Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

Hello... I am hoping fellow owners of the Sat 500 might point me in the right direction. I have inherited a Grundig Satellit 500 in excellent cosmetic condition. It has been used regularly up 2 weeks ago. I had it my possession for a day, and it worked flawlessly.

However, it now has developed a problem. After a few seconds of normal reception and audio, whatever station I am listening to disappears completely - all I hear is white noise, as if there were no station on that frequency whatsoever. All bands are like this... I cannot tune any station on FM, MW, LW, or SW. It's as if there were no stations whatsoever. All the other dials and buttons operate normally in this condition... it's just that there are no stations.

If I then turn the unit off for a short while, 10 minutes or so, the last tuned station returns for 2 or 3 seconds, then vanishes. If I leave the receiver turned off for 6 or more hours, the station will come back and play for 1 minute, but no more, and then all of the bands are dead again.

Is this a problem anyone has heard of? It is very frustrating to deal with as I was excited to finally have a Grundig receiver in my possession. ]

If anyone has any tips or tricks, please let me know! They would be most appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

OnkyoMan

Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

On 3/17/2011 2:23 AM, OnkyoMan wrote:
Hello... I am hoping fellow owners of the Sat 500 might point me in the
right direction. I have inherited a Grundig Satellit 500 in excellent
cosmetic condition. It has been used regularly up 2 weeks ago. I had
it my possession for a day, and it worked flawlessly.

However, it now has developed a problem. After a few seconds of normal
reception and audio, whatever station I am listening to disappears
completely - all I hear is white noise, as if there were no station on
that frequency whatsoever. All bands are like this... I cannot tune any
station on FM, MW, LW, or SW. It's as if there were no stations
whatsoever. All the other dials and buttons operate normally in this
condition... it's just that there are no stations.

If I then turn the unit off for a short while, 10 minutes or so, the
last tuned station returns for 2 or 3 seconds, then vanishes. If I
leave the receiver turned off for 6 or more hours, the station will come
back and play for 1 minute, but no more, and then all of the bands are
dead again.

Is this a problem anyone has heard of? It is very frustrating to deal
with as I was excited to finally have a Grundig receiver in my
possession. ]

If anyone has any tips or tricks, please let me know! They would be
most appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

OnkyoMan



It's likely that this is a thermal condition -- a component is
malfunctioning once it warms up.

If you're comfortable doing component-level repairs on what are
probably very small parts, you could operate the radio with its
circuitry exposed until the failure occurs, then carefully apply
freeze spray (available under various brand names from many
electronics suppliers) to components until you find the one that
restores functionality when sprayed. Then replace it. (If the
component is being stressed and overheated by a second defective
part, you'll have to find and replace the culprit too.)

It's also possible that this is a known failure mode for that model,
and someone here can tell you exactly what to do. Failing that,
search engines might reveal other owners who have had the same problem.

Of course, moving to a very cold place like Antarctica and using the
receiver outdoors might make repairs unnecessary.


With all good wishes,


Kevin, WB4AIO.
--
http://nationalvanguard.org/
http://kevinalfredstrom.com/

Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

This email is bouncing ) ... No such addy
comes back!

"OnkyoMan" wrote in message
...

Hello... I am hoping fellow owners of the Sat 500 might point me in the
right direction. I have inherited a Grundig Satellit 500 in excellent
cosmetic condition. It has been used regularly up 2 weeks ago. I had
it my possession for a day, and it worked flawlessly.

However, it now has developed a problem. After a few seconds of normal
reception and audio, whatever station I am listening to disappears
completely - all I hear is white noise, as if there were no station on
that frequency whatsoever. All bands are like this... I cannot tune any
station on FM, MW, LW, or SW. It's as if there were no stations
whatsoever. All the other dials and buttons operate normally in this
condition... it's just that there are no stations.

If I then turn the unit off for a short while, 10 minutes or so, the
last tuned station returns for 2 or 3 seconds, then vanishes. If I
leave the receiver turned off for 6 or more hours, the station will come
back and play for 1 minute, but no more, and then all of the bands are
dead again.

Is this a problem anyone has heard of? It is very frustrating to deal
with as I was excited to finally have a Grundig receiver in my
possession. ]

If anyone has any tips or tricks, please let me know! They would be
most appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

OnkyoMan




--
OnkyoMan


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus
signature database 5963 (20110317) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com






__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5964 (20110317) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

Hello Larry! Thanks for your interest... I've got an account over at radiobanter.com which is a Usenet portal, and it strips most of the garbage that is spamming Usenet. The accounts there are free, and you could message me there.

Otherwise, if you have any suggestions, please post them here on Usenet and I can read them that way.

Thanks again for your help... I'm really in a bind with this problem!


OnkyoMan

Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

On 03/18/2011 08:48 PM, OnkyoMan wrote:

However, it now has developed a problem. After a few seconds of
normal
reception and audio, whatever station I am listening to disappears
completely - all I hear is white noise, as if there were no station on
that frequency whatsoever. All bands are like this... I cannot tune
any
station on FM, MW, LW, or SW. It's as if there were no stations
whatsoever. All the other dials and buttons operate normally in this
condition... it's just that there are no stations.

If I then turn the unit off for a short while, 10 minutes or so, the
last tuned station returns for 2 or 3 seconds, then vanishes. If I
leave the receiver turned off for 6 or more hours, the station will
come
back and play for 1 minute, but no more, and then all of the bands are
dead again.

Is this a problem anyone has heard of? It is very frustrating to deal
with as I was excited to finally have a Grundig receiver in my
possession. ]


Sounds like a bad component. Do you have any freeze spray?

Hi Art... thanks for your interest... Here are my responses to your questions:

Q : 1) Does the display show anything when it starts acting up ?

The display behaves normally during this problem.. I can change frequencies, bands, and other options. The volume and everything else
works as well. It's only white noise that comes up... the station (and all
stations) are gone.

2)
Did you try using an external p/s and/or good batteries, and if so do
you get same response ?

I have tried new akaline, and fully charged NiMH batteries.. several sets.
They don't make a difference.


3) Before taking it apart have you tried
cooling the whole radio by putting it in a fridge (not the freezer )
for a little while and see if the problem goes away (temporarily)?

No! I haven't tried that yet, but I will give it a shot today and see what happens! I'll report back here.

Yesterday, I left the radio out in my 40F degree garage for about 9 hours, then turned it on, while I was out there with it.

No difference in radio behavior... FM came in strong for 2 mins, then disappeared. AM was completely dead.

Do you still think it could be thermal related?

Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

On Mar 21, 12:06*am, OnkyoMan
wrote:
Yesterday, I left the radio out in my 40F degree garage for about 9
hours, then turned it on, while I was out there with it.

No difference in radio behavior... FM came in strong for 2 mins, then
disappeared. *AM was completely dead.

Do you still think it could be thermal related?

--
OnkyoMan

It is too early tell . Have you tried using an External p/s and notice
any difference ? While powering it up can you measure the current and
notice if it is same as when it goes into the non-fuctional
condition ? Also , by tapping on the cabinet , is there an
intermittant connection somewhere ?

Grundig Satellit 500 - Help needed
 

On 03/20/2011 09:06 PM, OnkyoMan wrote:
Yesterday, I left the radio out in my 40F degree garage for about 9
hours, then turned it on, while I was out there with it.

No difference in radio behavior... FM came in strong for 2 mins, then
disappeared. AM was completely dead.

Do you still think it could be thermal related?



I don't think you can find a fault that way. A cold solder joint or a
faulty component would be very localized. The current flows through some
abnormally high resistance and heats that area enough to deform it
relative to surrounding areas. If you freeze the whole thing, nothing
changes.

I've gotten some advice that it might be a trimmer capacitor which has been known to go bad on these radios. Does that make sense as a possibility to any of you?

Can you recommend a good source these capacitors?

Thanks,

Matt