I have read several messages about your WorldMaster multiband radio with
five bands. People have suggested testing components, and doing all sorts
of things to the radio, but I have not yet seen anybody asking the most
obvious questions we need to know in order to tell you why, or even if, the
"police" and weather bands are really dead.
What are the frequency ranges shown on the dial scales? For example, the
Am, or medium wave (MW), or "broadcast band, should show a range of
something like maybe, 520-1620 KHz or KC, or maybe 540-1600 or something
similar.

The FM broadcast band might run something like, 87.5-108.0 MHz.

Some of the radios from that period covered an aircraft band somewhere
between about 108.0 MHz and maybe 136.0 MHz. IN the 1960's and into the
1970's there may have been some police frequencies in that band, but I don't
think so.

It is very possible that the high police band and the weather band may have
covered frequencies from 136.0 MHz all the way to 174.0 MHz. If you're
lucky, that range would be covered in at least two bands, but I have seen
some units where one band allocation covered from 136.0 MHz to 174.0 MHz.
If the radio has no fine tuning control you will need a very steady hand on
the tuning knob to zero in on a narrow frequency slice that would be covered
by a station like a NOAA weather radio broadcast, or any of the police
frequencies that might still be in that band.

The VHF police band at the time that radio was probably new ran from about
153 MHz to 158 MHz. In some areas, especially rural areas well away from
the major metropolitan areas, there are still police departments and fire
departments using some of those frequencies.

Just about all radios I have ever seen with band designatins like you
mentioned are cheaply made and not very well designed. In addition to being
optimized from the wide bandwidth of the broadcast FM band as has been
mentioned, you'll notice that if you live in or near a large city, two,
three, or four of the strongest local FM stations will show up all over
those "police" and weather bands. YOu might even get the audio portion of
one or two of your local television stations on those bands as well, even
though they should not be heard there.

Some of those radios could surprise you, and would not embarrass themselves
at all on the AM broadcast band, 540-1600, or at night in the shortwave
frequencies between about 5.8 MHz and 10.0 MHz.

If you live within about 10 or 15 miles of an airport with a control tower,
you might hear something on the aircraft band that is actually supposed to
be there. Since 90 percent or more of the US population is supposed to be
within range of a NOAA weather radio transmitter, you should be able to hear
at least one of those stations, if a bit faintly, once you get the hang of
tuning so finely that the pointer moves along the dial scale in increments
about the space of the diameter of a hair.

If the radio was made in the 1960's, it was most likely made in Japan. If
it was made in the 1970's, it could have been made in Japan, or more likely
somewhere like Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong.

Reply to:
Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA