[R-390] IF Transformer, alignment and performance

[Perry Sandeen]

Yo Bubba Dudes!,
Wrote: 
Fortunately I live in a radio-quiet area whereacross most bands the background noise levels are -110 to -115 dBm (S2-S3) whenthere aren't thunderstorm crashes I can dig out some good ones off of the tailend of a 1600' beverage.
First: OK, I admit lust for such a receiver site.
Second:  With a 1600 foot beverage antenna I'd think you could pick up a Flea Fart From Figi with a crystal set!
Wrote: 
Trying to do better than -110 to -112 dBm RSSIrequired the use of a Faraday cage and constantly swapping good tubes for goodtubes to find the quietest one.

It reverted to black-magic and I wanted to do bloodsacrifices and scatter chicken bones for better results. That is when I put astop to that fools-pursuit.
Gee, where's a good on-call witch doctor when you need one.<G>

Now we enter the Twilight Zone of performance enhancement. 
Was this with the stock OEM tubes? If so lots of blood, sweat, and tears.
Chuck Felton reported a 6dB S/N improvement by the direct plug in of a 6BZ6 for the 6DC6.the BZ is a true semi-remote cut-off while the DC is a sharp cut-off tube.
Going for maximum performance is the *Competition R390A* mod done by Ray Osterwald N0DMS editor of ER magazine. Which is in the Y2KR3 manual.
Between the to mods there is a lot of middle ground that one can try.

The saga continues, but that's are hobby.
Regards,
Perrier