Hallicrafters SX 122 Video #2 - Testing the Alignment 

Very good advice! You saved me the trouble of composing an explanation. Some times alignments askew best left alone for the sake of gaining a few more stations.

Hallicrafters certainly did make a quality product as it should be. The company also made many radios for the military where 10:55 layout and design was dictated by higher standards.

Jim RTM ! See page 3 & 4 , fig # 4 & 5 ……. Is the calibrator & bfo off ?

A real HAM would have spotted the mysterious calibrator as the BFO oscillator module.

After all my terse criticism of Jims operation, I still like viewing his channel, not for tips but for entertainment. On the downside he makes my nerves on edge when he fools and coddles the IF circuits without proper test equipment when it sirs on his bench idle. A newbie would kill for the chance to experience alignment with such equipment. Most of all it irks me when Jim uses that damm SDR , signal tracer toy , and cheap digital meter when he has a great HP True VTVM and Rekn scope to utilize.

I worked in radio manufacturing for RCA over 50 years and know clearly well that all those adjustable tunable circuit devices were designed for original factory adjustments ONLY and NEVER to be touched again. The standing proof of that was when the Japanese manufactured a radio and secured the final adjustment of a cap or coil with red lacquer paint. Failure of any part is not discovered by changing the value the engineer assigned it. One does not redesign the circuit to suit his parts supply or repair. One who clearly restores radio knows that to be a fact.

Because I have so much respect for old radios such as this, I strongly suggest that alignment of the 50 Kc IF not be attempted. Unless the frequency counter has 100 Hz or better yet 10 Hz resolution it will not be capable of doing the job correctly. At a frequency as low as 50KHz the counter might benefit by the use of a low pass filter. The URM-25 may or may not be up to the task either. Even the most brief survey of the manual will show that there is only one slug (adjustment) for each of the 50 KHz inductors. If available, a sweep generator and oscilloscope, or a Spectrum Analyzer/Tracking generator could do a good job. It can be done manually if a good generator / frequency counter are used. In addition, I still do not see a jumper on the mute/standby terminals on the back of the receiver. If memory serves, some audio output will be present without the jumper. So, we still do not know about this matter. Be prepared for some distortion. To those who question or criticize the use of the word we - it is the Royal we. And, in some radio circles it is used to soften the word I. You may choose to disagree but you should become more educated first. Also having had dual Canadian/American citizenship I do understand Canadian very well. But not Quebecois. OBTW I am 80 years old and still quite sharp. I have fixed tube radios since I was 16 years old so I have direct experience with this stuff. I would hate to see this old radio screwed up in any way. Before going any further. perhaps the radio could be sold/donated to a good home. I would hate to se a rerun of a previous radio where the IF trap was messed with due to fiddling around with no knowledge of the function. Alignment cannot be done in the same loosey goosey it has been done on the AA5s. In any case a thorough reading of the manual and understanding of it is imperative. The 50 KHz IF is there to provide good selectivity and it can be easily fouled up . Leave it alone unless you have the test equipment and experience to do a proper job. As long as I am on the subject, proper alignment of an AA5 can improve performance. Just peaking by ear should be avoided.

Is it me or is Jim way out of his league here? ;) Hint, test the tubes first before any alignment but read below what a pro like Robert would do and not do in such a case.

Jim's radio shop you are good at restoring antique radios and alignment of antique radios my friend

Jim's radio your RU-vid videos are awesome my friend

Jim's radio shop i have a vintage zenith Trans oceanic transistor shortwave receiver I want to restore it let me no ware I can get Russian germanium transistors ?

Jim's radio shop your Canadian flag is awesome my friend

Jim's radio shop the owner antique Hallicrafters sx-122 tube disktop shortwave receiver with ssb is awesome my friend

Jim's radio shop it is interesting when you look up tubes in your book my friend

Jim's radio shop it is interesting when you look at schematics on antique radios my friend

Jim's i hope you chain all the capacitors on the owner antique Hallicrafters sx-122 tube disktop shortwave receiver with ssb my friend

LOL

Jim's radio shop my hobbies are painting pictures 🖼 and listening to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my Grms license my friend

Maybe you should take up knitting? Or, just watching YT videos. 😊