[rfeenstra]

I'm working on a Sherwood S8900A that I bought cheap in the 1980's.  It was cheap because the FM hardly worked.  Lots of static when tuning, unreliable stereo when I did get a station dialed in.  That was ok at the time since all I wanted was the amplifier for use at the office.  I haven't used it in years.  This thread caused me to dig it out of the equipment archives to see what I could do with it.  The bass control is missing. I think I remember something falling on it and physically breaking the control so I bypassed it with fixed resistors at a most used bass level.  I obviously must have changed one of the filter caps at one point though I don't remember doing it.

The static occurred when the tuning dial was turned so I suspected a bad ground or cross plate contamination.  A solid blast of contact cleaner cleaned up the tuning cap and the static was gone and has worked great since.  I found the alignment WAY off so i suspect someone tried to correct the problems by twisting slugs, gave up and traded it in.  That's when I bought it.  It is now working great with excellent sensitivity, great stereo and good sound. I've ordered caps to replace the filter caps (I will re-stuff them) and e-caps for the rest of the circuitry, just to be proactive.  But I need help!

I cannot get the dial to track properly.  Using the slug in the oscillator coil, I can zero in on the low end of the dial. Using the cap, I can set the high end.  So, the two frequencies I use the most are dead on at 88.5 and 106.9.  The middle of the dial is about 500KHz off.  For 100.5, I have to tune to 100.  It bugs me and  no matter how much I diddle with the coil and trimmer, I cannot improve it.  Does anyone have suggestions?  Or, is there an instructional paper or video out there that I have not been able to find?  Thanks for any help you give!