Hi Jonathan,
thanks for your follow-up. I am sorry you are still having roblems with the pop.
I have just discovered I marked the wrong pin on my circuit diagram, I reported pin8 as the power input in place of pin 6. I am attaching the updated schematic.
Pin 1 should go to ground and not pin 8 to +12V via the 2N3904 collector. I hope the LM386 is still OK as I do not understand why it should not return from mute.
Please let me know. Thanks and 73
Gian
I7SWX