Radio

[Leslie & Nick]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but I'm convinced that heat rising from the refrigerator "cooked" the TM's original radio. My reason is: I pulled the radio out of it's compartment above the refrigerator to see if I could get the faceplate dial to work again. No such luck of course (Jensen wanted as much to fix it as a new one would cost, but I'll get to that later). Anyway, while the radio was out of its "slot" I walked by the operating refigerator (AC power) and felt very warm air coming out of the "slot". The circulating fan was on, and refgigerator seems to work fine.

I didn't think this was a good environement for the radio - in the way of a proverbial "blast furnace". When I removed the vent grill from the outside of the TM I found a small piece of paper faced fiberglass wall insulation (the same kind that's in your house) haphazardly placed on top of the refrigerator. After some hunting around Home Depot, I found a piece of flexible sheet insulation. I cut a piece to snugly fit above the refigerator, and below the radio.

I bought a new radio/CD from Crutchfield (least expensive one they offered <$80) and installed it. This one has an AUX jack on the faceplate so I can plug in an i Pod or any other device (see red arrow). Radio works good so far, but it hasn't been in long enough to see if remaining heat causes it any problems.