[Hallicrafters] More SX-28 Questions

[Joe Connor]

Thanks for your help, guys, on my dial-tracking problem..I set the bandspread to 100, per the manual, and did a rough RF alignment. The dial now tracks very well. It looks like a prior owner aligned the RF to the wrong side of the bandspread dial. 

I'm doing the recap on it, and pulled the RF deck today. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. Phil Nelson's article is a tremendous resource. The job was about on par with pulling the RF deck on a BC-779. Some of the caps were leaking so badly (literally) that the melted wax had welded them to the chassis!

Here's the problem I need help with now:

Since I got the set, sensitivity hasn't been quite what it should be. The antenna post was missing and a prior owner had soldered a wire to the antenna lead and brought it out through the hole where the post should have been. The set performed decently, and pulled in most of the common SW stations but did not seem to have the omph that an SX-28 normally has.

As I was fiddling with it today, I found that touching wire on a lug of the rear-most wafer on the bandswitch brought the radio to where it should be. Sensitivy and signal strength really jumped. The lug has 2 VDC on it so I clipped my antenna to it through a .001 cap. Man, that set now performs. I got about the same effect by touching the antenna to the lead to the small antenna-tuner variable cap.

Obviously, I have a problem between the antenna and that lug on the rear wafer. Does anyone have any troubleshooting suggestions? When I had it apart today. there was nothing obvious like a disconnected wire etc. Since the set has always worked well on Bands 1 and 2, I have to assume my problem is in the 1st RF section. I have to remember, of course, that this set had been worked on in the past by a guy with a Magic Screwdriver. Most guys with a Magic Screwdriver also have a Magic Soldering Iron. Any suggestions?

As always, thanks for your guidance.


Joe Connor