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Old 05-06-2011, 02:15 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
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Zenith H480W - very weak FM after slide pot cleaning

Hi all:

I have a Zenith H480W AM/FM/stereo FM clock radio from around 1980. It worked very well for years, until I tried to clean the slide potentiometers (volume, balance, tone). When I powered the set on after cleaning, I found that the AM reception was still as good as it's always been (all local stations being received with plenty of volume), but FM is extremely weak -- I can hear stations (exonerating the RF signal circuits), but I must turn the volume up to maximum, and even at that I can barely hear anything. The stereo indicator doesn't illuminate on stereo stations, either. What on earth could I have done to nearly kill FM reception just by shooting contact cleaner into those slide pots? Is there any chance at all of bringing this set back to what it once was on FM?


Thanks in advance.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

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