Hey, I love problems that cure themselves. Some coils have cardboard or composition forms that may be affected by moisture. On the 7-inch Hallicrafters TVs, some people take out one little coil and bake it in an attempt to make things right.
Re DC restoration, here's an older discussion of how that might be done in general:
http://mail.videokarma.org/showthrea...=250452&page=2
Let me know if you try that solution on this TV and it's worthwhile. I agree that this set could benefit from DC restoration.
Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html