A reasonably fast 'scope with 10:1 probe (adjusted for squarest square-wave trace from the calibrator) will accurately show up levels through the front-end, just remember that L21 between FET1 and TR1 is at a low impedance and will show a drop in voltage compared with the input.
I love this little example of the Japanese takeover of amateur radio manufacturing. Lafayette had been a manufacturer but changed to a re-badger of Japanese equipment. The consequence is that this radio became very simple to manufacture once all the customised components had been sourced, yet it all worked elegantly. Just look at the bandspread tuning capacitor, as shown on
Radiomuseum in pictures 13 & 14, which is a double triple-gang to give different bandspreads on the amateur bands
I'd love to identify the manufacturing company. It does indeed look very much in the style of the Realistic DX-160. Can you see any date codes anywhere to narrow down on the date of the set?