On Tue, 25 Apr 2006, Rod wrote:

Hello, I'm restoring a Hallicrafters S-20R. I've managed to bring it
back from the grave by installing new caps, a few new resistors and
replacing a bad tube. Although its back to life, it still has some
issues, one I hope someone here can help with. When I touch the cap of
the 6K8 tube with my finger, the audio becomes much louder. Or the
sensitivity increases.

I don't recognize what the 6K8 is. Audio first stage (diode-triode)? or
Mixer? A fair number of some of these tubes have, as the cap, the
connection to the control grid. If its an audio tube, then you should be
introducing more 60 cycle hum than anything else. When you say "the audio
becomes much louder" are you talking about the audio on the signal you are
listening to or background static or hum or what. I'm not at all familiar
with Hallicrafters before about S-38, S-40 vintage. Give us all some more
clues, and tube listing. I've read all the other responses up to the
moment of writing this posting; most are worth checking out.

If the cap is the control grid of the mixer, then just maybe you are
injecting--by capacitance pickup with your body (as antenna)--more
broadcast RF into the circuit than is coming in normally through whatever
else the input RF goes into (RF amplifier, coils, caps, whatever). In my
experience, lots of times you can touch the antenna terminal of a receiver
and pick up a lot of signal that would not be there if that terminal were
not connected to anything.

Not sure which. But my question is why? What
should I look for in order to have the radio play at the volume without
holding my finger there. It gets very boring. Any help would be
appreciated.