[R-390] Further on problem getting my R390A working

[Ken Perales]

I have had my 390 turned on for 4 days now and checking many times a day for heat build up and two days ago went the the full CAL function all the way from 0 MHz to 32 MHz every one hundred KHz.  Other than some zero shifting in the higher bands, 2 to 3 KHz.  There is a CAL signal all the way.  Then I changed to AGC and went the full range from 10 KHz to 32999 KHz.  I found a lot of carrier signals all over the bands and a lot of what we used to call teletype signals.  But did not find any Morse signals from bottom to top and only some AM radio signals scattered on a number of bands. From 10 KHz to 1999 KHz there are all kinds of radio stations in all kinds of languages given I am right outside Houston, I guess that is normal.  From there the only radio signals I picked up were 8580, 9400, 9222, 9480, 11761, 11788, 11863, 11940, and 17867.  No radio or morse any where else.

Of the vacuum tubes looking from the top, very few have any glow showing.  V505, V506 slightly glowing, V401, V501, E209, V204, V203, V207.  That does not change no matter what MHz I am on.


So with this brief look at the radio and with no test equipment available, Does this point to anything identifiable or do I need to take it to a shop that can test all the individual tubes  to see if what looks like a dozen tubes might need to replaced in which case this was no where close to operational when I received it.  Everything else looks very clean and no sign of corrosion or broken for disconnected wires.  The slugs look reasonably clean without trying to remove them.  If there is something else I can check without taking it to far apart, I am willing to try.


Regards


Ken Perales