Hey everyone!  I had a chance to put the newly acquired DX-60 on the bench and check it out.

So I plugged in the 3880 crystal and went through the tune up procedure (first with my wattmeter and oil-filled paint can dummy load, then with a lightbulb).   She is putting out okay on CW, 55 watts @ 2.5 ma grid current and 150 ma plate current.  Funny thing is she puts out 25 watts resting carrier on AM at about 75 ma plate current with 2.5 ma grid current. 

She has a "dot" mic connector on the front panel and I had a couple plugs from switchcraft, so I wired one to a cord that ended in a 1/4" phone plug, which I put into my mixer output from my audio chain.  (I will wire my D-104 for the dot connector when I finish refurbing it).  Well the light bulb brightens up with voice!  Okay, on with the headphones and I tune my ricebox to 3880 and sure enough it picks up the signal from the lightbulb... tweak the audio drive pot.. but she does sound a lil distorted...

Well, before I can mess with this thing anymore I'm going to have to do something about antenna switching/amp keying/receiver muting at the very least to get it on the air.  I suppose at the very least a two position coax switch for the antenna, moving the function from standby to AM, then foot switch keying the SB-200 will put me on the air as a dirty temporary setup.  At least I will be able to get some reports.

Ultimately I'll need to get the HV off the function switch and work on a more graceful antenna relay/ amp keying/ receiver muting solution.  Oh and the matching VFO needs to be brought back to life.

It's progress!

KX5JT