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Problems with the FM recpetion on my MZ-NHF800

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Hungerdunger

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I recently bought an MZ-NHF800 on ebay. the machine itself is fine; in fact it's in pristine condition. However I'm disappointed with the FM reception (which was the reason I bought it in the first place). Where I live, although an ordinary radio picks up the signal pretty well, the remote gets very poor reception. Often there's nothing there at all, and at best the there's a lot of hiss and the sound fades in and out as I move around.

Is there any kind of "signal booster" which I can put between the remote and my earphones to improve the situation? Any ideas welcome.

Edited by Hungerdunger
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  • 5 months later...

I found the position/angle of the DC decoupler (or whatever that rectangular thing is called that says SONY on it and sits as part of the remote's lead close to the jack going into the player) makes quite a lot of difference.

We have a different problem here - CBC in its infinite wisdom took away the classical music station for ~19 hours out of the 24, just after I got mine working properly. Wish I had the BBC on my portable's tuner, even with poor reception.

Another thing: did you try switching from DX to "local" or vice-versa?

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Just to update on all the suggestions people have made:

Portable radios with built-in telescopic antennae work pretty well here. The NHF800 also works OK in mono, if I can find a suitable position and don't move, but obviously the whole point of it is that I want to listen while moving around.

I've tried plugging the headphones into an extension lead and this seems to improve things a little but not enough.

sfbp - are you sure about the DX Switch? I don't think there's one on the remote. If you know different please tell me.

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Portable radios with built-in telescopic antennae work pretty well here. The NHF800 also works OK in mono, if I can find a suitable position and don't move, but obviously the whole point of it is that I want to listen while moving around.

I've tried plugging the headphones into an extension lead and this seems to improve things a little but not enough.

That's a general problem with FM tuners built into MP3 players, MD walkman remotes, mobile phones etc. Besides a rather simple (cost-effective ;)) tuner circuitry they usually use the headphone lead as an auxiliary antenna. For good reception, the antenna has to be directed correctly towards the radio station you want to receive. That is rarely the case with a headphone antenna though, especially if you move.

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Very odd. Neither the NF810 nor the NH800 manual (I actually have an RM-MC37LT that came with the NF810) mentions this setting. And yet I am sure I recall reading it in a manual somewhere. But it toggles no matter which machine I am plugged into.

Could it be that when you go to Local (or DX?) that the reception quality is such that you just get Mono. I don't really know what the setting does, but it appears to be the only connected to reception quality.

Also in the UK you have DAB now - doesn't this affect "conventional" FM reception? I sort of recall that some car radios had to be retrofitted, but never experienced this in person as I left a long time ago. Perhaps I simply have a different model for the market here.

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Could it be that when you go to Local (or DX?) that the reception quality is such that you just get Mono. I don't really know what the setting does, but it appears to be the only connected to reception quality.

It's a regional thing. Looking at the online manual it says on page 26 to press "Sound" until "local" appears.

In my UK manual it says to press it until "Mono" appears.

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Could it be that when you go to Local (or DX?) that the reception quality is such that you just get Mono. I don't really know what the setting does, but it appears to be the only connected to reception quality.

Usually, a "Local/DX" switch changes the tuner sensitivity. "Local" reduces sensitivity to cope with overloading that may be caused by strong local radio transmitters. "DX" (a term from the radio amateur scene meaning "distance") increases sensitivity to enable reception of distant, weak stations. Stereo/Mono is a different matter.

Also in the UK you have DAB now - doesn't this affect "conventional" FM reception?

No, DAB and FM are completely different systems using different frequencies and different technology for transmitting and receiving. They are completely independent of each other. Politically, however, DAB is regarded as the successor to FM in several European countries, but both are expected to run in parallel for at least a decade to come.

Edited by sharpsony
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Just shows I didn't check what DAB is. Thanks for putting me straight. Anyway there is page 26, heheh why couldn't I find that?

Just below the remark you quoted is the following:

"There is a DC-DC converter attached to the remote control cord." and then some tips.

I found the sound would be very flaky if I sat with it round my neck in front of the computer. Eventually it became obvious that the problem was the computer screen.

HTH

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It's a regional thing. Looking at the online manual it says on page 26 to press "Sound" until "local" appears.

In my UK manual it says to press it until "Mono" appears.

Heheh I just thought of something. What about "fixing" the NHF800 to be "American" instead of European, using Service mode?

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