On Sat, 24 Sep 1994, David Carment wrote:

> Date: Sat, 24 Sep 94 09:10:18 CDT
> From: David Carment <dcarment@ccs.carleton.ca>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu>
> Subject: Radio problem
> 
> Hi: this question is only remotely related to Vanagon interests but since
> there may be electrical engineers/ hi fi experts out there I thought I
> would ask here first. -- 
> 
> The Alpine radio which came with the Westfalia when we bought it has recently
> started acting up. Here are the symptoms:
> 
> a) poor AM pickup across the board - but the rare signals that do come in are
> quite clear.
> 
> b) on FM a low-pitched screeching/howling on frequencies roughly below 93 on
> the
> dial. Sometimes the signal will be reasonably clear at this low end but
> will then revert to the noises after 10-15 minutes run time. Signals above
> this point are good, but there is a slight and faint sound of intereference
> if the volume is turned up. Of the two the FM noise is more problematic and
> annoying.
> 
> I have removed and reinstalled the radio several times to check for proper
> grounding; and solid antennae connection. The radio has  its own power
> source (meaning the line is not shared with other components). The tape
> player works well. The system drives the standard four speaker
> arrangements - two in the doors and two at the back. I recently replaced
> the OEM door speakers with sighly better speakers.
> 
> David Carment
> School of International Affairs
> Carleton University
> Ottawa, Ontario
> K1S 5B6
> voice - (613) 788-2600-6662
> fax - (613) 788-2889
> Email address: dcarment@ccs.carleton.ca
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
Check the antenna cable/antenna connection, or perhaps try replacing the 
antenna and cable.  This definitely sounds like a poor antenna connection 
to me.  Also, some radios (typically older ones) have an antenna trimmer 
adjustment that tunes the radio to the antenna.  Look for a slotted screw 
type adjustment - probably labelled ANT.  Adjust while listening to a 
weak station.  Otherwise it's probably new radio time.