No fm lower frequencies, but...

ducati2

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
On several tuners I have had , only about half the fm band works great and the other half can’t pull in local, strong stations. Is this an alignment issue or caps or ???
Right now my issue is w a KLH 18, but brand does not seem to do with it.
 
if its more than one tuner, I'd guess you have some sort of signal or interference problem. If its only one, wild guess is dirt in the tuning condensor causing it to open or short. Steel wool does this terribly, but general oxidation can cause dead spots or dead areas in the tuner.
 
If it's in band on channel interference the signal strength meter will show a strong signal.
 
if its more than one tuner, I'd guess you have some sort of signal or interference problem. If its only one, wild guess is dirt in the tuning condensor causing it to open or short. Steel wool does this terribly, but general oxidation can cause dead spots or dead areas in the tuner.
Oh I have lots of tuners that work great on the same work bench w same antenna. I will crack it open and check the tuning condenser.
 

YEP fixed it. THANKS Dr. Audio. Getting to the actual tuning capacitor on this direct drive unit (no strings and pulleys) was pretty much impossible, but I cleaned and lubed the shaft entering the box and found several other places to clean and lube. Works great now.. I was also using a huge radio shack fm antenna mounted on the outside of my shop and it was still getting some fuzz in stereo position, so, just for kicks I pulled that and hooked up the tuner to an antique bakelite pair of tv rabbit ears.. WOW.. good ole rabbit ears work 10x better!
 
yeah, sometimes its not so much the antenna as the position or aim of the antenna. You've probably been driving at some point and pulled to a stop and had the radio fuzz out, but moving forward a foot brings it back. Same thing.

Also not impossible there is an issue with the outside antenna or the cable from it.
 
YEP fixed it. THANKS Dr. Audio. Getting to the actual tuning capacitor on this direct drive unit (no strings and pulleys) was pretty much impossible, but I cleaned and lubed the shaft entering the box and found several other places to clean and lube. Works great now.. I was also using a huge radio shack fm antenna mounted on the outside of my shop and it was still getting some fuzz in stereo position, so, just for kicks I pulled that and hooked up the tuner to an antique bakelite pair of tv rabbit ears.. WOW.. good ole rabbit ears work 10x better!
I have a KLH 18 that I have been interested in aligning. I have the schematic but had no luck finding a photo or drawing that described which holes go with a particular inductor coil or trimmer cap. What chemical did you spray into the holes?
 
yeah, sometimes its not so much the antenna as the position or aim of the antenna. You've probably been driving at some point and pulled to a stop and had the radio fuzz out, but moving forward a foot brings it back. Same thing.

Also not impossible there is an issue with the outside antenna or the cable from it.
so, after 10 years of putting up with lame FM reception, I took your advice and moved my big ass radio shack antenna just a few feet different and mounted it horizontal rather than vertical on an exterior wall. MAJOR improvement. geeze TEN years... thanks.
 
I have a KLH 18 that I have been interested in aligning. I have the schematic but had no luck finding a photo or drawing that described which holes go with a particular inductor coil or trimmer cap. What chemical did you spray into the holes?
I did not actually access the tuning capacitor as it is pretty sealed in metal box with lots of soldered wires to it. Rather, I used DeOxit d5 on all the pots the external knobs turn, and the, more importantly, there is a pretty large metal pot (3/4" diameter) with a large phillips screwdriver hole in the middle,,, I marked it's location and treated it. I worked that one back and forth many times and then put it back in the original setting. I also put a little D5 on the dial shaft that enters the capacitor metal box and used compressed air to blow into that same box where I could. I did not touch any of the trimmers. That totally fixed my model 18. No alignment needed.
 
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