PVS-14

Build notes

The tube came in with a severely overdriven gain potentiometer on the pigtail. Factory pot was cranked to 178k ohms, which sent the tube into self-protection mode, dropping voltage to compensate and producing a dim image that wasn't the tube's fault, it was the circuit. I diagnosed the issue, mapped the pigtail's pot functions, and re-tuned the gain pot to 107k ohms through darkroom testing, balancing gain against phosphor screen brightness, scintillation, and overall tube stress. Result: a bright, even image without pushing the tube into its safety margin.