On the BC-348R that’s the old design with separate oscillator and mixer tubes, they feed the output of the oscillator into the mixer tube on the cathode. That’s a low impedance circuit so no worries there. The Q,N and J all use a more modern
pentagrid converter tube that’s both oscillator and mixer and more prone to loading but think the old school R is not that delicate!
But I can always be wrong, my wife will tell you about how often I am wrong. I think observing with a scope will tell you a lot about what’s going on and what happens before the signal disappears.
Ray F/KA3EKH
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Mark K3MSB
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2025 1:47 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] BC-348R Oscillator Issue output Frequency is 0 for part of band 4 : 6 - 9.5 MC
You can load down an oscillator real fast by a direct connection with a probe. I use this when adjusting oscillators....

.... attached to either a scope or frequency counter. I have a few of them with different loop sizes and number of loops.
73 Mark K3MSB
On Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 11:24 PM hwhall--- via Milsurplus <[email protected]> wrote:
That's an unusual approach to aligning the tuning. Are you quite sure the freq counter isn't loading down the oscillator output & sometimes just killing it?
Wayne
WB4OGM
On Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 05:47:35 PM MDT, jphutch60bj <[email protected]> wrote:
Reading the Manual TO-12R2-3BC-112, Revised 15 April 1957, Page 4-3 paragraph 'e'.
On the four lower frequency tuning bands the
oscillator frequency is higher than the desired signal
by the intermediate frequency. On the two higher
frequency ranges, bands 5 and 6, the oscillator is on
the low frequency side of the desired signal. The latter
results in a more uniform tuning ratio over these
bands and increases the image rejection ratio.
Before I start doing Brain surgery on BC-348R by pulling the RF Units .....
I was Checking Oscillator output frequency with a frequency counter, tweaking the outputs from the oscillator on each band.
Band 4, frequency range of : 6 - 9.5 MC, reading the manual the Oscillator High Side output should be between 6.915 - 10.415 MC for band 4?
My Oscillator goes dead no output, between DIAL Frequency reading of: 7.2 to 8.8 MC - which equates to an Oscillator output frequency of "+.915" should be between 8.115 - 9.715 MC.
Issue the output Frequency goes to 0 as measured on Pin 8, VT-91, 6J7.
If the manual is not wrong, why is the oscillator output dropping to 0, on this one band?
It aint the tuning cap!-} , as there are no problems with other bands.
Thanks for you thoughts in advance.
JPHutch
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