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.

SDR# and R820T Dongle Bandscan

I've been getting used to using SDR# (aka SDRSharp) recently, having purchased a cheap DVB TV dongle called an R820T. These, and some other dongles are usable as Software Defined Radio receivers. You need to add an upconverter for freqs lower than 24MHz, which means LW, MW, SW need that extra piece of equipment.

Information - http://www.rtlsdr.org/

This bandscan demonstrates the capability on FM...

Last of the Summer Wine

I have spent some time up hills in a bath... sorry, in Bath.

Back in May I recorded some weak signals in Alexandra Park, South of the centre on top of Beechen Cliff...

106.1 is Badminton Radio, the RSL for the Badminton horse trials 2013
105.52 is Swindon 105.5, Swindon's community station, battling a bit with Real Radio on 105.4 from Wales. There was a local artist being interviewed before I recorded this, talking about getting one-rings on the mobile phone during pirate radio shows :D

Then, yesterday I decided to go up on the hill at Lansdown just North of Bath (the P&R bus goes up there and conveniently parks up near some playing fields).  I have just about received UKs Finest / Sub Zero FM on 87.5 up there before, but today wasn't a good day for getting accurate normal signal levels. Atmospherics were causing a lot of different things to come in.

This was really uncomfortable to record, as a result it's a bit cak. Look out for the green thing that decided to walk across the top of the Tecsun!

Radio Ramadan from Bristol appears to be fading in and out with the atmos on 87.9. There is also a similar station on 87.8 but whether that is a Ramadan RSL or something coming in on atmos I don't know for sure, but I'd assume it was Radio Ramadan 87.8 FM - Walsall!

There is also something on 90.95 (I tune to 91.0 in the vid) which also doesn't look like an RSL to me.

There's something playing what sounds like a mix of Spanish and Arabic music in there too (accompanied by the green thing), and a bit of French.  There were so many signals in and out between 87.5 and 87.9 including French and some pop stations, no idea what they could be.

Isle of Wight Radio on 107 is normal on Lansdown in my experience.

When I wasn't recording or sat on the floor, Ujima and BCFM came in much better, Ujima reaching 19dB.

On 97, but not in the vid, was Fantasy Radio from Devises.

Free FM doesn't broadcast at the time of day I recorded this, so 105.8 has Wave 105 coming in on atmos. It also appears on 105.2.

You might just hear Heart on 100.7, next to Classic on 100.8.

Radio Solent is the BBC station on 96.1.

The rest I just didn't have time to ID. I'd love to spend a day up there in a tent with the laptop running SDR# to get a really decent scan, but that's a bit mad :D

Below, the view from the hill...

Above... Moooo!

Bandscan Update - 21st April 2013

An update for the Bandscan posted recently. This time I used a different aerial and blue-tacked it to a window. BCFM and Ujima both in Stereo, which is hard to get with an indoor aerial. Some stations disappear, but others are stronger and new stations appear to.

To get a really good scan, I will have to eliminate the house from the equation, as I know the walls and ceilings are blocking some stuff out.


93.2 BCFM Stereo
98 Ujima Stereo
100.7 Heart (weak - I used to get this much stronger years ago)
102.3 Real Radio
103.4 BBC Radio Devon
105.2 Something playing Will Smith, very weak but just about audible
106.3 Bridge FM (I think)

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.

Bandscan - April 2013

I thought I'd do a bandscan for North Bristol. Different corners of the city get slightly different results.

This is as thorough as I could make it. Unfortunately, 103.4 BBC Devon didn't want to make an appearance whilst I was recording, although it had done in my trial run 30 mins before. This was done with a slightly longer whip on the Tecsun (I had to replace the whip anyway as the screw fixing fell apart - a common problem with them).

The camera work is pants BTW.

The whole list...

Freq		Station
88.1		R2
88.3		R2
88.6		R2
89.0		R2
89.3		R2
89.9		R2
90.3		R3
90.5		R3
90.8		R3
91.2		R3
91.5		R3
92.1		R3
92.5		R4
92.7		R4
92.9		R4
93.0		R4
93.2		BCFM
93.4		R4
93.7		R4
94.3		R4
94.7		BBC Radio H & W
94.9		BBC Radio Bristol
95.5		BBC Radio Glos.
95.9		BBC Radio Wales
96.3		Heart
96.8		BBC Radio Cymru
97.2		Kiss
97.4		Capital
97.6		Free Radio
97.7		R1
98.0		Ujima
98.2		R1
98.6		R1
98.9		R1
99.5		R1
100.0		Classic
100.2		Classic
100.4		Classic
100.8		Classic
101.0		Kiss
101.4		Classic
101.7		Classic
102.2		Heart
102.4		Heart
102.6		Heart
103.0		Heart
103.2		Heart
103.4		BBC Radio Devon
103.6		BBC Radio Bristol
103.9		BBC Radio Wales
104.3		BBC Radio Wilts
104.6		BBC Radio Bristol
104.7		BBC Radio Glos.
104.8		R4
105.4		Real Radio Wales
105.6		Breeze
105.9		Real Radio Wales
106.2		Sunshine
106.5		Jack
106.8		Nation
107.2		Breeze
107.5		Breeze
107.7		Breeze
107.9		Breeze

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

Free FM - 105.8 - Caroline 319 Gold (Dutch) Relay

Free FM 105.8 - Caroline 319 Gold (Dutch) Relay - 27-03-2013 by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud

Free FM has ceased to relay Laser Hot Hits recently, and is now relaying Caroline 319 Gold instead :)

Tecsun PL-310 and PL-380 dB Meter Comparrison

I use Tecsun radios for portable station finding and listening.

Ujima 98FM is a community station in central Bristol, and just North of Bristol it comes in the weaker of the two community stations currently on air. I used it for this test as it is a good example of a weak but audible station.

First, the PL-310 without being affected by inductance from my hands / body was reading around 4dB on the level and 0 on the S/N meter.

Second, the PL-380 without being affected by inductance from my hands / body was reading around 18dB on the level and 0 on the S/N meter.

With inductance (holding the radio, or trying to record holding the camera close) I can increase these to 6dB level and 1 on the S/N for the 310, and 20 or 21dB and 1 S/N for the 380.

There are major differences in the readings for some reason, yet the reception (though you can't hear it in the video so much as on the 380 I had to hold the camera away and zoom in) sounded roughly the same.

When I get my 2nd 310 in a few weeks, we'll see if there is a difference even on the same model.

Apologies

Perhaps I've not always been as careful as I should with some of the information I give out. Some broadcasters are OK with this, some are not. To those who are not, I apologise and I will endeavour to keep information to a minimum in future.

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....

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

 

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.

Shockwave Radio 105.5FM Yeovil - Anthill Housing Authority - Anthill Kev and Mark P. by Bristolpirates on Mixcloud