Why Am I Doing This?
1 - To archive bandscans of the FM dial in different places and different times, in an interactive way (as opposed to just watching somebody else tune through FM on a Tecsun via YouTube)
2 - An experiment to see if anybody else is interested, and try and get other people doing the same thing
3 - I'm insane?
A Lesson In SDR
Software Defined Radio, as a lot of you may already know, allows you to see a chunk of radio spectrum and click on signals to tune into them. It also allows you to record the chunk of spectrum to a huge .wav file called an IQ file. I sat in Hyde Park with a portable SDR set up (thin wire dipole, dongle and Win 8 tablet running SDR# which is free SDR software) and recorded about 17 gigs worth of IQ files covering 87.5 to 108MHz. The dongle is a cheap £15ish Freeview dongle, nothing special. The magic comes in the 3rd party 'Zadig' drivers which allow it to tune from 24MHz upwards. There are even DLLs and mods you can do to go lower into SW, and in some cases into MW. These things aren't perfect, they are wide open to problems from images and they have spurs which look like blank carriers and mess up your reception. They are cheap though, fairly portable, and a proper SDR will set you back £100s if not £1000s. So, can't complain really! You can get slightly better SDRs between £100 and £200 which are a bit cleaner, but you might have trouble powering them from a tablet.
It wasn't working it's best during this scan. There is one section of the band that was quite noisy and full of images. That said, I don't think it got in the way of too many stations.
The Files
I've rar'd all the .wav files to crush them down a touch and I've managed to keep all of them under a gig in size. You'll have to unrar them first. There are .txt files with descriptions of the content which are handy if you want to know what's in a file before you download it. The filenames show the time the recording started, and the center freq. of the chunk.
The files are in this folder on mega.nz as I don't know anywhere else that would allow me to store up to 50GB online for free...
https://mega.nz/#F!3UUUnSiD!WLhWZ3ff4f4Pi7Ko_zcodQ
What You Need - SDR# (SDR Sharp) / HDSDR
Install this software first, otherwise you can't play the files.
http://www.sdrsharp.com/#sdrsharp
When the .zip has downloaded, go into it and click the 'unzip' file, it should now unzip itself. Go into the unzipped folder and click the 'install' file, which will then extract the software into it's own folder. SDR# doesn't attach itself to windows through the registry or anything, it just works from the folder.
Alternatively, you can use HDSDR but it's not 100% compatible with the files. It doesn't have RDS built in, so you need to pipe the signal at 192k 24 bit to RDS Spy via VB Audio Cable Asio Bridge. This will give better RDS results than SDR# though.
http://www.hdsdr.de/
http://rdsspy.com/
http://vbaudio.jcedeveloppement.com/Download_CABLE/HiFiCableAsioBridgeSetup_v1007.zip
Link above taken from http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm
How To Play The Files
Start SDR# and select IQ File (*.wav) from the Source drop-down. It will immediately ask you to locate an IQ wav file to play.
Make sure you tick 'Correct IQ' or you will have a massive spike in the centre of the display.
Snap to 100kHz for easy tuning.
Make sure you have WFM selected.
Press play.
Move the tuner around by clicking / dragging with the mouse and adjust the filter by dragging the edges.
Showing posts with label pirate radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pirate radio. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Sunday, 17 May 2015
SDR# vs HDSDR & RDS Spy - Free FM
Here's a comparison between the capabilities of SDR# vs the HDSDR coupled with RDS Spy.
As you can see, SDR# is a little bit weaker than RDS Spy, and doesn't quite manage to decode the PS in the RDS. Other errors occur too.
This is using an IQ file recorded on my mobile SDR set-up. I was not in a good reception spot at the time, hence the lack of anything else surrounding Free FM.
CLICK HERE to download either the IQ file or a single frequency IF file to try yourself in whichever software you choose.
Software that will play the above linked file:-
SDR#
HDSDR
For RDS decoding in HDSDR...
RDS Spy
Use this to pipe the audio from HDSDR to RDS Spy...
http://vbaudio.jcedeveloppement.com/Download_CABLE/HiFiCableAsioBridgeSetup_v1007.zip
Link above taken from http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm
Remember you need to set up the virtual audio cable to send out and 'record' 192000Hz (192KHz) sample rate. HDSDR needs to be set up to send out via the virtual cable, likewise RDS Spy needs to be set up to accept input from the virtual cable.
As you can see, SDR# is a little bit weaker than RDS Spy, and doesn't quite manage to decode the PS in the RDS. Other errors occur too.
This is using an IQ file recorded on my mobile SDR set-up. I was not in a good reception spot at the time, hence the lack of anything else surrounding Free FM.
CLICK HERE to download either the IQ file or a single frequency IF file to try yourself in whichever software you choose.
Software that will play the above linked file:-
SDR#
HDSDR
For RDS decoding in HDSDR...
RDS Spy
Use this to pipe the audio from HDSDR to RDS Spy...
http://vbaudio.jcedeveloppement.com/Download_CABLE/HiFiCableAsioBridgeSetup_v1007.zip
Link above taken from http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm
Remember you need to set up the virtual audio cable to send out and 'record' 192000Hz (192KHz) sample rate. HDSDR needs to be set up to send out via the virtual cable, likewise RDS Spy needs to be set up to accept input from the virtual cable.
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Faze FM Southampton
A new pirate popped up in Southampton recently, Faze FM on 87.5. It seems to be primarily a DnB station (yay!) and has a huge reach. The furthest North I've heard it at anorak listening levels is just south of Bath on the train going down to Warminster and Salisbury. I also may have heard it even further North on the massive hill at Birdlip near Gloucester, but that was on a car radio (boosted aerials and big groundplane from the car body helps a lot pulling in signals) and I couldn't confirm this as it was just a blank carrier and at the time no RDS to decode. That said, it's also been heard the same distance away on high ground in Watford, so it's certainly possible.
This was recorded up a hill in Warminster. I tried to get better reception but ended up wandering around a lot while recording this. The best place was on a golf course where I didn't feel like hanging around looking out of place for too long. Much better reception in Salisbury a week later but no live shows... Listen for my shoutouts ;)
This was recorded up a hill in Warminster. I tried to get better reception but ended up wandering around a lot while recording this. The best place was on a golf course where I didn't feel like hanging around looking out of place for too long. Much better reception in Salisbury a week later but no live shows... Listen for my shoutouts ;)
Friday, 8 May 2015
Free FM 10/4/2015
Here is a recording of Free FM from a few weeks back. It wasn't a long broadcast that evening as the stream it was relaying started to stutter after only 20 mins and eventually they gave up to try again another day. I managed to catch the RDS too...
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Free FM still going...
Free FM is currently running relays of American pop station Star 104 for
a couple of hours most evenings, though personally I think he's chosen
better stations to relay in the past. Not bad reception considering I
was walking around and recording this on a cheap-ish mp3 player / radio.
The stereo drops out and the signal does dip a tiny bit in places. This
goes right up to the end of the broadcast which is quite abrupt.
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
More...
AcerOne has done it again - http://www.mixcrate.com/djacerone/dj-cridge-dj-bunjy-ragga-105fm-9594-9006009
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Passion - Donovan Badboy and Jakes - 1995
Many thanks to Acerone for uploading this one...
http://www.mixcrate.com/djacerone/donovan-badboy-smith-mc-jakes-02041995-8995988
http://www.mixcrate.com/djacerone/donovan-badboy-smith-mc-jakes-02041995-8995988
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
A message from Uncle Dugs.
Uncle Dugs just posted this on Facebook. I thought it was worth preserving here...
Pirate radio has been one of the must important things in my life through the last 20+ years..
As a youngster I religiously listened to stations like pulse, innocence, chillin etc then weekend rush and kool fm started to dominate my dial,, by 1992 Kool had started to take over my radio and slowly accelerated away from the others.. By the time 1993 came along Kool was the only station that I really listened to, I did listen to the odd show on other statins but from 92/93-97 Kool was the king station in my world..
I started playing on pirate radio on 7th jan '95,, the station was called conflict fm,, from this day onwards pirate radio became more important to me than ever before.. For many many years I didn't get bookings,, tbh I never really looked for them as all I wanted to do was play on the radio.. My aim and goal was to one day get a show on Kool fm,,, I didn't wanna be on radio 1 or kiss I wanted to be on Kool,, that what it meant to me,,, rather than be on the uk's biggest legal radio station I would have chosen Kool over radio 1 had both come knocking (which they didn't haha)
Anyway,, through the next 20 years of my life radio has looked after me through hard times and been there to help me celebrate the good times.. It's kept me relevant as a DJ when promoters didn't care about me and kept me motivated in times when I felt close to giving it all up..
I joined Rinse in 1999 and ended up managing the station for 6 years as well as playing on it,, these were great times,, hard work but great times.. I watched all sorts of talent break through and was in the thick of some ground breaking musical movements that helped change the countries musical trends and fashions.. I won't bore you with all the individual names of people I worked with through these times but it was some of the biggest musical talents of that generation and it was such a privilege to watch and be a small part of it all..
My time at rinse came to an end in dec 2005,, I joined Kool in jan 06 and this was really when my career as a DJ stepped up a level.. Being on Kool was a dream come true, working with my musical heroes was like being given a proper kick up the are to make something of myself as a DJ instead of just playing radio with no real sense if direction..
I played on Kool from jan 06 to the start of 2011,, these 5 years taught me so much,, these were really the times that gave me the platform to be the DJ I always wanted to be.. I met and worked with all the greats that I aspired to be like as a youngster learning my trade.. Radio did all this for me...
I left Kool in 2011 to join rinse shortly after they were granted a London license,, since then shit has gone crazy for me.. #RCFF has changed my life and rinse fm the station that has been such a big part of my life for years now has become a super power in the world of radio.. It's mad that beyond being a DJ I get asked to address audiences on the importance of pirate radio and stuff like that as well as being asked to do many things outside of just playing my music.. It's a massive honour to be regarded as an ambassador of radio alongside people like Gordon Mac etc,, it's more than I ever dreamed of,, my mind as a youngster only stretched as far as the usual DJ stuff,, parties, raves and the like,, now things are so crazy honestly,, I flipping love it and am so blessed to do what I do for a job...
I just wanna big up pirate radio and everyone involved in it through the years for helping me to achieve the goals I have and for always being a massive part if my life like I said above through good and bad times in my life.. I've congratulated new arrivals, birthdays and weddings as well as doing memorial shows and more,, it's all been a massive chunk of what's got me to where I am now and I'll never forget that....
God bless radio,, more important to the evolution of this scene than so many people will ever realise....
Sunday, 2 March 2014
More SW Recordings
Radio Carmen - Recorded on Lansdown nr. Bath, 1/3/2014
Radio Pioneer - Recorded on Lansdown nr. Bath, 1/3/2014
Yesterday's view over Bath from Lansdown, bit better than my last attempts, still not perfect....
Hanglider!
Radio Pioneer - Recorded on Lansdown nr. Bath, 1/3/2014
Yesterday's view over Bath from Lansdown, bit better than my last attempts, still not perfect....
Hanglider!
Friday, 28 February 2014
Feb 2014 Update & Shortwave Listenening
Despite there being some activity in Bristol, I can't comment on it. However, there is some outside of Bristol but still in the West I can talk about.
Rage FM tested another transmitter outside of Taunton in the last week. No idea how it went, but it was in a high location and should have covered Chard and areas close to it.
I recently got a report of a signal on 87.5MHz one Saturday afternoon near Junction 18 of the M4, where you can look across Bristol to the Black Mountains. The station was playing classic AOR music, and the listener who reported it could only listen for a few minutes.
Shortwave - So, very little to listen to in Bristol, unless you start listening to Shortwave and Medium Wave pirates. It's not easy to get any results with all the interference indoors. Still, I've recently managed to find the spot in the house that allows the best reception possible on SW for my set up - the bathroom! I don't get great results, but I can at least hear some stations even if they are not listenable for long. The main problem is fading, which on the Tecsun is made worse by it's automatic level control. If the signal drops below a certain level, the Tecsun drops the audio level sharply. You'll hear that in the recordings.
Shortwave pirates come on in droves on the weekends, and it almost spoils the experience. There are pirates from the UK, Europe and America to hear. I can't say I've heard and American one on the Tecsun as yet. The best way to listen if you don't have a SW radio is via the online Twente University SDR tuner at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/, which has reasonable reception of many pirates. None of them stick to a particular frequency much. Some come on for an hour, some come on all weekend. Most play rock / pop, some Dutch stations play the usual traditional music, there is the odd dance track in there, and there's even a station that just plays Tango music! Lately I've been regularly hearing Bogusman (or Different / Indifferent Radio) quite strong, but very fluttery which on the Tecsun is horrible to listen to, and also Radio Pink Panther weaker but for long periods.
Today I caught quite a few stations, and I thought I'd try out a new toy - a Zoom H2n recorder. It seems to do what every other recorder I try does, generates it's own signals which interfere with FM recording. If I do what I intend to do and go different places to record airchecks, that will be annoying unless I can find a way to cut the amount of interference down. It's much better with an external aerial plugged into the Tecsun, so that could be the answer. It does seem free of this problem on MW and SW though, so I managed to get some decent-ish recordings for SW pirates.
You may wonder why I bother trying - The signals are terrible, I don't like most of the music a great deal (I can listen to it, no problem, it's just not 100% my thing), and I've got to sit in the bathroom to hear any of this at all. I guess it's just that radio thing - you've got to try hard to hear anything out of the ordinary, it's not just there at your fingertips on YouTube, it's a challenge and I get a little buzz from it.
Radio Focus International seems UK based. Not a great signal here, lots of fade, but it's not bad compared to if I try and listen in another part of the house. 38 mins, two clips here....
Rage FM tested another transmitter outside of Taunton in the last week. No idea how it went, but it was in a high location and should have covered Chard and areas close to it.
I recently got a report of a signal on 87.5MHz one Saturday afternoon near Junction 18 of the M4, where you can look across Bristol to the Black Mountains. The station was playing classic AOR music, and the listener who reported it could only listen for a few minutes.
Shortwave - So, very little to listen to in Bristol, unless you start listening to Shortwave and Medium Wave pirates. It's not easy to get any results with all the interference indoors. Still, I've recently managed to find the spot in the house that allows the best reception possible on SW for my set up - the bathroom! I don't get great results, but I can at least hear some stations even if they are not listenable for long. The main problem is fading, which on the Tecsun is made worse by it's automatic level control. If the signal drops below a certain level, the Tecsun drops the audio level sharply. You'll hear that in the recordings.
Shortwave pirates come on in droves on the weekends, and it almost spoils the experience. There are pirates from the UK, Europe and America to hear. I can't say I've heard and American one on the Tecsun as yet. The best way to listen if you don't have a SW radio is via the online Twente University SDR tuner at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/, which has reasonable reception of many pirates. None of them stick to a particular frequency much. Some come on for an hour, some come on all weekend. Most play rock / pop, some Dutch stations play the usual traditional music, there is the odd dance track in there, and there's even a station that just plays Tango music! Lately I've been regularly hearing Bogusman (or Different / Indifferent Radio) quite strong, but very fluttery which on the Tecsun is horrible to listen to, and also Radio Pink Panther weaker but for long periods.
Today I caught quite a few stations, and I thought I'd try out a new toy - a Zoom H2n recorder. It seems to do what every other recorder I try does, generates it's own signals which interfere with FM recording. If I do what I intend to do and go different places to record airchecks, that will be annoying unless I can find a way to cut the amount of interference down. It's much better with an external aerial plugged into the Tecsun, so that could be the answer. It does seem free of this problem on MW and SW though, so I managed to get some decent-ish recordings for SW pirates.
You may wonder why I bother trying - The signals are terrible, I don't like most of the music a great deal (I can listen to it, no problem, it's just not 100% my thing), and I've got to sit in the bathroom to hear any of this at all. I guess it's just that radio thing - you've got to try hard to hear anything out of the ordinary, it's not just there at your fingertips on YouTube, it's a challenge and I get a little buzz from it.
Radio Focus International seems UK based. Not a great signal here, lots of fade, but it's not bad compared to if I try and listen in another part of the house. 38 mins, two clips here....
Here's probably the best SW pirate signal I've ever had on the Tecsun. Radio Bluwe Reiger. They only played a few tracks after I started recording, and then switched off. The station was ID'd by Irish Paul's radioblog
Sunday, 22 December 2013
Merry Christmas :)
OK. It's been a long time since I wrote anything here. Work has kept me very busy this year and I generally don't feel like writing a blog when I get home from work or any other time I'm free. Here goes though...
1 - FEM FM - Fem FM's archives will be available from Bristol Records Office soon as mp3s. I'm not sure how you will be able to access them, but they should be the whole weeks programmes!
2 - There's a small station on in the city ;) I can't really hear it here, the signal is so tiny, but it should be a bit better in some areas.
3 - There is also a an RSL from Wales on 87.7 over Christmas, which is just audiable here. There was a fesitval RSL on earlier in the year with a similar signal level.
1 - FEM FM - Fem FM's archives will be available from Bristol Records Office soon as mp3s. I'm not sure how you will be able to access them, but they should be the whole weeks programmes!
2 - There's a small station on in the city ;) I can't really hear it here, the signal is so tiny, but it should be a bit better in some areas.
3 - There is also a an RSL from Wales on 87.7 over Christmas, which is just audiable here. There was a fesitval RSL on earlier in the year with a similar signal level.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Masters of the Airwaves Book
I'll let the video do the talking...
Masters of the Air Waves: The Rise & Rise of Underground Radio from Masters of the Air Waves on Vimeo.
Here's an interview with Dave VJ and Lindsay Wesker...
Buy the book - http://everygeneration.co.uk/index.php/shop-home/masters-of-the-airwaves
NOTE : Don't buy the book from Dave VJ's Grown and Sexy site, as it's not the proper shop, use the link above. Not that you won't get the book - it's Dave's book after all, but it involves some extra effort to get it to your door or pick it up ;)
Many thanks to Dave VJ, and here's to the next version which may include some Bristol contributions.
Masters of the Air Waves: The Rise & Rise of Underground Radio from Masters of the Air Waves on Vimeo.
Here's an interview with Dave VJ and Lindsay Wesker...
Buy the book - http://everygeneration.co.uk/index.php/shop-home/masters-of-the-airwaves
NOTE : Don't buy the book from Dave VJ's Grown and Sexy site, as it's not the proper shop, use the link above. Not that you won't get the book - it's Dave's book after all, but it involves some extra effort to get it to your door or pick it up ;)
Many thanks to Dave VJ, and here's to the next version which may include some Bristol contributions.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Ofcom give up the info...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/147057/response/363257/attach/2/1%20225995145.pdf
Information extracted from Ofcom about pirate activity from 2007 up to Jan 2013. Interesting to note that they've missed some stuff :D
Information extracted from Ofcom about pirate activity from 2007 up to Jan 2013. Interesting to note that they've missed some stuff :D
Friday, 29 March 2013
Free FM - 105.8 - Caroline 319 Gold (Dutch) Relay
Free FM has ceased to relay Laser Hot Hits recently, and is now relaying Caroline 319 Gold instead :)
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Dutch Pirates
As there is nothing to listen to close enough to hear on FM in Bristol, I've been turning to Short Wave and Medium Wave for the thrills. The pirates of Europe can be heard above 1602 AM (get a radio that allows you to change to the US MW band that runs all the way to 1710 AM and tune in 1kHz steps) and in various spots on SW. Of course, UK SW pirate Lazer Hot Hits is on SW too, on 4026kHz. Their signal isn't that strong in Bristol, but with a half decent aerial attached to the Tecsun I can hear them well enough to listen most of the time, when the dreaded interference isn't around.
That is exactly how I came across the Dutch tuner 'Ulft FM' on Global Tuners. I was actually looking to hear some MW action from closer to the source, but instead found that this tuner had FM presets for a number of Dutch FM pirates.
http://www.globaltuners.com/receiver/704/classic - You need an account!
Somebody on Radio Necks also posted this link - http://geheimezender.com/streams.php - which has a variety of streams of these pirates.
Anyway, here is a recording of one I made from the Ulft tuner....
That is exactly how I came across the Dutch tuner 'Ulft FM' on Global Tuners. I was actually looking to hear some MW action from closer to the source, but instead found that this tuner had FM presets for a number of Dutch FM pirates.
http://www.globaltuners.com/receiver/704/classic - You need an account!
Somebody on Radio Necks also posted this link - http://geheimezender.com/streams.php - which has a variety of streams of these pirates.
Anyway, here is a recording of one I made from the Ulft tuner....
Dutch Pirate - 96.7FM via Global Tuners, Reciever in Ulft, Gelderland - 18th March 2013 by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud
As you can hear, they like their traditional music in the Netherlands, and their Beer. Here is another less hectic clip from another one....
Dutch Pirate on 99.5FM via Global Tuners - "Ulft FM" Tuner - 19th March 2013 by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Shockwave Yeovil - 105.5 - 1994 - Anthill Housing Authority : Anthill Kev and Mark P.
Another gem from Yeovil's Shockwave Radio from the early 90s, 1994 I'm guessing. One of these guys is now a very well known and prolific producer of different electronic styles ;) I've gone quite deep on the restoration of this one, as it needed a little speeding up, but you still have most of the slightly fuzzy reception.
Sounds like somebody had the same intermittent interference that I had in the early 90s too, I think it was caused by a slightly faulty boiler in our house and it produced a horrible random fuzz on the radio, and a speckled picture on the TV.
This will appear on the Pirate Archive for download in the near future.
Sounds like somebody had the same intermittent interference that I had in the early 90s too, I think it was caused by a slightly faulty boiler in our house and it produced a horrible random fuzz on the radio, and a speckled picture on the TV.
This will appear on the Pirate Archive for download in the near future.
Sunday, 9 September 2012
NTR 105MHz
NTR are running a test transmission on 105MHz as I write, I'll have a recording up soon-ish. A bit overmodulated, but good tunes and their Twitter account is being mentioned - https://twitter.com/ntr105fm
EDIT : Recording
EDIT : Recording
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Ashdown FM 87.6 Taunton
No ideas what this is, possibly just somebody relaying a net stream. I haven't heard it but there are threads around...
http://www.radionecks.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1121
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?s=57d4d552ad15821946a598487302788c&p=59562735#post59562735
http://www.radionecks.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1121
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?s=57d4d552ad15821946a598487302788c&p=59562735#post59562735
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Shockwave Radio 105.5FM Yeovil - 1990s
In the 90s, Yeovil had it's own pirate radio station known as Shockwave Radio 105.5FM. So far, I've only uncovered this one recording, and it's not representative of the stations entire output, but it's well worth a listen.
http://www.piratearchive.co.uk/bristol/misc/ShockwaveRadio-105.5-Yeovil-Chaos&JuliaSet-1994.mp3
This is Chaos and Julia Set, who had the only Jungle show on the station. They were Dom Fripp and Mark Pritchard who had already had success with a number of releases on Recoil Records, most famously 'Atmosphere', and Mark had chart success with a rave version of the Roobarb and Custard theme. Mark went on to form Global Communication with Tom Middleton and Dom went on to manage Good Looking Records for LTJ Bukem.
http://www.piratearchive.co.uk/bristol/misc/ShockwaveRadio-105.5-Yeovil-Chaos&JuliaSet-1994.mp3
This is Chaos and Julia Set, who had the only Jungle show on the station. They were Dom Fripp and Mark Pritchard who had already had success with a number of releases on Recoil Records, most famously 'Atmosphere', and Mark had chart success with a rave version of the Roobarb and Custard theme. Mark went on to form Global Communication with Tom Middleton and Dom went on to manage Good Looking Records for LTJ Bukem.
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