BANDSCAN THREAD

Brian CivilEng

Looks like Camlough, did a quick scan of it's frequencies and picked up Radio Ulster on 93.1. Radio 2 listenable on 88.7 also. Radio 4 is there on 104.6 but being drowned out by FM104.

kazoo106

Remember the Sh*T€ Camlough caused when it first came on in 1993 on 88.6, 90.8, 93.0 and 98.2
The complaints from DOB must have been savage for the BBC to move several weeks later up 0.1

marno21

88.7/90.9/93.1/98.3 in Dublin is more likely to be Camlough than Blaenplwyf.

While Blaenplwyf near Aberystwyth in West Wales is 250kW, it's highly directional to the NNE and SSW. ERP to the west at Ireland is quite low, but it's still one of the first to appear under enhanced conditions in Cork (along with Haverfordwest and North Hessary Tor).

kazoo106

I dont think Radio Ulster transmit from Blaenplwyf - Camlough is a mini Clermont Carn and about 5km further out from Dublin

Infoanon

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Probably Cardigan Bay, in West Wales. There's a good 25 kw from there. Camlough in Newry is nearer but there's a few hills in the way, it's a lower power output and it's not beamed south.

Camlough isn't directional from the radiation patterns I have seen - it's fairly low power at a few kws - I can't remember the exact power ,as Kazoo106 has mentioned it's a mini Claremont Cairn and radiates similarly.

Divis was clear on 90.1 until Spirit were allocated the frequency - up to the M50 Toll booth you can receive all the BBCs including Radio 1 on 98.3 !

Antenna

One More Toy wrote: »

Any SW pirates on the go these days? Used to be a big fan of laser hot hits in the 6khz region in my teens. Must dig out my SW radio next time I'm home!

keep an eye on:

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,12.0.html
(HFU HF Underground »Loggings »European Pirate)

though propagation conditions around 5 -6 -7MHz shortwave appear to have been poor recently.

These stations are mostly likely to be on air on weekends/Sundays (try during the daytime)

One More Toy

Antenna wrote: »

keep an eye on:

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,12.0.html
(HFU HF Underground »Loggings »European Pirate)

though propagation conditions around 5 -6 -7MHz shortwave appear to have been poor recently.

These stations are mostly likely to be on air on weekends/Sundays (try during the daytime)

I'll have to dig out my Roberts radio with an antenna extension so!

kazoo106

Downtown on 103.1 and the DAB are fairly directional from Camlough though - no logic to that either IMHO.
Arrow on the left is Camlough - Arrow on the right is Clermont Carn (Google streetview image from Dundalk)

hawthorne

One More Toy wrote: »

Any SW pirates on the go these days? Used to be a big fan of laser hot hits in the 6khz region in my teens. Must dig out my SW radio next time I'm home!

This guy delivers a daily log- well worth watching:


http://irishpaulsradioblog.blogspot.com/

Infoanon

kazoo106 wrote: »

Downtown on 103.1 and the DAB are fairly directional from Camlough though - no logic to that either IMHO.
Arrow on the left is Camlough - Arrow on the right is Clermont Carn (Google streetview image from Dundalk)

The Downtown service is carried on two directional antennas lower down the mast.
The BBC services on are a different antenna system higher up the mast.

Newstalk have a relay on 103.1 nearby iirc

Dipole Keith

Dublin bandscan from Killakee viewpoint car park Dublin mountains

87.6 Chill FM
91.0 Hot FM
93.2 Extreme FM (Not getting RDS)
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.2 RetroNow
105.7 Coast FM
107.1 Club FM

JDxtra

Thanks Keith. Good to hear Chill back, although signal does seem weaker than before.

Hot FM signal seems be getting quite poor, I was near Dublin City earlier and I couldn't get a signal reading from it at all (I was using an SDR). Extreme FM signal was pretty good, but they must have some issues today as the RDS (and stereo) was not working correctly, it came up in the car if I left it on for a while.

Infoanon

To add:
94.3 All 80s relay - a lot weaker than previous though.

Extreme appears to be off at the moment - a weak r na g on 93.2 and a strong BBC Ulster on 93.1

kazoo106

Infoanon wrote: »

The Downtown service is carried on two directional antennas lower down the mast.
The BBC services on are a different antenna system higher up the mast.

Newstalk have a relay on 103.1 nearby iirc

Just some un-needed QRM from Balbriggan - Newstalk are 103.3 from Threemilehouse Monaghan - Downtown may even be on a different mast to Q and the BBC's

Infoanon

kazoo106 wrote: »

Just some un-needed QRM from Balbriggan - Newstalk are 103.3 from Threemilehouse Monaghan - Downtown may even be on a different mast to Q and the BBC's

Downtown is on the same mast but on a different antenna array - Balbriggan.....almost as ridiculous as Today FM'S 97.3 in Dublin , required due to a null in Stepaside.......discovered after 20 years. ....

Infoanon

Coast 105.7 - what kind of music are they playing ?

Mr. MooYagi

Any Sunday bandscanners about? Thanks

Dipole Keith

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Any Sunday bandscanners about? Thanks

Dublin

87.6 Chill FM
91.0 Hot FM
92.0 Retro Radio
93.2 Extreme FM
94.3 All 80s Relay
103.0 Energy
105.2 RetroNow
105.7 Coast FM
107.1 Club FM

Infoanon

Dipole Keith wrote: »

Dublin

87.6 Chill FM
91.0 Hot FM
92.0 Retro Radio
93.2 Extreme FM
94.3 All 80s Relay
103.0 Energy
105.2 RetroNow
105.7 Coast FM
107.1 Club FM

99.5 Energy AM relay
Coast appears to be Star / The Beach / The Vault based on signal strength

Dipole Keith

Infoanon wrote: »

99.5 Energy AM relay
Coast appears to be Star / The Beach / The Vault based on signal strength

Coast is out Liffey valley/Lucan direction, Very local only travels 5 minutes in the car, I’d imagine it’s the same operators that relayed ‘No 1’ the Turkish station for many years, while up the mountains yesterday at Killakee I was receiving Coast rather than Star 1057. It was DISCO a few weeks back.

Dipole Keith

Infoanon wrote: »

Coast 105.7 - what kind of music are they playing ?

Oldies 60s/70s & 80s

Infoanon

Dipole Keith wrote: »

Oldies 60s/70s & 80s

That makes sense - it's a relay of the Internet station Coast - I am receiving Dance music on 105.7 - signal too weak to confirm RDS .

Mr. MooYagi

Infoanon wrote: »

That makes sense - it's a relay of the Internet station Coast - I am receiving Dance music on 105.7 - signal too weak to confirm RDS .

Getting The Beach here in clontarf on 105.7. Chill dance kind of stuff. Good signal. Was up Howth earlier also strong there and in the jammer on coast road back home. Got a carrier earlier on 88.1 but only for short while

Infoanon

96FM ABC 80s relay

105.7 to confirm The Beach

94.3 - Radio Scotland (BBC ) relay of All 80s off air

Declan A Walsh

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Getting The Beach here in clontarf on 105.7. Chill dance kind of stuff. Good signal. Was up Howth earlier also strong there and in the jammer on coast road back home. Got a carrier earlier on 88.1 but only for short while

Infoanon wrote: »

96FM ABC 80s relay

105.7 to confirm The Beach

94.3 - Radio Scotland (BBC ) relay of All 80s off air

They must have reverted back some time today to being The Beach on 105.7 around Dublin Bay area and some of the southside, particularly south-east. They were Star1057 up to yesterday. Do they ever cause interference to the low power station (currently called Coast FM) around Liffey Valley on the same frequency?

Re 94.3, are you saying it's actually Radio Scotland (BBC) that is relaying All 80s? I could barely pick it up yesterday.

Re 96.0, I assume that's the station which used to call itself Inner City Country, and which I learnt last week comes from the north inner city area of Dublin!

Any idea who has the carrier on 88.1?

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

They were Star1057 up to yesterday. Do they ever cause interference to the low power station (currently called Coast FM) around Liffey Valley on the same frequency?

Re 94.3, are you saying it's actually Radio Scotland (BBC) that is relaying All 80s? I could barely pick it up yesterday.

The Beach is not receivable out that direction, the relay of All 80s was weak on Saturday and off air on Sunday.

This allowed reception of BBC Radio Scotland (BBC Cyrmu aka Wales on 94.2)

Mr. MooYagi

Was listening to Club FM 107.1 earlier. Was getting random breakthrough of something but couldn’t identify what it was. Audio was not as good as previous occasions

Declan A Walsh

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

They must have reverted back some time today to being The Beach on 105.7 around Dublin Bay area and some of the southside, particularly south-east. They were Star1057 up to yesterday. Do they ever cause interference to the low power station (currently called Coast FM) around Liffey Valley on the same frequency?

...................................................

Infoanon wrote: »

The Beach is not receivable out that direction. ..................................................................

This goes back my theory of there being three main types of pirates around Dublin in relation to signal reach.

1. The all-over Dublin, or as much as they can be (!), stations like Club FM and Retro FM.
2. The ones that can be picked up in a relatively large region but nowhere close to all over. The Beach/Star 1057 is an example of this. It has a good reach around the south-east of Dublin and areas near Dublin Bay. It does not reach west or south-west Dublin and probably not much of the city centre.
3. The low-powered stations that only cover a small area of Dublin. The station that was relaying Coast FM on 105.7 is an obvious example. It's main reception area is the Liffey Valley area.

There are some that seem to hover between (2) and (3). I'm thinking of that north inner city based station on 96.0.

JDxtra

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Was listening to Club FM 107.1 earlier. Was getting random breakthrough of something but couldn’t identify what it was. Audio was not as good as previous occasions

Newstalk on 107.2 maybe? Once you get out past Lucan heading west Newstalk can be heard nipping away at whatever does be on 107.1. I remember hearing it when Tonik radio was on air some years ago.

Antenna

No sign of Spirit on 549kHz AM, though I presume just a temp outage or maintenance,