[Jeffhs]

I also have a Zenith H480W radio which works very well on AM. However, the FM reception, while it is there, is extremely weak. I can barely hear anything on FM, even with the volume control at maximum, and there is no stereo reception because the FM reception is so weak it is almost nonexistent. This problem began several years ago, when I tried to clean the function switches with contact cleaner; when I turned the radio on after I was finished, the symptoms I just described showed up (AM excellent, FM so weak it isn't funny (!)). One other problem is the dial lights behind the radio dial quit at the same time I lost my FM reception. I wonder if the two problems are related, though I can't for the life of me imagine how they could be, unless there is some connection (!) between the loss of FM reception and the dial lights.

I would like to get this radio working again on FM and stereo FM, as it sounds and works great when everything is right. (Zenith really knew its stuff when they designed this radio, IMHO.) I live in an area some 40+ miles from the local FM stations in Cleveland; every one of my FM radios, with one exception (my Aiwa CX-NA888 bookshelf stereo system) get most of the stations just fine, using only indoor FM antennas (the Zenith radio has a coupling device which connects the line cord, by capacitive coupling, to the AC line cord, and works great, receiving every local FM station as well as any other FM radio I own).

I have a feeling I may have shorted something out on a PC board when I was spraying contact cleaner on the function switches, which may very well explain why the FM reception on my H480W Zenith radio is so weak; that, or else maybe I could have pulled a connection loose on the FM function selector switch. I personally cannot imagine how I could have damaged anything simply by cleaning the contacts on the function selector switches, unless there may have been a connection just hanging on by a thread (!) which was torn loose when I was spraying the cleaner around the switches.

BTW, the clock backup battery in my H480W is still connected inside the radio (and is almost certainly dead as a door nail by now), but I am almost afraid to do anything with it because it may have leaked and may have made the heck of a mess on the radio's PC boards. I don't know how long these NiCd rechargeable batteries are supposed to last, but as old as my H480W radio is (I bought it well over 20 years ago), as I said, the battery may very well be dead by now, and will not take a charge. I may just remove the dead cell and use the radio without it. As I said, this radio worked absolutely great on FM before the problem I described showed up, and I'd like to get it working that well again, if possible.

Zenith is out of business as far as radio and TV are concerned, so I would certainly like to get and keep all my Zenith radios (and my 19-inch Zenith SMS1917SG color TV) working as well as possible, as long as possible. There is no more Zenith Radio Corporation, and no one builds radios and TVs as well as they did. Zenith was always my favorite brand of home entertainment gear; it goes without saying I miss them. There will never be another Zenith Radio Corporation, which is, IMHO, too darn bad. They were one of a kind, and one of the best if not the best manufacturers of radios and television receivers.