Okay, I'm stumped...

I've equipped Sanctuary Hils with beds, food, water, electricity, and enough turrets to hold off a batallion of raiders. My population, however, seemed stuck firmly at 8. I had a recruitment beacon on the whole time, but the population just isn't rising.

I gave a nuka-cola to a thirsty fellow in Diamond City, and he agreed to go work for me in Sanctuary (becoming one of the eight). I've sent people from other settlements to go work at Sanctuary, bringing the population up to about 14 now, and given the jobs.

Why, oh why, is that radio beacon not doing anything on its own? And it has juice flowing to it, and the switch is in the on position (green light lit).

As if that weren't enough, I've built the level 3 trading stands for each type of vendor. In my wanderings, I have since met two merchants (the random encounter ones, not the merchants that roam in a circuit) who agreed to come and work for me. I've asked them to both go to Sanctuary Hills.

They are not there, and it has been days in game. I've rested at Sanctuary Hills, fast travelled there, and nothing. I built a bell and rang it repeatedly, and those special merchants aren't in the group that gathers round.

Where, oh where, can they be??

It is, it just takes a while sometimes. Leave the settlement alone for a while.

If you mean about attracting new settlers, the settlement was stalled at 8 for several in-game days, and I had other settlements growing from 2 to over a dozen in half the time. I've left it alone for a while, all that seems to happen is that my pip boy list shows deficits that aren't there when I go back to the settlement to try and fix them.

I'm honestly more concerned about the recruited merchants not showing up. And again, I've left it days. Is there some storyline element that you have to pass before they'll be deployable in the settlement?

someone wrote, that you can order your settler to other settlements, so if you really have these fast growing settlements, use them to send the people to the settlement you want them to live in

I've done that to grow Sanctuary a bit. I only just found it about it earlier today, and It's the only way I got the settlement up past 8.

But about those missing merchants? The guy I recruited from Diamond City made his way to Sanctuary no problem at all, but the special merchants are no where to be seen.

Oh, and because I saw this mentioned in another thread - my Charisma is 7, so the lack of growth at Sanctuary really makes no sense at all when other settlements were thriving well past 8.