Notes from a 1962 Grundig that took four months to stop humming, and from whatever it pulls out of the dark once the valves warm up.
14 Sep9.55 MHzGrundig 2340 · long wire, 18 m
I replaced the filter capacitors twice before admitting the fault was somewhere I hadn't looked. The giveaway was that the hum changed pitch when I moved the chassis — transformers don't care where you put them, but a cracked solder joint on the heater return does.
Two seconds with an iron. Four months of suspicion. The set has been quiet since, quiet enough that I can hear the band noise breathe between stations, which is the whole reason anyone keeps one of these instead of a phone.
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2 Sep7.21 MHzTecsun PL-330 · portable, ridge above town
Caught a broadcast drifting in around 01:20, strong enough to follow the shape of the sentences but not the sense. A woman reading what was clearly a list — numbers, pauses, numbers — then music, then nothing.
The best part of listening on a dead band is that you stop waiting for content and start noticing the carrier itself: the way it fades, the way it comes back.
I've since narrowed it to a relay somewhere west, but I'm in no hurry to confirm it. Half the pleasure is the forty minutes before you know.
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21 Aug15.10 MHzWorkbench · no antenna
Three seasons of failed antennas, condensed: the wire is never the problem, the feedpoint always is. Water walks down insulation and sits in the connector. Everything after that is corrosion doing its slow work while you blame propagation.
What finally held was a drip loop, an inverted bottle over the balun, and giving up on anything crimped. Solder it, seal it, and accept that you will be back up the roof in February anyway.
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