[Johnson] Valiant II poor plate dip / power output on 40, 20, 15m

[Dave and Sharon Maples]

All: Thanks for the comments on the power cord.  I was able to sneak a
fuseholder right next to the connectors for the SSB adapter, and replace the
existing 2-wire cord with a 3-wire cord.  That solved the problem and left
all the existing powerline filters in place.

I powered up the Valiant II, and went through the manual to set modulator
bias, etc.  Power output on 80 and 160 meters is really good (between 100
and 150 watts on CW, and that's with several weak tubes).  On 40 meters and
higher, though, for some reason I can't seem to (a) see much of a plate dip
and (b) see much RF output.  Drive appears to be adequate both with the VFO
and with two 40m crystals I had, so I am a little puzzled as to what might
be the problem.  I was able to get an adequate plate dip and reasonable
output on 10m, though.

I'm going to have to replace the drive pot, and I don't have anything like
that laying around, so I'll have a few days to think through the problem
while a new pot comes in.

Suggestions?  Thoughts?

Thanks,
Dave, WB4FUR