[Drake] Drake 2B s meter

[dave.varner at charter.net]

I was getting bored with my high tech ham radio and decided to put together a vintage station. I bought a nice Ranger a few months ago and plan to use it with a Drake 2B that was given to me several years ago. It was very clean inside and out. I replaced the recommended caps which got rid of the awful hum. I replaced several tubes which got the AVC voltage to the correct value (-1.5v) and got the standby function working. It has plenty of gain. I can hear everything that my Icom hears but not with the same selectivity, of course. However, the s meter hardly registers except with very strong signals. The one problem I have identified is that the voltage on pin 1 of V3 is supposed to be –0.5v and mine is around 2.7v (it is not a constant value and sometimes goes up to 3v). The voltages on the other pins of V3 are OK.  I do not have the correct meter to measure leaky caps. I have seen others suggest swapping the 6U8 (I sm using 6U8A) with a 6EA8 . I plan on doing that. I have also not replaced the 6BZ6 rf amp tube. Also, the s meter cal switch on the back has no effect on the s meter. I have done what the manual says (on 80m with no ant. adjust the pot to 20db over s 9) and still no improvement. I have looked pretty hard for other hams comments and nothing other than a leaky cap seeems to be a solution now (unless the two tubes I mentioned help). If anyone has had the same issue, I sure would appreciate some advice
On another topic, I wonder what kind of T/R arrangement others are using. I have seen an rf T/R switch from MFJ mod. 1708. It has been several decades since I used a separate rcvr and xmtr so am kind of starting from scratch. Hoping this will bring back the excitement of ham radio that I experienced as a kid.


Thanks for any help, 

Dave Varner
K7EIN