Thank you all for your assistance.
I think I have it all figured out now. I had a few issues.
One, the internal watt meter for power out isn't just "off" but rather
OFF. Part of my concern was seeing 150w or 200w of output power out of
a "desktop kilowatt" so I cranked up the exciter trying to get closer to
the targeted power output, only to run too much plate current.
I didn't expect the meter to be off so far.
I found and installed my inline SWR/wattmeter tonight, and with
everything adjusted, I'm a little shy of 1kw (~800w) while the internal
meter indicates 200w.
I'm much happier with 700-800w out of the single 3-500Z.
I'm tuning up to 400ma Plate, and ~120ma Grid with around 60w drive.
Indicating 700+ watts key down, though the wattmeter only sports a 500
and 1000 mark.
I assume the SSB output is less and I could get more peak power out of
the tubes at the SSB duty cycle, but the improvement as it stands is
still significant enough to make a difference, as indicated by on-air
tests tonight on 80m, under poor conditions to some stations that had a
hard time hearing me barefoot under good conditions.
Another problem I have is that the Plate and Load controls need adjusted
- as in the knobs need re-indexed. The Plate is off by 90-deg, and the
Load would seem to be off by 60deg or so.
Time to dive into the Heathkit manual and see what I can do about that.
My thanks to everyone that sent advice.
-Tom
ke7vux
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