Good evening,
As you can see from the attached pictures, the Pilot is once again, for the first time in probably 40 years, displaying testcard 'c'
The EHT is still too low at 11KV although the picture is not bad. So far, the most I can get is 12KV and that's using the PL504 output valve. I tried Tony's suggestion of using the DY87 which did work but didn't increase the EHT. I will obtain a new 30P4 and new U26 and then investigate further.
I need to modify the temporary HT part of the mains dropper. At the moment, it's using one 100 ohm section which is only 1/2 inch long. This runs so hot that after a while the solder melts and the stench is unbearable
According to my infra red thermometer, it runs at 250 degrees!! 100 ohms gives the correct HT though.
The IF alignment is way off- unsurprisingly given the conditions the board has been exposed to over the years. The definition is dreadful- only the lowest frequency grating is resolved! I don't know about the sound yet as there is no speaker connected. I will need to do a full alignment which will be an interesting learning curve as I have never needed to do that to a set before.
The linearity on both line and frame is pretty good. I suffered from enormous height initially as I had forgotten that I had used a 500K height pot rather than a 1meg.!! A 470K series resistor soon put that right. I need to repair the line linearity sleeve- it's only poked in temporarily but even so, line lin is pretty good.
Both timebases lock solidly so the sync side of things seems to be working well.
I love the big 21" screen- I think once all the deficiencies have been sorted, this will be a great set to watch. That's certainly what I plan to do with it anyway!
So pretty good so far, but still a long way to go before all the issues are ironed out.
All the best
Nick