[Amps] Triode metering circuitry

[Byron Tatum]

Hello-   Possibly someone can shed some light on this for me. Previous years I built the K1AGB 144 Mhz 8877 stripline amplifier. I duplicated the QST article very closely and used the exact same metering and bias circuitry. The amplifier works really great with no complaints and is reliable. However, when the amplifier is keyed it always shows 7 mA of "resting" grid current, without any drive whatsoever. The idling cathode current is 110 mA. I used the amplifier to test quite a few 8877 type tubes over the years and this 7 mA. of grid current showed up every time no matter which tube. I cannot recall if I keyed the amplifier without a tube to check grid current though.    I am curious about how the metering resistor string, as shown on schematic of K1AGB amplifier, for the HV returns to chassis ground instead of the B minus. Whenever you float the B minus above chassis ground if you return anything (such as metering resistor string) to chassis ground will it show up as "grid current" due to grid metering scheme? I had two resistors going from B minus to chassis, the second one was for safety. I used double the resistance on each of them as compared to the single resistor shown, so that I had the same resistance total.Thanks,Byron W5FH