[Greg]

First power up as a TV (not just FM audio) and it works!

Tonight I powered it up with the HV enabled and with a test picture tube. After some tweaking there was a decent picture with not so decent sound. That needs looking into, even FM radio isn't great. But it was the first time I tested the whole thing. My TV knowledgeable friend was over for the spectacle for advice an moral. Fortunately nothing went terribly wrong. Failure is always an option, just not a good one.

It turns out the "snapping" was due to arcing when B+ was hit its peak on power up before dropping to its "normal" value. It went away after some lead dressing in the area. I still need to understand it a bit better and possibly place sleeving on some of the wires in the area.

I found the location of the arcing by turning off the lights and taking a video with my phone during powering up. It was pretty obvious without 300W of lighting beating down on it.

I still need a replacement speaker. I'll look for one at Kutztown in the morning...

It still needs some work, but it seems to be 90% there.

The biggest problem was finding a signal source. My VCR's were both messed up. I think they have belt problems. The DVD players don't have RF outputs. I ended up running a cable across the basement from our CTV splitter and using the one analog decoder box we have.