BANDSCAN THREAD

dxireland

I don't think any temporary stations will be broadcasting into County Kildare and there has been no no stations granted any temporary licence to use 99.5 at the moment as I can see online
I'm sure the guys would switch off if they know there's a temporary licence going to come on come on don't be so silly

Losty Dublin

dxireland wrote: »

Jumping around the band won't get you raided
Actually works out better because very hard to track you down and jumping mountain sites

This is not always the case and can't be taken to be a protection against being raided; indeed raids can be carried out without transmission provided that it can be shown that one was being made. Broadcasting shorter or irregular hours or on weekends certainly means that a station will generally be far less likely to come to Comreg attention. However it's important to be aware that they don't quite log off all weekend and that they are still aware of what comes on and off the spectrum and, crucially, what stations do when on air.

The stations that are less likely to be raided generally have a better transmission output. Lower transmitter/rf power outputs, good aerial set ups, better quality studio and playback equipment, audio settings, programming output; get one or more of these wrong gets you noticed and suddenly you are asking for trouble. Selection of your frequency is critical as well; make a bad choice and external operators will swiftly make the decision for Comreg.

In essence, the unwritten rule was always to behave with the above in mind and even in the 80's and 90's when there was a lot more free radio operators out there. And to be fair, nearly everyone practices the unwritten rules and this is why raids are a lot less common than what they could be

Insidethetent

Older pirates will remember there was a somewhat gentlemanly approach (even in Niall McC's time) from the department/regulator with phone calls, site visits, stern chats etc. But even then many a Broadcast Warehouse or CTE rig was trucked away from sites.


The recent instances of thuggish behaviour from the raiding parties (antennae destroyed, cables cut up, masts dismantled, officials laughing into cameras, taking pleasure in their destruction etc) is a worrying trend.


The letters are still going to landowners as they always have but there seems to be a macho approach to actual raids, this maybe down to outsourcing, it's hard to know.


Obviously if you have criminal form in radio and/or stick 2 fingers up to existing local stations (operating 24x7 and taking advertising for example) the outlook is a bit bleak.

KildareP

Beat on 102.0 is sounding very dodgy for the last few weeks like they are feeding the TX via a low bitrate MP3 stream.

There's a "TEST" on 99.5 playing what sounded like Club FM jingles and dance music. Quite strong between Leixlip and Maynooth.

Declan A Walsh

KildareP wrote: »

Beat on 102.0 is sounding very dodgy for the last few weeks like they are feeding the TX via a low bitrate MP3 stream.

There's a "TEST" on 99.5 playing what sounded like Club FM jingles and dance music. Quite strong between Leixlip and Maynooth.

So could it actually be Club FM after all this talk from others about Galaxy on 99.5 FM?

KildareP

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

So could it actually be Club FM after all this talk from others about Galaxy on 99.5 FM?

Not sure whether it's actually Club FM behind it or whether it's just someone relaying their stream (with or without their knowledge). Forgot to check this morning if it's still on 99.5 or what's being broadcast.

JDxtra

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

So could it actually be Club FM after all this talk from others about Galaxy on 99.5 FM?

No. It's a relay of "Kick FM", a German based station. If you listen at top of the hour you may hear the local news. There are some jingles that just sound similar to the ones Club also have in their imaging.

Sunset11

Coming back this morning
From Mullingar N4 to N7 naas
Picking up strong signal on 91.6
RDS reading stand by
German dance station

Declan A Walsh

Sunset11 wrote: »

Coming back this morning
From Mullingar N4 to N7 naas
Picking up strong signal on 91.6
RDS reading stand by
German dance station

If that is Galaxy relaying that German station and they are intent on getting into Dublin, 91.6 is a good choice of frequency. It has been unoccupied for a while.

Losty Dublin

Insidethetent wrote: »

The recent instances of thuggish behaviour from the raiding parties (antennae destroyed, cables cut up, masts dismantled, officials laughing into cameras, taking pleasure in their destruction etc) is a worrying trend.

.

What recent instances are you talking about here?

Sunset11

The music format is pretty good nice dance tracks
Audio sounds quite good

dbmicrovolt

Losty Dublin wrote: »

What recent instances are you talking about here?

Wasn't the last raid on Phever quite damaging? Also the raid on FreeDAB and the border station? These are some examples I've read about on these forums, I have no direct involvement so I can't offer any insights.

Dipole Keith

Losty Dublin wrote: »

What recent instances are you talking about here?

I know the raid on the Freedab in Dublin was a bit heavy handed.

Infoanon

Insidethetent wrote: »

The recent instances of thuggish behaviour from the raiding parties (antennae destroyed, cables cut up, masts dismantled, officials laughing into cameras, taking pleasure in their destruction etc) is a worrying trend.
.

This is not a new phenomenon, I can recall instances dating back to '89 - comreg are doing their job at the end of the day.

Freedab was mentioned - the site was completely cleared including antenna in what was clearly a warning that a pirate dab services in Dublin would not be tolerated.

Someone also mentioned fines of €100,some operators were not that fortunate with much heavier fines with others have sufficient warnings from judges that they will never appear on or be connected to a pirate again.

Max Power 2010

Losty Dublin wrote: »

What recent instances are you talking about here?

Wild Country shared the footage of their raid on Social Media where you can see the Guards laughing into the camera before ripping it out.

Losty Dublin

Infoanon wrote: »

This is not a new phenomenon, I can recall instances dating back to '89 - comreg are doing their job at the end of the day.

Longer back than 89 even. Eamon Cooke used to speak of staff enduring assaults and destruction during raids as if they were mini riots. Mind you, he'd have transmitters and wires stuck in floors or concrete which would cause obvious residual damage in removing same, with an angry rent a mob on hand as if it were a Paul Murphy protest.

Infoanon wrote: »

Someone also mentioned fines of €100,some operators were not that fortunate with much heavier fines with others have sufficient warnings from judges that they will never appear on or be connected to a pirate again.

Usually the loss of equipment and the hassle of a raid is enough of a deterrent to deter most stations from returning.

Losty Dublin

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

Wild Country shared the footage of their raid on Social Media where you can see the Guards laughing into the camera before ripping it out.

Oh yeah. Real Robocop stuff altogether :pac:

TheBMG

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

Wild Country shared the footage of their raid on Social Media where you can see the Guards laughing into the camera before ripping it out.

I saw the footage and laughed too. What were they meant to do after realising they were on camera?

JDxtra

TheBMG wrote: »

I saw the footage and laughed too. What were they meant to do after realising they were on camera?

Yes, exactly. I heard they were smiling at a personal message that was left for them on the computer monitor.

In general, my opinion is that if an operator acts somewhat reasonably (in so much as a pirate can!) then the likelihood of a harsh raid is reduced. If an operator ignores previous warnings or pushes some boundaries, than naturally there is an increased risk of full enforcement action against them. Not saying that's what happened in this case, just in general.

Losty Dublin

TheBMG wrote: »

I saw the footage and laughed too. What were they meant to do after realising they were on camera?

Send a photo into Eddie Bohan or the pirate.ie archive?

Insidethetent

RTE Gold has just closed.....

Insidethetent

All the DAB stations have gone off, looks like the ensemble is stopped but the carrier is still on. RIP DAB

Declan A Walsh

Insidethetent wrote: »

RTE Gold has just closed.....

Just to remind people that all RTE's digital stations are still running via all the other platforms as before, such as online (including Radio Garden) and digital television providers. Gone from DAB, but not closed down as stations.

kazoo106

As "radio" stations, they have closed

TV or streaming is audio but not radio

Sir Galahad

Following this thread for a while. Are there any "Old Pirates" here at all ? I was in ARD 257 in the late seventies in Bernard Llewellen's building just off Mt. Joy Square. I can recall raids both nasty and polite.

Declan A Walsh

Sir Galahad wrote: »

Following this thread for a while. Are there any "Old Pirates" here at all ? I was in ARD 257 in the late seventies in Bernard Llewellen's building just off Mt. Joy Square. I can recall raids both nasty and polite.

Pat James, who was on ARD / Radio 257, has posted a few times in this forum, but I don't think he was ever on this particular thread.

Sir Galahad

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Pat James, who was on ARD / Radio 257, has posted a few times in this forum, but I don't think he was ever on this particular thread.

The studio in ARD was on the fourth floor of the building. The transmitter was in a small room on the third floor and was like something from a Frankenstein movie. The door had a sign on it "Absolutely No Entry" :eek:. I remember a chap from Clontarf by the name of Cotter working on it and everything appeared to be held together with insulation tape. I still have a large amount of the ARD record library which I'm going to move on as I've no room any more.

turbocab

Sir Galahad wrote: »

The studio in ARD was on the fourth floor of the building. The transmitter was in a small room on the third floor and was like something from a Frankenstein movie. The door had a sign on it "Absolutely No Entry" :eek:. I remember a chap from Clontarf by the name of Cotter working on it and everything appeared to be held together with insulation tape. I still have a large amount of the ARD record library which I'm going to move on as I've no room any more.

could find a home for it.And could be used on medium wave again.check 1395 khz at weekends

Infoanon

Sir Galahad wrote: »

The studio in ARD was on the fourth floor of the building. The transmitter was in a small room on the third floor and was like something from a Frankenstein movie. The door had a sign on it "Absolutely No Entry" :eek:. I remember a chap from Clontarf by the name of Cotter working on it and everything appeared to be held together with insulation tape. I still have a large amount of the ARD record library which I'm going to move on as I've no room any more.

That would have been Paul Cotter who went on to engineer by Nova. There was a picture I believe of ARD after a raid where basically everything was taken barring the chairs.

Open to correction but I believe Pulse 103 was later to be based in that same building.

JDxtra

Pirate Fm wrote: »

Congratulations to Paul Wilson and Easy Radio , Awarded a Temporary Licence and will broadcast for 15 weeks from April 3rd on 88.1. Best of luck Paul

I wonder how come 88.1 was allocated for Dublin instead of 105.2 (or even 94.3).

Maybe frequency allocated depends on source of the transmission. I wonder if Easy are using the transmission facilities of a provider.

88.1 would normally be used by Christmas FM to north Kildare.