I have a 1969 20hp Mercury outboard. It ran when I stopped using it about 10 years ago. I've been trying to get it

Hello- Well there is not that much more to the ignition system to check. The stater is next. You can do a resistance check by just pulling the wires from the stater.

Here is the resistance test specs. We have to look for your exact Merc but if you can't find it we can get an idea from a similar model. Look Here.

I was not able to pull up your exact Merc wire diagram but here is one listed a couple years later. See it here.

Does this look like what you have? No points but the early version of the control box. If so then we need to figure out how to test the control box. That particular box is suspect because even though they don't label what it is, or what Merc calls it, it is wired like a nearly CDI unit and that is getting pretty old for the capacitors to keep firing. First check the stater, then we can move to the CDI box testing.

Scott

Thanks for the extra info. The call prompt is a system thing. It does not come from me and you are right would not help much either.

to answer your question, the engine should run just fine if you pull start it and don't have it hooked to the battery. The stator has two windings. One for battery charge and one for the ignition.

Let me know how it turns out.