[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Bill,
Does the transmitter light a stereo light on a receiver very close to the transmitter? If not, this is usually an indication that the 19 kHz pilot carrier is not functioning..... It may indicate that the 38 kHz crystal is defective.

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Try a half-wave counterpoise: If your antenna goes 38" in one direction, connect a wire to Ground (right where it first hits the board) and run it 38" in the the other direction. The best signal will be at a right angle to that "dipole".

It's cheap and quick, and could double your signal strength or better.

But try what Al said: If you can't get stereo from 6" away, there's a fault. I have built $25 FM kits which worked at 150 feet, no problem.

It looks like I will be dragging the scope out of storage and actually using it for the first time in over a year. I know the calibration is suspect on it, but that won't matter for this troubleshooting exercise. If the signal from the crystal isn't there, then I will know the cause.

Don, I was thinking the same thing. In fact, I have a dipole antenna from a stereo receiver I was going to try just for kicks.

I'll let you know what I figure out.