[Elecraft] inoperative KNB2

[Richard Haendel]

My KNB2 noise blanker doesn't appear to work hardly at all. It never has worked well since I built it.  I recently downloaded some notes that Gary Surrency sent to K0WA. Gary's comments include the following: "You can check to see if Noise Gate Q5 is blanking by touching a resistor of 1K - 2K to the base of Q5 with the other end connected to +12 volt source.  This should turn on Q5 and result in a large loss of signal..."  I did this but I only got a slight reduction in signal.  Does this indicate that Q5, PN2222A  is weak and should be replaced? 
Comments anyone ? 

Rich W3ACO 
K2# 4023