Technics SA-616 tuner issues?

Okay, you got me... the Technics SA-616 is actually a receiver circa 1978 with a digital quartz-locked tuner. It appears that even with a crappy wire antenna I get nearly full signal strength (according to the idiot light meter) on a few stations, but the muting switch seems to be tied to signal strength/quartz lock and I have a very hard time getting the quartz lock steady, which is the only way one can listen to stereo (instead of just mono).

My other issue is that it has both 75 ohm and 300-ohm antenna terminals. I don't know which ones would be better to use and if I should be connecting one or two wires. I guess I missed that class.

To further compilcate matters there is a switch that switches between "Normal," and "Tunable" for the antenna. I have not seen this before. It came set to "Normal."

Do I simply need a better antenna even though some stations light all the signal-strength lights? Or, is there some kind of threshold adjustment on the Muting or signal locking circuit that needs to be adjusted?

This is really a beautiful looking piece that I got for a good price on Craig's List. I'd like to keep it but I don't want to invest much money in a potentially costly repair.

Please HELP!

Okay, maybe I asked too many questions. What I mainly want to know is if anyone has experience with the Technics SA-616 receiver. With a good antenna will the tuner lock to strong stations and perform well in stereo? Someone must know so please comment.

Thank you,
Frank A

Really sounds like it needs an alignment. Along with a cleaning. 300 ohm is what you need to hook your antenna to. If you have a coax connection it would go to the 75.

Yeah Mike, that's what I was afraid of. I didn't really want to put a lot of money into it or send it off somewhere for the alignment.

Maybe I'll just resell it as-is and someone else can deal with it.

Frank A