Strange issue with Beolit 609FM

2 replies

I've just got hold of a Beolit 609FM with a bit of a problem. Its really quiet. Even at full volume its too quiet to listen to normally but loud enough to tell that it is all working. Its not the batteries or just bad reception. The other thing is that I was rather suprised to find that I can listen in to Gatwick air traffic control on it which is fun but surely this shouldnt be at 98.2 on FM! There is also some other sort of airport weather further up the scale, again on FM. I take it that these are VHF signals, should they be appearing on FM on this set? It also picks up FM though.

Any ideas anyone?

Replace those dreadful  AF116 (or AF117) transistors, one or more will have
internal shorts from the screened metal can to one or more of the internal
junctions or leads.

Tapping them with a pencil or similar will sometimes produce a brief burst of life
and it may even live up and work normally again - but only for a short time.

AF179 is a great replacement. A bit costly but you only need a few and it actually
gives much better results than the original ones, even from new.
It's only a three-pin component so forget about the screen pin.

Martin

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