Greetings, and welcome to the world of RF. First things first - you will need a
General Class license to operate the equipment you describe, as it is designed
for the HF bands. You can start with a no-code Technician license and upgrade
as you learn. In all liklihood, within a year the code requirement for the
General will also be dropped.

You can find question pools on the ARRL website. (www.arrl.com) As you already
have some background in electronics, I highly recommend you purchase or borrow
a copy of the Radio Amateurs Handbook, (just about any year will do) and review
the theory in the beginning chapters. Much of it will be familiar. It is far
better to know the theory than to just memorize all the possible answers to the
questions.

Right now, you are simply restoring gear which it is assumed once worked, and
this is a good place to start with RF. You already know about tubes and high
voltages, so I don't have to tell you to be careful. When you get to the design
phase, if you want to go there, it is just a different art - the science is the
same. Things like skin effect are very real, not just a subject for theoretical
debate. :-)

Just as you no doubt did with audio amplifiers, start with some simple projects
and gain experience at RF design. Layout is a matter of thinking in terms of
signal paths and keeping lead lengths short. Study the designs in the Handbook
for ideas.

Oh yes, and the "oversize 2E26" if it's just a little oversize is a 6146, and
if it's a LOT oversized it's an 813. (6146's make good audio tubes too, but NOT
ultra linear, and frankly I like 807's better.)

Feel free to write if you have more questions.

Doug Moore KB9TMY (Formerly K6HWY)