Zenith G730 AFC questions etc.

[gyrene]

"...The diode that replaced it is just a little guy, looks like a resistor but is usually black with a band on one end only."

And it has to be there,correct? or the machine will not work,right?

The AFC seems to make almost no difference.Lets say that if this radio were still in the development stages at Zenith and I came in with this AFC idea and activated it to show it off to all the other design engineers...it would not impress to much.
Can it be "weak"? or does it work or not work?

[DaveWM]

the AFC should help some, but its not that strong on the variactor equipped sets. De tune it just a bit in reg FM mode, then switch to AFC, does it come in a bit better? if so then that's prob about as good as its going to get. Again, I don't know if its possible, but the variactor diode may be going bad, but I don't recall seeing that. Its not just any old diode its a variactor diode.