Sony ICF-9650W hi-fi table radio

[radiotvnut]

My cousin had me come to his house to show him how to use his DVD player for the 13th time and before I got ready to leave, he informed me that he had a radio to give me. He said someone at work was going to toss it and he grabbed it for me.

It is a Sony ICF-9650W "fidelity sound" AM/FM table radio from the late '70's. It has controls for bass and treble as well as a lighted dial. The speaker is branded "Pioneer" and is a heavy 6" air suspension type. Normally, I don't give solid state table radios of this vintage a second look; but, this one was free and it seems to be a higher end model as far as late '70's consumer table radios go.

My camera is unavailable at the moment; but, here's a link to a photo of the same radio.

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=4273

When I got the radio home, I discovered that the controls were extremely dirty. Now, after a proper cleaning, the AM band plays great; but, the FM band has a strange problem in that the audio rapidly "skips" or "fades in and out at rapid intervals" The problem is less noticable when tuned to a weak station. First, I'll change the electrolytic caps and see if that makes a difference. If that doesn't work, I'll have to find a diagram and start checking voltages, etc.

The only real thing that I don't like about this radio is there's no way to switch off the AFC. As most know, this makes reception of distant stations difficult. I have a similar late '60's solid state Zenith that does have the ability to switch off the AFC and it makes picking up distant stations much easier.