President George receive issue

[Atlasta]

Recently I picked up a President George after a long search. I've always liked this radio for it's receiver which IMO is on par with many HF ham rigs.

I've owned other Georges and all of them have had excellent receivers. Extremely quiet, yet sensitive. I expected no less when I bought my latest one. Upon receipt I immediately took it to my local tech (a retired BE) and had him do a full alignment and tune up on it.

So what's the issue? This receiver is quiet. TOO quiet. Having owned this model previously I can say that this radio is capable of hearing a dime drop on a carpeted floor in a bowling alley 100 miles away -only a slight exaggeration. With the radio I have now unless someone is within a mile or two I can't hear them and they put no signal strength on the meter. Yes, the RF gain control is wide open. At close range they peg the meter. I'm also not sure the ASC is set up correctly. Additionally the AF audio output seems extremely low as I have to turn it all the way up to hear anything at all, even with an external speaker.

I'm using a Wilson 1000 for an antenna and it is tuned for lowest SWR.

There is precious little tech info online about this radio so if anyone has tips, tricks, or the address of a really good tech I would appreciate it. I like this rig and know that it's a real gem when functioning properly.

 

[mechanic]

Two possibilities.... front end transistor is out or the IF is out of adjustment. I will try to find out more. BTW where are you located?

mechanic

 

[jazzsinger]

Two possibilities.... front end transistor is out or the IF is out of adjustment. I will try to find out more. BTW where are you located?

mechanic

alignment details:

The Defpom President George Alignment page

as mechanic says most likely an alignment issue, if its the same on all modes will be the transformers after the rf amp, if only on seperate modes will be the transformers further down the line after the incoming signal splits to each modes detector circuits.

as they are banging you off the scale when close its unlikely to be the rf amp thats blown. not a radio i'm very familiar with, despite its decent performance its layout and tiny knobs are frustrating as is the lack of a kc shift.

if that link isn't enough and you want the actual president service manual check out *** Welcome to ServiceDocs.Com *** do a brand search on president from the dropdown menu and you'll find it there free, its a site i've used hundreds of times with no nasty downloads.

 

[Atlasta]

Thanks, will check that info out. I am located in northwest Arizona.

 

[Atlasta]

Found it! Turned out one of the surface-mount caps had gone open in the receive section. Replaced it with a disc cap. Pretty? no, but it works!

Now if I can just figure out what's up with the ASC....