kenwood KR-4070 Need help with bad FM reception

tlowe

New Member
Recently purchased a KR-4070. Got to love these old time tested units! I desired the manual control of the tuning with no digital presets.

Am going to use it in my shop.
Everything works great except the FM reception. On AM it will get signal strength of 4-5 and sound good. On FM it will only get a signal of 1 on the strongest stations and pickup 5-6 stations on mono and 1-2 stations on stereo.

What I have done so far:
Blew a small amount of dust from inside unit (no change)
Installed a nice GODAR antenna for the AM and FM(slightly better)
Tried a T shaped half wave antenna(same)
Moved the unit to the house(same)

The tuner definitely is not amplifying what the antenna is providing.

I have a strong electronics background an am more than willing to replace components to repair it.

Have the schematics.

Looking for someone who has great experience on the tuners and can steer me straight.
 
It is a good bit of information to know the AM section is working properly.

If it hasn't been done already, cleaning the function switch might be helpful. Not only does the audio signal to the amps pass through it, but power to the FM section is switched there. The voltage to the FM tuner section can be tested at the junction of R10/R11 on the tuner board. Expect to read 13½V with respect to chassis ground.

While your meter is available, it may also be good to test the circuit voltages at each amplification stage in the FM circuits. The front end FET, Q1, should have 12V on the drain terminal. Q2 and Q3 should each have 13V on their collectors, and Q4 should have 8½V on its collector. If those voltages are close to correct, it may be safe to assume that no serious component damage exists in the FM front end.

If the correct voltage is present, there may be an alignment problem. If you have been into tuned circuits previously, you likely have a signal source and oscilloscope, and could proceed with alignment checks to either improve the reception or determine the point at which signal is lost.

It might also be good to inspect the tuner variable capacitor for dust, contamination, or damage.
 
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