Free FM has ceased to relay Laser Hot Hits recently, and is now relaying Caroline 319 Gold instead :)
Friday, 29 March 2013
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.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
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.
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
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