RC-656 radio reception keeps cutting out.

[ELzekio]

Hello. I have obtained a jvc rc 656 and most of the issues i have fixed with it except for one. The radio doesn't seem to tune in stations correctly. When i get to a station that should have good reception you can hear the radio cutting in and out of the station really really fast. Like it tunes it in and cuts it out 2 - 3 times a second then it might keep it cut out for a little while and some timed it will come in for ay most 1 second.

When it tunes it in, you can see the tuned light light up and when it cuts out, the tuned light turns off which means there is some issues with it getting the channel in i guess.

I gave the band selection switch a few good size doses of deoxit and let it dry for about 20 mins. After that i hooked it up and it seemed that the unit was working fine. It was doing a great job tuning in the stations. I then put a cassette in and after listening to the cassette i turned the radio back on, and it seemed to start with the same issue.

Note: When i intercept the radio with the line in on the side of the boombox with my ipod the music plays fine. No cutting out from my ipod, but when i unplug the connectors and go back to the radio it will do the cutting out.

Any suggestions on what may be the cause of the cutting out? Thinking there is some connection issue but not sure.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

The band selector or function selector switches are most likely your problem. My 656 has a similar issue with the band selector. AM cuts out sometimes - sliding the selector back and forth restores function temporarily - the fault causes the power to be cut to that part of the tuner thus a sudden loss of function. FM on mine is fine though. No amount of switch cleaner can fix the issue.

The switch needs to be disassembled for a proper service - as this requires the tuner string to be removed, I've chosen to live with the problem.

 

[ELzekio]

You do not need to remove the tuner string to get ahold of the selector switch. All you need to do is unscrew 3 screws and unplug 2 cables and the tuner comes right out.


Because i had nothing to loose i decided to do a full rebuild of the switch. Definitely a lot harder than a slider, but i made sure i did it right.

Bad news is after i did it and re installed the box literally, nothing has changed. I turn the boom box on and it plays good for about 60 seconds and then it goes back to cutting out of the reception. ( even before i rebuilt the switch the radio would work for about 60 seconds and then act up if it has been unpluged for a while)

I just noticed that it seems to just do this in FM.