On Feb 23, 1:25 am, exray wrote:
There's several different bad modes of failing/failed mica caps in the
IF xfmrs. As related to gain as long as the xfmr shows good peaks
during alignment the value should be correct. The thunderstorm noise
and intermittent operation usually occur before the thing goes
completely open.

Are you getting regeneration? I found I could not achieve
regeneration until everything was quite up to par. That seems like a
good measure of its overall health so if there are still problems with
the meter in the AM mode that might be localized to something more
specific than general IF gain.

-Bill

Thank you to all who have made suggestions. At this point I have gone
thru every component and all the wiring in the radio (except the IF's
because they peak and I get regeneration and no other symtoms of an IF
problem) and it receives well but while the S- meter moves for the
signal gen signal on AM reception, it only moves a cm at most on
strong received signals. Bringing up the selectivity (regen) to below
oscillation, brings on some more realistic readings, but for the most
part the meter is still not doing its thing. At this point , I am
puzzled esp since it receives so well. Several things I noticed in
going thru it. Someone had replaced a 10K 1watt resistor with a 5.6 K
which I put back to stock. Also they added an electrolytic that is not
on the schematic. I played with it and it is needed to cut some hum.
Since this receiver has had other hands in it, I think a high quality
bottom view picture of the chassis might help me spot something I
missed on the schematic. 73 Mike KF