Thank you for doing this, I love these episodes. They keep me smiling and occasionally screaming at the podcast player. You can be such a sadist, you know? :-) When describing the tuner: "It's quite interesting to hear" - "I'm not gona do that..." Please let us hear! Sure you could find a way, like letting it tune up a dummy load or something. 
On the same token, please use the radio in front of you to create audible examples. How does a signal sound, that is suffering from spark distortions and how is it improved by engaging the noise blanker?

Please don't get me wrong - the one who puts out shows is right. Your show, your choice. Please keep them coming the way you like to do them.

One more comment to the content: Hearing relays clicking is not necessarily attributed to the age of the transceiver. Even in modern gear the filter in the high power transmit path are switched by relays. I have seen "Relay switched band filter." for receive as a selling point to indicate that there is no negative impact from the switching diodes. These can affect RF performance under certain conditions.

Regards,
Michael