Those nuvistor preamps were really good for giving an old receiver some
extra gain. The HQ-180 should have quite a bit of gain, even on the top
band. It sounds like your unit needs a bit of work. I have had a 180 in the
past, and even with no antenna, the internal noise is quite loud. It does
become even louder when you connect the antenna. It could be alignment,
replacing of the cathode bypass caps, a bias resistor that has drifted out
of tolerance, a weak tube/tubes, etc.

Pete

"Gary Pewitt" wrote in message
...
Tomas, top band sensitivity was a problem on many receivers of the
era. What I did to improve mine was to add an Ameco Nuvistor preamp.
It made a great difference. Mine had a built in power supply but some
versions didn't. They are still available used and I -think- Ameco
still makes them.
73 Gary





On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 08:23:58 -0800 (PST), tom clay
wrote:

I recently acquired a fairly decent Hq 180 for a good price on
ebay.The issues I have with it are slight rust on the front panel and
chassis.What are the best ways to repair this damage?
Some one emailed me a infor on a person that could resilkscreen the
front panel but the 300.00 price was out of my budget.Also
electrically the receiver appears to receive very well except on the
top band background noise al most drops to nothing and signals jump
out of a very quiet background.Is this normal for this receiver?
All voltages and tubes have been checked and are in spec.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Kb4cjd
Thomas