Thanks for the suggestions, here is what I find:

I measure 12.43v between the battery terminals- car running or not.

I disconnected the exciter wire. With the car running connecting between the male spade (of the exciter wire) to the heavy red wire lug I find .04v

With the key "on" from the female clip on the exciter wire to ground I find 12.11v

No voltage on the heavy red wire at the alternator with key on or off.

The ground wire from the alternator to the block is good, but as a double check I ran a wire directly from the alternator ground point to the battery negative terminal.

As an aside at this point... I took the alternator that I removed from the car and had it tested. It tested good.

Randy