And as far as the shaft, order another one and have it installed or if you are capable to do it yourself. I tried the glue, JB weld, and it won't hold to the crap pot metal they use. Like I said I like the radio but some parts are just way too fragile on it. Like that darn center knob. How it got broken I don't even remember. But anyways. Hope you get it fixed. Other than that I can't complain for what I paid for the one I got @ $40, it had the 1969 final conversion and it was a genuine one as well. I don't do AM much anymore but if you do venture into AM some and want a good radio, look at the kenwood 480HX. 200w and they don't sound bad at all on AM. Most radios can be made to sound decent, but some are harder than others as that isn't what they were built for. Optima mk3's aren't being made anymore. Might find a used one somewhere. But other than that they are all gone unless there are still some floating around in eBay. But if you really want to step up your power and radio, the kenwood 480sat or the 480HX would be good radios to look at as well as the Icom 7000, and some other radios as well. The strkyer 955 is supposed to be a pretty good radio. I think they have fixed all the bugs. Maybe someone will chime in and let you know. But if you are planning HF, do your research first and see which ones sound good on AM as well as SSB. JMHO. Have a good one.
...runna pile-up on 6m SSB