I've recently run across an old 70's multiband radio. It has five
bands on it. Air/Police High/Weather, FM, Police Low, SW1/SW2, and AM.
I can pick up shortwave 1 and 2 very well as well as FM and AM. The
problem is, I can hear FM stations on Police Low, but the biggest
problem is that I can't hear a thing on the Air/Police High/Weather
band. Are these bands dead or is something wrong with my radio?

Thanks for reading. :-)

In article ,
(Tom) writes:


I've recently run across an old 70's multiband radio. It has five
bands on it. Air/Police High/Weather, FM, Police Low, SW1/SW2, and AM.
I can pick up shortwave 1 and 2 very well as well as FM and AM. The
problem is, I can hear FM stations on Police Low, but the biggest
problem is that I can't hear a thing on the Air/Police High/Weather
band. Are these bands dead or is something wrong with my radio?

Thanks for reading. :-)


- Hard to tel what the problem is;
What Make & Model is the radio ?
Maybe someone has a manual that might help you understand the beast

I'm sorry about not giving you the model number. I believe it's AEL 1235 or
1255. I can't make out the name of the company who made it but it does say
Worldmaster on the front of it and the place where the logo is, is on the lower
left side. It has the bandswitch on the right side and you turn it.

I'd like to know if something is wrong with the radio or if it's just that the
Air/Police High/Weather band is dead. I thought at least I should get the
weather, but I don't get anything when it's tuned to 162.5 which is where it
says the weather is located. I've cleaned the bandswitch and checked the wires
inside to make sure one didn't come loose, is appears to be fine.

Please let me know what you come up with and thanks. :-D

Josey221 wrote:
I'd like to know if something is wrong with the radio or if it's just that the
Air/Police High/Weather band is dead. I thought at least I should get the
weather, but I don't get anything when it's tuned to 162.5 which is where it
says the weather is located. I've cleaned the bandswitch and checked the wires
inside to make sure one didn't come loose, is appears to be fine.

Hmmm. If you're anywhere near a city of any size, you shouldn't have
any trouble hearing the 162.5 weather. The weather transmitters are
(usually) running 1,000 watts which is a LOT of power for that
frequency. Have you tried tuning around a bit? There are seven weather
channels, maybe you just didn't stumble across the right one?

If that doesn't work... dunno. First thing I'd think is a dirty
bandswitch but you're saying you've already checked that...
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

I used some contact cleaner that I have to clean the bandswitch, but still
nothing. I do get FM stations on the Police Low band, but nothing at all on the
Air/Police High/Weather band. Is there anything else to check inside the radio
that could be causing it not to work?

Is there anything else at all that I could check, or is that band just dead?
Thanks again. :-D

I'd like to know if something is wrong with the radio or if it's just that
the
Air/Police High/Weather band is dead. I thought at least I should get the
weather, but I don't get anything when it's tuned to 162.5 which is where it
says the weather is located

#1 I'd get some contact cleaner from Radio Shack and spray the crap out of it.
#2 'Maybe' that isn't the correct freq that the weather is on in your area. You
should check.
** I really like mine, it sits right here in my shack and I've cleaned it real
good (all the contacts and switches) -it's got a great fine tune on it that I
'marked' on the dial.

Mine is a Rhapsody Multi-Band (originally my Mom's:-) ) BIG speaker and BIG
telescoping antenna. Mine goes from 4 to 12 on SW and has a cassette player
built in. Has the built in rotating loop on the top.


~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/*SUPER*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

I've got another update. Now I can't even get AM. I used to get AM, but now I
hear the same static noise that I hear on the Air/Police High/Weather band.
There is also another problem with the radio. It works fine on AC, but when you
try to power it on DC, it's a no go. It takes 4 D batteries. I've cleaned the
contacts, checked the wiring, and still nothing.

This may sound like a lot of trouble for a cheapo radio, but I'd like to learn
about how these work. I've always been curious about that part of it. Also,
once you've unsoldered one end of the capacitor, can you test it with a
multimeter, and if so, on what setting. I have an analog Craftsman multimeter.

Thanks again. :-D

"Josey221" wrote in message
...
I've got another update. Now I can't even get AM. I used to get AM, but
now I
hear the same static noise that I hear on the Air/Police High/Weather
band.
There is also another problem with the radio. It works fine on AC, but
when you
try to power it on DC, it's a no go. It takes 4 D batteries. I've cleaned
the
contacts, checked the wiring, and still nothing.

The first thing I'd look for is poor solder connections or a cracked printed
circuit board. Take the radio's back off and gently press on the board on
different places. You can also use the eraser end of a pencil to poke and
tap around. You might get lucky and find that pressing a small area will
make the radio cut in and out. Just re-solder all the connections in that
area. Be careful not to make solder bridges. Otherwise, you might try
re-soldering any joints which don't look perfect, particularly the solder
joints around the bandswitch{es}. Look around for cracks in the board. If
the board is cracked, you need to scrape off the solder mask {that's the
paint on the backside of the board} and bridge the crack with a bit of
solder. If you're fussy, you can solder a short length of wire across a
crack.

If you have any junk boards around, say from a computer or something, you
can practice your soldering on those.

Be careful pulling the circuit board. You'll probably need to remove some
knobs. The knobs are probably glued in. The glue is usually fairly soft,
but it still has quite a grip. Be patient, and try to work them off slowly.
The wires which attach to the board are usually thin and fragile. Make a
diagram to show which wire hooks up where. You may need to unsolder some
wires to get the board out enough to get to the backside.

Be sure your screwdrivers fit the screws. They may be in tight. You might
need to take your radio to the hardware store and check out a couple of
different phillips head screwdrivers. Or they might be Reed & Prince or
Posidriv. They all look pretty much the same, but only one gives a tight
fit.

The dead bands may be working, but may be way out of alignment. This often
happens when "troubleshooters" start turning adjustment screws or squeezing
or ezpanding coils. There may still be some sensitivity at some unknown
frequency. Try tapping on the antenna rod with a piece of wire or a
screwdriver. This should produce some clicking noises from the speaker.
Check it on a working FM-VHF band so you know what to listen for.



This may sound like a lot of trouble for a cheapo radio, but I'd like to
learn
about how these work. I've always been curious about that part of it.
Also,
once you've unsoldered one end of the capacitor, can you test it with a
multimeter, and if so, on what setting. I have an analog Craftsman
multimeter.

Thanks again. :-D

You can test for dead shorted, or almost dead shorted caps with a
multimeter. These caps will show a short or a resistance on the "ohms'
range. A problem limited to some of the bands could be one of the trimmer
caps related to the dead bands, but these are usually reliable. Water can
damage them, so look for water stains.

Most of the radio's capacitors, and all of the electrolytics, are part of
the radio's power supply and the audio amplifier. These should be OK,
because these are used on all the bands.

I'm assuming this radio has a PC board and I don't know how to unsolder one
end of most capacitors on a PC board and check it. Axial lead capacitors
usually need to be removed to be thouroughly checked. A capacitor with a
gross short will read 0 ohms in circuit.

I suggest you check for poor solder connections and cracks first.

Frank Dresser

(Tom) wrote in message . com...
I've recently run across an old 70's multiband radio. It has five
bands on it. Air/Police High/Weather, FM, Police Low, SW1/SW2, and AM.
I can pick up shortwave 1 and 2 very well as well as FM and AM. The
problem is, I can hear FM stations on Police Low, but the biggest
problem is that I can't hear a thing on the Air/Police High/Weather
band. Are these bands dead or is something wrong with my radio?

I believe most police radio service moved out of the range used by
aircraft quite a while ago. Many have now moved to 800MHz trunked
systems that are very difficult to follow without a specialized radio.
I believe aircraft are still in the same frequency range, though
transmissions will be difficult to catch unless you live near an
airport. If you can find a frequency list for a nearby airport, try
listening to the approach and departure frequencies for a while.
You're unlikely to hear the ground transmission unless you're very
close, but the transmission from the aircraft should be picked up over
a fairly wide area.

I'm not sure if the weather transmissions are still in the same range
as in the 70's. It could also be that you don't live near one of the
weather stations.

-- Jay

First question: Can you hear noise, or is it just 'dead'??

Next, tune around 156mhz where some of the high power pagers are,also in the
145-148mhz ham band, you should hear something there in the evenings.

Perhaps, some of the capacitors have dried out over time, leaving the
sensitivity something to be desired.

jw
K9RZZ