So I just dug up my old Trancel TR 80 transistor radio. I'm sure I borrowed it from my parents as these seem to have been popular in the late 50s. As a boy in the 1970s, I always wanted to see what made things tick. So when changing the 9v battery in the TR 80, I derived great fun from dipping a screwdriver into anything with a slot. Well, that means the radio hasn't worked right for over 30 years now!

So my dillemma now is how to get it working again. I have resoldered the dangling antenna wires and the unit powers up fine. The Mitsumi crystal set (PVC-2X, strangely...still available...WOW!) has two tuner screws. If I am close to a station, though, I have no idea. There are four silver casings (for lack of a better word) that all have some kind of set screw in them. (see arrows above)

So my questions are: what are these silver components? I've not seen them in modern electronics. Are they tunable by your average electronic geek (me?) I am positive I twiddled these as a child. Also, if I get close to the station, can I fine tune it with the set screws on the crystal set?

I have a sweet Fluke 112 multimeter, so if tuning anything requires that, I'll take a stab at it!

I've attached a photo of the board. Wow...all traces on the back are done by hand. Gee, we've come such a long way!