I've just plugged in an old Kenwood receiver of my fathers. It was working fine however due to the thick walls in my house I was not picking up any channels. I have some spare speaker wire that I tried wiring up to the FM antenna connections but now all I'm getting it very loud crackling and static. I turned it off quickly let's hope it's not blown, my speakers.
What do I need to do to solve this problem? Is it down to grounding? I have nothing nearby to ground it.
What do I need to do to solve this problem? Is it down to grounding? I have nothing nearby to ground it.
An FM tuner doesn't need any grounding. Either the field strength is too weak in your house, or the speaker wire doesn't pick up enough signal. You can try to get some 300 ohms antenna cable (made of two parallel wires, looking similar to a speaker cable, but more suitable for the purpose), hook up to the antenna terminals, and split the other end at about 1.5 meter length, forming a T. The 2 x 1.5 meter part should be horizontal. If that will not get any station on the FM band (87.5 to 108 MHz), there might be some issue with the receiver that developed over time.
Antenna advice
Antenna advice
Most FM transmitters are vertically polarized nowadays, so the 2 times 75 cm part of the T should be vertical (rotated T).
The static is there now with or without the antenna. It's strange it worked fine until cleaning and adding the antenna. Maybe it was when dusting and moving knobs it started with the noise.
Sounds like you might have detuned something. Did you bend any air coils while cleaning? What knobs are you referring to?
Take a look at the big tuning capacitor. It is the one where the dial wire attaches.
Perhaps some dust get between the plates while cleaning. Try cleaning the dust with a soft brush. Check if the plates are bent and touching.
Perhaps some dust get between the plates while cleaning. Try cleaning the dust with a soft brush. Check if the plates are bent and touching.
Nothing international I just cleaned the face plate with a microfibre cloth but probably moved some front dials in the process.
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