Tuner/MD 108 Question


I have just received a new MD 108 - although the Signal strength (indoor, attic-mounted Fanfare antenna)on strong stations is 96 (out of a 100), the blue stereo light doesnt go on and I receive all the stations in mono with rare minutes when it will come on. Is this a defective unit or is there insufficient stereo separation in my receiving area, despite the high signal strenth?
If anybody can answer that before I can reach Magnum Dynalab, that would be great!! I really dont want to pack that huge box and ship it to Canada! Otherwise I have to get the antenna up on the roof.
Denis
springbok10

Showing 1 response by ryanmh1

Glad to hear they're taking care of it for you. I just worked on an FT-101A that was approximately 3-4 years old (which has the same guts as the current MD-100), and the circuit board was delaminating, with a few traces oxidized and falling off the board. Yikes!

Beyond that, the basic engineering and design was essentially a mid rank car radio. Fortunately, with some careful parts replacement it can be improved over 500% and often more in terms of measurable distortion performance without adversely affecting the tuner in any way. Neat. This tends to occur across the line, based upon what Magnum told me about the design of the other tuners, although the TOTL 108 might be a different IF and decoder design. I didn't ask them about that one.

The roof mount Yagi is definitely the way for pulling stations, and with a few grand into the tuner, you owe it to yourself!