[Hammarlund] 6C4 issues - progress ! (was dead on 15m HQ-170a)

[Mike & Coreen Smith]

Well, this email will probably be premature, however, I am excited, so I had 
to post to the list.

Last night for whatever reason , my new-to-me HQ-170a suddenly seemed to 
"come alive" out of nowhere.
BAnds that were down in the mud suddenly sounded like I had engaged 40dB of 
amplification.

I have been running it nightly for about a week now, since purchased.  First 
couple nights it was quite stinky (dust), though
the inside of the bottom of the RX looks like new and inside where the tubes 
are is in quite nice shape. (no corrosion or dirt, just a bit of dust)

I tried 15m last night after the RX 'came alive' and lo and behold, each 
time I tried I got a few seconds (usually) up to a minute
of 15m signals, but then it would abrubtly poop out on me. PLOOP!

Today, a friend @ work loaned me his Mercury 202 tube tester and gave me a 
brand new 6C4 tube (which tested quite good, but not FULL scale on the 
meter. (maybe 80-90%..)

I popped in the good tube and now 15m is alive with Xtal Cal signals and has 
been for 1/2 hour...........now I have jinxed myself I know it.  After I 
type this email and hit <send>,. 15m will die for sure.

I tested the old 6C4 tube and it also tests good, but a little lower. 
(60-70% on the scale)....

Does it sound plausible that this was the source of my "no rx on 15m" 
problem or can that be? (ie: not oscillate only on a single band?)_

The Xtal Cal signal is nearly pegged on 160m/80m and 40dB/9 on 40m.....20/15 
and 10m are S7 and 6m is S1 exactly.

Cross your fingers !

This weekend I'll test the rest of the tubes, but in the meantime I'll leave 
it run a few hours a night to burn out the cobwebs before attempting to 
recalibrate it.

Thanks to everyone for their help, information and comraderie (sp?)

dit dit
Mike VE9AA
Mike, Coreen & Corey Smith
699 Rte 616 Keswick Ridge
NB
Canada
E6L 1T1 
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