Another Old Radio Question(probably stupid)-Motorola FM212A

[bunnspecial]

In my continued quest to put a period radio in my MG, I've lucked out on what seems to be a premium 70s item-a Motorola FM212A AM/FM radio. I wired it up this evening, and it's PHENOMENAL. I had a Bendix(British Leyland branded) sort of working, but I was never happy with it even after adding filters, double checking the the antenna mounting, etc. I'd wired the Bendix so I could relatively easy swap another one in, so fitting this was straight-forward, and it gets stations strongly and clearly.

As a side note before my main question-in another thread on the topic, someone had advised making sure I had a good antenna ground. I measure .3Ω from the antenna plug(outside) to several ground points in the car, so I'm not sure if I could make things better by getting it better grounded, but for the time being reception is excellent.

My main question, though, is about operation of the radio. It has the standard on/volume control knob on the left, with the rotating chrome knob whose function I'm not sure what it's called, but it allows fine-tuning reception once a station is locked in. The right has the tuning knob, and it has 5 presets across the front. On the Bendix radios I have, the right chrome lower knob switches between AM and FM, while on this one it turns but I can't seem to see that it does anything.

The problem is-I can't seem to get it to switch over to AM. The left most preset button is labeled "FM", but in operation it seems to work like all the other presets-i.e pushing it moves the tuner, while pulling it out and then pushing it back in sets a radio preset.

What am I missing here? I know it has to be something obvious, but I can't find it. I can't seem to find a manual for it either.

 

[wings&wheels]

I had these folks overhaul the 1974 Blaupunkt Frankfurt mono I sourced for my TR6 back in 2003. It is still working fine, for what it is. The efficient answer may be to call in the cavalry...or send it to them.

D and M restoration

 

[Nukeman7]

The problem is-I can't seem to get it to switch over to AM. The left most preset button is labeled "FM", but in operation it seems to work like all the other presets-i.e pushing it moves the tuner, while pulling it out and then pushing it back in sets a radio preset.

What am I missing here? I know it has to be something obvious, but I can't find it. I can't seem to find a manual for it either.

Try pushing the right most preset button to change the band to AM. I believe the left preset changes it to FM band while the left preset changes it to AM (see linked picture).

Motorola Radio

 

[bunnspecial]

Try pushing the right most preset button to change the band to AM. I believe the left preset changes it to FM band while the left preset changes it to AM (see linked picture).

Motorola Radio

Thank you! That's it. It was throwing me off at first because it's a bit "sticky" and even though the reception will change over to AM when I push it, it takes 2-3 jabs to get the panel to light back up and it to display AM on the dial.

I'm even MORE thrilled with it now, and surprised at the same time. The other that I had in here had 5 presets, period, so would make a mess of things if you hit one you had set for AM when you were in FM, for example.

This one switches the presets with AM or FM, just like an electronic radio generally would. I'm glad I held out for a Motorola, as this is a huge step up in basically every way.