[Lowfer] Bench testing was a huge disappointment

[Andy - KU4XR]

I guess it could be said; " welcome to the world of homebrewing,
and point to point wiring. " - - - Did some more testing on the
HF to LF converter and did not like the results. I can not get 
it to pass an HF signal at LF for some reason unknown to me.
I first tried the HTX-100 on 28 MHz, and never could get it to
pass a LF signal. So I switched to the TS450S to see if that 
made a difference. Nope !!! I tuned above and below looking for 
the signal, but none to be found. Then I thought the 28 MHz XTAL
might not be oscillating, so I changed it, and still nothing.
Finally tried a 10 MHz XTAL and still no LF !! I can connect my
scope to the Input of the converter and get a reading, then
step thru the stages and see the level changes, all the way to
the output and the scope reads a signal coming thru the converter.
I ran up to 5 watts into it, and no LF signal. Changed the IC's
and still no LF. I'm Fum-Buzzled. Now the only thing I know to do
is to start tracing the individual circuits with an Ohm-Meter to
see if something may be grounded that shouldn't be.
For some reason,I have this sneaky feeling that the SA612AN is
not oscillating, and therefore not passing the fundamental signal 
thru to LF. Those holes on the perfboard are awfully close together
so I may have a solder bridge somewhere. I checked the IC sockets
for shorts between pins earlier, but may have missed something.

Someone tell me if my thinking is wrong; If the SA612 ( NE602 )is
working properly, and oscillating; When I run the fundamental
signal into it, I should get a raw signal at LF on the IC output
pin. IE ::: 10.185 MHz into the chip should output 185 KHz ???

Thanks for reading, and any past experiences shared will be most
appreciated.

73 to all ::: 


Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN. USA
LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 185.29875 KHz ( QRSS-60 )
Coordinates:  N:  35º 43' 54" - W:  84º 3' 16"
http://www.myspace.com/beaconxr
http://webpages.charter.net/ku4xr/