around but first has anyone experienced this sort of oddball operation or suggest a starting point?
> 
> Full disclosure:  I haven't recapped the electrolytic or paper caps yet.
> 
> Thanks, 73, Scott WA9WFA
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