Static Sound in Radio Volume Control

A really good control cleaner, or all new pots.

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Yes, the easiest and most usual solution is to go to your local Radio Shack toy and cell phone store and get a can of TV-Tuner/Control Cleaner & Lubricant Catalog #: 64-4315 Open your clock radio so that you can get to the volume control. It will have an open area next to the terminals that gives you access to the resistance element and contact inside.Point the spray tube of your tuner cleaner and spray about ONE (1) second of cleaner into the innards of the control. Exercise the control through its full range four or five times. Reassemble your radio. That should fix the scratchy noise.

A new and better radio (with digital pots) is the only permanent solution.

loud

Desolder the pot or sometimes enough access to to do the following without desoldering Mark with felt tip the relative positions of the sub parts, bend out the retaining flaps of the casing metal with a small screwdriver. Dismantle the pot down to the carbon track clean/degrease. Where the track is not too bad , just worn in arcs. Bend, out or in whichever shows most fresh track, the wiper blade/blades to use a different part of track. If the wiper support can be wedged away from the track then bend the wiper to give more contact force. If the rivets have slackened on the paxolin then squash with an old pair of basic red/blue/yellow single action crimp pliers. To get to the wiper rivet grind down the the interfering bulges a bit between the red and blue sections.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

In message , N_Cook writes

All this for a clock radio???

The OP says "all my clock radios". That's odd. I've never had /all/ the pots in the equipment I've owned become scratchy.

Obviously, cleaning the pot should fix the problem. But I suspect the OP lives in a dusty/dirty environment, or is a heavy smoker.

Thank you to all who responded.

Michael

loud

ud

beside control cleaner, basically, it's a good idea to turn every control through the whole range of movement and switch every switch on and off on every piece of equipment you own that doesn't have the newfangled rubber key type things, every week or two. keeps them from getting spotty contact with dust, gunk from the air, particles from wear, etc. over the years, wipers on pots, switches, relays, etc. have evolved to do this pretty well.

given that clock radios don't have the volume adjusted a large amount, they don't get this treatment the way older type equipment where the volume was turned down to zero to switch the thing off did.

the other thing that happens, however, is that there gets to be extra wear in the small area of a control which is actually used and as a result contact is spotty; no cure for that.

No, it happens to mine too. Clock radios are usually made VERY cheaply.

Why do poeple write ONE (1)? Is this because some people can't read numerals?

It is to emphatize that it must be done in one second. Otherwise it might go unnoticed.

Quick and cheap solution, keep adjusting the control up and down until it stops scratching.

Or it could be due to fine dust from your parrots' feathers and droppings.

That must be the problem. I don't own cheap clock-radios.

They did this before I got parrots. They don't seem to be worse since I got them. Surprisingly, nothing has got upset (except my 2nd last projection TV, which told me to change the filter after every 2 hours of use (instead of every

A clock radio doesn't strike me as an item one would spend a lot of money on.

Then why not say "one (and make sure it's one)" or "one, yes one,", or just "ONE" in capitals, or "**ONE**"

I just leave the volume in one place all the time.

There have been some nice ones, especially from GE in the late 70s and early