The Kildare based relay last used for Christmas FM remains on (88.1) but with no audio.
Driving last night in an area where 88.1 and 105.2 overlap. As all temps use the same RDS PI code, my car radio kept flipping from Classic Hits 80s to the blank carrier on 88.1.
As. regards Dublin, were the usual Sunday suspects on, i.e. the oldies pirates Retro FM (94.3 rather than 92.0), ABC 80s, The 90s Network and Energy Power (on MW)?
The Dundalk station was on 6300 kHz shortwave from 10 am to 3 pm. Playing tapes of pirate stations closing down on 31 December 1988.
Any “free radio” picked up around Ireland today?
just out of interest why not use IP to feed the lot?
4 of the 6 transmitter sites are fed directly via IP link. The 2 remaing low power sites are off-air relays with dual tuners, so they auto switch to a backup receive frequency if the main is down. They also have backup IP audio to all sites.
No one site is dependant on another to stay on air.
Indeed, it was back on this evening. Aside from the Kenmare area, driving around East Kerry (normally covered by 97.0) was perfect with the radio switching between 96.6 and 97.2
Interestingly, as you say, none of the relays lost reception so none of them must rebroadcast 97.0. Even the geographically tricky 96.2 and 97.6 in west Kerry were firing as normal yesterday evening. 96.6 and 97.2 in Killarney/mid Kerry also ok as you say.
97.0 I understand returned this evening approaching 6PM
The main towns/population centres in Co.Kerry are covered by other transmitters so they were unaffected. Less populated areas such as the small tourist town of Kenmare and the highly important Kilgarvan area are examples of areas that were blacked out for RK over the past two days unless listeners had/used internet radio.
Still off tonight. Bad time of the year for an outage
Radio Kerry absent from 97.0 tonight
Classic Hits 80s will be back on the air next Wednesday , December 27th.
Rick Dees programmes will feature , hopefully far lower rotation and a wider playlist will feature this year after last years dissapointing, imho , first attempt at 80s radio.
The 90s network have had very low modulation for the last few days, RDS also absent when last checked.
Downtown 1026 clear in Dublin today , it's possibly the only switch off notice with a 'thank you ' to the listeners and original jingles.
It's certainly breezy again tonight!
Well after all the campaigning to get Caroline back on AM legally I do certainly hope 648 is going nowhere, not for a long time.
Energy 1440 mentioned in a Facebook post that they were running on half-power, the post reads as follows,
"we are running at half power due to the averse weather conditions. we regret any loss of signal in your area" So, Radio 208 was receivable yesterday as you mentioned, albeit weak.
It was quite breezy yesterday alright!
"In time, Energy 1440 will have the band to itself"
I don't think Radio Caroline on 648khz are planning on departing anytime soon ! Interestingly I tuned in on 1440khz yesterday to hear a weak signal announcing "Radio 208 Copenhagen".
I note Tipp FM coming in on 95.6 in Limerick City. Presume this is the Birdhill/O’Briensbridge/Ballina relay moved from 95.3?
Interestingly, Shortwave has been very active lately on the old (as they used to call it) maritime band. (Edit) It is still called that on the Kiwi SDR's
The big talk at the minute on shortwave is the return of WMR at the weekends via a mighty powerful relay in Ireland. For those unfamiliar with WMR visit https://www.wmrscotland.com/ It is usually heard around 6270 6280 6300 khz In or around.
Another station making a return after a lengthy absence is Skull and Bones Radio system, usually heard around 6280 khz also at the weekend. It broadcast back in the late 70s I believe
Another Irish station Radio Cuckoo also pops up now and again on 62XX khz and also around 62XX Premier Radio can be heard.
Shortwave still has something to tune to.
Downtown 1026 closing down, unfortunately, like all the other am transmitters that have gone dark, but alas a sign of the times!
In time, Energy 1440 will have the band to itself :)
For a few months the pirate in Dundalk has been active intermittently on Shortwave, recently in the 6.3 Mhz range. Today they are KISS AM on 6320 kHz, being heard all round Ireland and well beyond.
On another topic, Downtown on 1026 is playing their closedown announcement.
The Kildare 88.1 transmitter for Christmas FM has either some extreme stereo separation going on or the audio is very badly out of phase - very difficult to listen to as the car likes to jump between 105.2 and 88.1 which causes a drastic change.
Yes, Cairn Hill is now broadcasting all the RTE stations. Now listed on 2RN's updated analogue radio frequencies page.
99.4/94.2/92.0/101.6 xmas fm 99.8 Yes all coming from Cairn hill started up a month or two ago There is a major upgrade going on at Cairn hill new coex cable going in seen a helicopter at site lifting stuff
It's great as a supplemental service but certainly not the FM killer some (I'd say trolls) on here think it is. It's very inefficient at scale.
So streaming is not that reliable then.Too many points of potential failure between the streamer and end user.
That was the Meath one (which is geographically in Cavan and will be on 92.8 this year)
I wonder if we'll have the standard 'Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova' on the Louth Transmitter this year.
I came across it briefly this evening and it played some music or jingle. The RDS is XMAS.
Can be pretty sure of picking up the FM signal in your car, and much easier to do than fiddling with your phone, opening up the app and praying that your signal is reliable enough to stream it; plenty of places here where you have shag all chance of getting a mobile signal nevermind one capable of supporting a decent quality stream.
Any RDS on it?
105.2 in Dublin is on since 8am this morning Friday. Blank carrier.
What’s the big hype about FM frequencies. FM is dying not many people listen on FM nowadays it’s online and Spotify. Sad to see FM the way its disappearing but it’s a reality now
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