Guys.... Thanks for the replies. Colin's reply falls in with what I
thought of. The modification sheets tell you what to do, a la Heathkit,
but make no explanation of the results of same nor an updated
schematic. I may have to re-draw the beast...maybe. I came close to
buttoning the thing up and "dealing" with the buffer idle current
(apparently benign) but decided to plug in a mic and have a look-see.
No modulation. I discovered two, absolutely new-looking 47K resistors
in the audio chain were dead open. No heat damage, nothing! They looked
like NIB AB's out of the package (as does everything in this unit).
Bottom line, I changed out the four green plastic Sangamo .1uf caps, two
of which were associated with the bad resistors. I've not have bad
experiences with these type of Sangamo's, up to now. So, it ain't just
the BB's and the paper/wax jobs that go bad. Now we're good to go. 150
watts and 100% modulation. Doesn't look bad on the scope, too! Again,
tnx for the comments.

Next projects: another NC-183D and a Lysco 5-bander. Urrah!

Jeep/K3HVG