"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
om...
(Tom) wrote in message
. com...

... is something wrong with my radio?


Ummm, broken antenna lead? AM-MW would rely on an internal ferrite
rod; SW1 and SW2 might use that antenna as well. FM stations from
88-108 MHz are flame throwers (witness that fact that "I can hear FM
stations on Police Low"), so you can hear them with no antenna. That
other stuff, might be inaudible if the antenna is not functioning. My
Radio Shack Weatheradio with the antenna not extended can't hear a
thing. Pull out the antenna, and the station at Manassas VA comes in.


I didn't read the original post, but if they are having problems hearing
signals on VHF public service bands, one problem may well be the fact that
inexpensive PSB radios use the same FM detector for the PSB's as for
broadcast FM. The detector is of necessity broadband (~200 KHz) for the
wideband broadcast FM signals, which are 150 KHz wide (75 KHz deviation).
As most of the traffic on the PSB's is only 5 KHz deviation, the volume
level will be on the order of around 10% (rounded up) of that of a broadcast
FM station. If they are leaving the radio at the same volume as for AM or
FM, they may not hear a station at all. Best one can do on these radios is
to tune around looking for a quiet spot on the dial that will sometimes tell
you there's a signal there, then turn up the volume to see if it's a
transmission.