I wish I had a professional's lab, but for most things what I have is adequate. This is the first job I've done that's required some real precision. I admit counting waves on my scope assumes that when the scope says it's sweeping at 1 mHz, and I count exactly 22 peaks from leftmost grid to rightmost grid, that my generator is broadcasting at exactly 22Mhz. A leap of faith, no doubt. So ok, I probably perfectly aligned the set to the wrong specs. This is a learning deal for me, this one.
I've got this coming in the mail next week:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170122318458 which may or may not be calibrated either so I guess I still need some absolute reference. But at least it'll be another opinion. The price was very right, and nixie tubes are cool, but I may want to look into buying something newer and more likely to be using modern technology. Anybody out there have a strong preference/recommedation?
Sorry, I guess I didn't mention the the Sams alignment procedure called for removing the channel 13 turret coils and then tuning to channel 13, to disable the local oscillator "to prevent erroneous indications". Reinstalling them was the last step after the IF alignment procedure. Of course I tuned back to channel 3 to view the VCR output.
I'll give it another shot before parting it out...