Found (and ordered) my solution./  Switching to this tuner gives me 6m ability too.  I can have the following antennae:

Alpha Delta Ant #1  G5RV
Alpha Delta Ant #2  10M Vertical
Alpha Delta Ant #3  6M
Alpha Delta Ant #4  AM/BCB wire (try various)



http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-945E
The tuner has a bypass switch which should solve the problem and I wont have to unscrew coax to use BCB

Thanks guys. But as the OP here I would like to move to the part where I add a bypass switch to my tuner, trust me its the best solution for my compact station.

MFJ makes a small tuner with a bypass button, MFJ-941E but some eham reviews say it isnt thyat great (it arcs internally under load).

My MFJ-971 has been good so I'd rather save the $$$ and just give it the ability to bypass.

So, with that said, can I just add a toggle and some short wire from the center of the input and output S0-239's?

again thanks for the various tips so far

If the toggle joins the center of the incoming and outgoing coax within the switch, then when it is open (off) why would it need to handle transmit pwr? Or have any impedance?  It would only be on when receiving bands out of the switch's ability such as MW. 

We have a VERY small house and my station is comprised of the IC7000 and pwr supply, tuner, switch next to the recliner. I also am restoring an old Hallicrafters which the modern rig will sit on top of. Point being, space is at a premium here.

This thread helped me figure out something that should have been obvious      and now it's time to put the new knowlege to use.

How to add a bypass switch to the manual tuner that wont hurt its performance is the logical step. Way better than moving the radio out and unscrewing the coax everytime I want to catch my talk show or weather and traffic report or do some MW DX at night. Also can have a long wire and try a homebrew loop on switch positions 3/4

Any issues or advice for adding a bypass to the tuner? Can I just jump the capacitors etc with a toggle? Should the switch leads be shielded with the shields grounded?

Understood. I did plug the G5RV center directly to the radio and it performed slightly better than the drapery wire method. Both got stations from 50mi well, and weakly from 100mi in NYC. Looks like I need to either get a tuner that has a bypass switch (or add one to mine?) or another switch at the radio that can swap in a long wire, loop (which I plan to build and try), or the tuner and its antennas for ham work. I do have 2 free slots on the Alpha Delta though so maybe a bypass inside the tuner is the cheap and best solution actualy. 

Any thoughts on adding a bypass switch on my MFJ-971? I dont want to make a design mistake that would degrade the tuner in any way.

OK guys thanks for replies.  Found out it is at least partly/mostly antenna. I draped a wire over the curtain rod and connected to the center on radio, voila got BCB stations up to 50 miles away, and faintly NYC 100mi. Same results with the center of the G5RV directly, not connecting the outer (shield). Interesting how the G5RV gets stone deaf with both but works for BCB with just the ctr.

Here's new question though, my outside antennas (G5RV and a 10m Vertical) go straight to a Alpha Delta 4 way switch, the switch feeds a MFJ tuner, and the tuner feeds Ant1 on radio.

When I connect the little test wire antenna to the center of an input on the switch, with the switc-tuner-radio hooked up normally, its deaf. Weird. Tuning the tuner doesnt help.  I would like to have a BCB switch position on the AlphaDelta and not have to unscrew the outer on the radio to listen to MW... the patch from the switch to tuner and tuner to radio are only 12" each.

Hi all,  I have an IC-7000 transceiver with a G5RV and it works well on the ham bands, 80m, 40m, etc but it can only get one or two very strong local AM stations, yet the cheap portable radio can hear them.  Also I have a Kenwood HT TH-F6A which when switched to the internal bar antenna, can hear some AM stations but not as well as the transistor.

Is this an antenna type issue, or is the Icom just deaf down low? I can do better with a crystal set!  lol

thanks, yes this site mentions hickock as the best, but there are several models in his list and then you find ones on ebay that are hickock but not on that little list:

http://boyercentral.net/ToneLounge/www.tone-lizard.com/Tube_Testers.html

also, it seems every manufacturer has some that do more tests than others, and I still dont know if all testers will accept the pin pattern from most of the popular tubes, but I am getting slow familiarity with these things   

OK so the testers will get basic function ans shorts etc determined. That sounds like a good enough reason to have one.

Beyond that, the radios alignment and service process can determine if the basically functioning tube from above is possibly deficient?

Now it's just a matter of what is a good tube tester to buy and where to find one. There are plenty og eBay but I have no idea which ones to consider and then how much to pay for each of the various choices.

I'm posting here because I have no idea what would be a good tube tester or what to look for, but there are several on ebay and if anyone can give me pointers that would be great!  What do they test?  I have an old Halli boatanchor radio and plan to get another tube radio and would like to test my own tubes to rule them out when something goes wrong. I also have an oscilloscope and whatvere else and not much skill but I can learn.  I WISH there was a course in old radio repair to take, or someone willin to teach the subject. But at any rate if I have to learn myself, may as well be able to test the tubes.

Any info appreciated!  If you have a working tube tester and wish to sell it, message me as well because I am looking.

SOLVED:  I just called my local HRO. The THF6 antenna connector on top has a hole in it.

So, the pin I pulled out was broken off from an antenna.

Ordered a new antenna I'd been meaning to try from Smiley  http://www.smileyantenna.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_27&products_id=55

Thanks again for all the advice and the radio club listing

Hi Tom, I fixed the post above. I did intend to say that the radio sma has a hole and the broken off pin in there was from an antenna.

Now I'm not sure I will have to see another Kenwood TH-F6A and find out.

I posted a picture on my QRZ page. It shows the radio and the pin that came out from the center, as well as the three antenna connectors. I believe the center of the radio sma is supposed to be a hole and any antenna used has a center pin that slides into the hole when attaching the antenna. (in other words sma and not reverse sma). I believe the pin broke from one of the antennas unbeknownst to me and when I screwed the other antenna in it smushed or pushed in its center pin. The antenna connector on the left works fine. It is the adapater cable SMA to 239 that I used to connect to the feedline of the rooftop discone.

If this is all true, then the first guys who said it sounded like an antenna connection at the radio connector were close, only it wasnt a problem with the connector per se, but a broken off pin that was clogging the sma hold and damaging the center pin on anything else that was twisted on there.

Somehow the sma-230 cable adapter must have had some resiliancy in the center pin to tolerate that.

Does this sound plausable when you go look at the picture?

http://www.qrz.com/db/KB1SNJ?

found this.

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/140


now I need to knwo what my radio connector and antenna connectors are SUPPOSED to look like.

Found it!

I read all the advice and thanks for the clob listing Tom.

When I touched a straightened paper clip to the center of the sma, voila... signal! I can even hit the local repeaters at low power.

Soooooo... it seems my 3' sma-sp239 adapter cable has a longer pin in the middle than the 2 antennas.

here's where it gets interesting, I poked tweezers into the radio's sma and was able to pull out a "pin" from the sma. leaving a brass hole. the pin end facing into the radio was pointed. I wonder if this was the broken off pin from something and by screwing the rubber duck and the diamond antennas, those pins got pushed back inside (they are now flush with the white nylon bushing).

I do not know if the radio sma is supposed to be a hole, or some kind of pin in there.

another possibility is that the radio indeed has a pin that is spring loaded so it touches the antenna center conductor no matter the depth.

i guess I need to know what the THF6A sma is supposed to look like inside, and what the antenna sma is supposed to look like (pin? how far it sticks out, etc)