Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 2:41 pm
If the tuning capacitors are air spaced with metal frames you should be able to remove them, clean them, and re-install. If they are soldered directly to the main PCB that would require an iron with a good amount of heat, solder sucker and braid to remove the solder. If they are mounted on a metal chassis and connected by wires to the PCB it would be easier. OTHO plastic encased variables having "poly' plastic dielectric spaced plates might be ruined if the cleaning fluid had some sort of solvent in it.
You should be able to find a replacement battery holder for the AA cells that would replace the existing one for "C" batteries. Beware that you won't get quite the battery life, but he AA's should still be able to power the radio to full volume. You might consider using NiMh rechargeable cells while you're at it. You might need one more cell to get the normal voltage as NimH's are only 1.2 volts per cell while normal C and AA's are 1.5. (But it might not matter as Al and Cz batteries quickly drop from 1.5 to about 1.2 and still have useful power down to 0.95 volts.)
You should be able to find a replacement battery holder for the AA cells that would replace the existing one for "C" batteries. Beware that you won't get quite the battery life, but he AA's should still be able to power the radio to full volume. You might consider using NiMh rechargeable cells while you're at it. You might need one more cell to get the normal voltage as NimH's are only 1.2 volts per cell while normal C and AA's are 1.5. (But it might not matter as Al and Cz batteries quickly drop from 1.5 to about 1.2 and still have useful power down to 0.95 volts.)
Fixed!