If I had to offer one bit of advice to someone doing an AM alignment for the first time, it would be this:

Study each step of the written alignment procedure,and positively ID the physical location of each adjustment point in the procedure on the radio chassis. (Label it on the chassis if its not labeled already)

If a step in the procedure is not clear, you may want to ask someone what it means.

Mark the starting location of all adjustment points so you can go back to the original setting if you have to.

Positively ID the location of each point on the set where a voltage measurement it to be taken.

Confirm that your signal generator, AC voltmeter,test cables, and any other test equipment is working AND that you know how to set it up and use it correctly.

All these steps can help a novice or even expert technicians avoid problems, and should be done before making first adjustment.

I would agree that the actual alignment part is fairly simple, but it is also to easy to make errors if you don't do the preliminary steps above.

Most experienced technicians do a lot of these steps so often they become automatic, and we don't even think about them.

This was intended to be a follow-up comment to Terry's good discussion on alignments, but I made a mistake in entering it and it became a new topic.
My bad.

:If I had to offer one bit of advice to someone doing an AM alignment for the first time, it would be this:
:
:Study each step of the written alignment procedure,and positively ID the physical location of each adjustment point in the procedure on the radio chassis. (Label it on the chassis if its not labeled already)
:
:If a step in the procedure is not clear, you may want to ask someone what it means.
:
:Mark the starting location of all adjustment points so you can go back to the original setting if you have to.
:
:Positively ID the location of each point on the set where a voltage measurement it to be taken.
:
:Confirm that your signal generator, AC voltmeter,test cables, and any other test equipment is working AND that you know how to set it up and use it correctly.
:
:All these steps can help a novice or even expert technicians avoid problems, and should be done before making first adjustment.
:
:I would agree that the actual alignment part is fairly simple, but it is also to easy to make errors if you don't do the preliminary steps above.
:
:Most experienced technicians do a lot of these steps so often they become automatic, and we don't even think about them.
: