Favourite stations / programmes?

[mark_in_manc]

I wonder if, for the benefit of more recent initiates into this hobby (like me), people might be interested in a thread on what stations (and hey, maybe even what programmes on what stations at what times!) people like to listen to on LW, MW and SW. I've always liked Radio more than TV, but I've spent so many years listening on FM that I'm kind of a newcomer to AM, though I can just about remember some of the old Radio 1 jingles (275, 285...etc!).

I'd be interested in a bit of a feel for why you like what you like, so long as mods don't think this is too off-topic - rather than just a 'list' thread. After all, enjoying my now mostly-working Cossor 501 seems as much part of all this, as fixing it.

So - over on another current thread Crusher19860138 makes a suggestion for Irish state broadcaster RTE Radio 1 on 1190m (252kHz) LW. I'll second this - I have family connections in Ireland so perhaps this makes me particularly susceptible. The station is a bit like a cross between BBC radio 2 and 4 - chatty 'current affairs' and some very 'middle of the road' music - but with bursts of 'serious' current affairs and the odd arts program. You also get lumps of peculiarly Irish content like diddly-i shows and GAA news, which can be interesting, and coverage of EU stuff from another perspective, which can be very interesting.

Ireland has about 1/12 the population of the UK, which makes output from its state broadcaster either approachable and friendly in feel, or small scale / parochial, depending on your preferences. I like it, and suggest you give it a go.

cheers
Mark

Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra are my favorites, the World Service, now it is on the digital platforms is good too (good science programmes), oh and a bit of 5 Live. For simple news & discussion I tend to get 4 off air on LW or FM on a 'proper' radio, for plays it's from the STB (set top box) via the HiFi. The older repeats of say Round The Horne go to my AM modulator from a DAB reciever and are listened to on a period set.

I really don't like recorded programmes, I prefer to chose something and be there with the right equipment at the right time to listen.

Makes it all so much more enjoyable.

On the motorcycle I have a DAB radio, 'Much Binding In the Marsh' on the way to work is a joy!

[Paul_RK]

Mostly for me it's the World Service and Radio 3, while heartily wishing that the latter at least were much more like its self from 40 years ago. Last.fm assures me that "I'm into singer-songwriter, rock, folk, indie and psychedelic", which is also true, but, whenever I'm minded to listen to something that isn't already on the shelves here, browsing around online is a more agreeable experience and throws up more by way of interesting and valued musical encounters than listening to any radio station I'm aware of in those genres. I may as well be actively browsing rather than just listening as my aversion to multi-tasking means that any background listening would drive me nuts.

A few assorted short wave receivers incoming lately have led me into more SW listening than at any time since the '70s. Much has of course changed, China Radio International is everywhere and I now and again stop to listen for a while. A recent discovery is the Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz, which at least on some evenings broadcasts long and scarcely interrupted sequences of regional music that I've thus far found quite beguiling.

Paul

['LIVEWIRE?']

My main interests are Radio 4 Extra, mainly for the old shows like 'Round the Horne', 'Much Binding', etc., and also things like 'Poirot' and 'Cadfael', which have been on recently. I compare, in my mind, the latter two, with the much better known TV versions. (Incidentally, merlinmaxwell, if those old shows hadn't been recorded we wouldn't be able to hear them now!) I also like Radio 2, mainly for the evening & weekend programmes, Classic FM, and occasionally dip into LBC, Radio 3, Smooth Radio, etc. I don't regularly listen via vintage radios, mainly on my Ferguson FRG-R116D, and on my HiFi, mainly because, although I repair vintage sets from time to time, I don't actually own one. Incidentally listening to Short Wave, and even to Long & Medium Wave these days is spoiled by the interference from things such as SMPSUs, which affects all radios. How do others cope with this?

How do others cope with this?

For MW/LW I have a large (15 ft) electrically steerable loop (4 loops and a remote switch, with multi parallel switching I get 16 directions) at the end of the garden, for SW the same but I have a psycotic hatred of PLT and engage OFCOM whenever I hear some (so far so good, none for 3 years).

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
I enjoy Radio2, Radio4, and Radio4Extra. I can't abide ILR stations with their inane adverts & endless phone ins. Mainly because I was forced to listen to it in the mess room at work.
I built a simple valved AM transmitter to hear them on my vintage sets. I'm thinking I may make a better one that doesn't suffer so much from 'hand capacitance', i.e. one that doesn't drift off frequency when I go near it.
What's "PLT" please?
Cheers, Pete

[G6Tanuki]

Alas there are no current equivalents of the good old Ronan O'Rahilly pirate-radio stations - in the 1980s I was always a great fan of the likes of "Laser 558" and "Atlantic 252".

There's no longer even "Lucky Luxembourg" on 208.

For general listening I take a feed of one of the audio-streams off di.fm and remodulate it - their "vocal trance" sounds quite good when translated to 1.5MHz and played through a Pye P75: 1990s-era club soundsystems were always bass-heavy anyway so the limited bandwidth of AM doesn't lose much of the audio-experience.

I also have a weakness for the pervasively-strange "J-pop" - see http://en.j1fm.com/

--G6Tanuki

What's "PLT" please?

Power Line Telecommunications, ethernet over the mains. The digital data is modulated onto lots of carriers from 2 to 30 (now up to 300) MHz and squirted down (your) mains cables, up to 700mW of power is used. This leaks out of said cables and radiates far and wide. On some systems the carriers are 1.024kHz apart, there is no escaping them.

I did an experiment where I coupled a 5W SW tranceiver to my mains wiring and got a soild contact with another amateur radio in the Ukrain, so they (mains cables) leak like a bottomless bucket.

[MrElectronicman]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

There's no longer even "Lucky Luxembourg" on 208

I was wondering if Luxembourg 208 was still going.
As a youngster someone gave me the radio out of a radiogram, and I built a wooden case for it and used to listen to 208 late into the night with the volume turned down low so my parents would not know. This was even before the pirate radio stations started 20 miles off shore.

[rharness]

Since I've done this Roberts RT1, as it's only got AM, I like listening to Radio Gold on 1332 medium wave. It plays old records from the 50's, 60's and seventies, at night there's also a request show. It seems to be the right thing to listen to through a 60's radio.

[ThePillenwerfer]

The only AM station I listen to is Absolute Radio. It's a good strong signal and I like the music they play. Like so many stations they feel the need to have an idiot on first thing in a morning and another in the early evening but I don't have it on then.

My usual routine is to start the day with Ken Bruce on Radio Two then at noon go over to 6 Music until seven. There may be other things on Radio Two after that or I have Absolute on. This is also the time I listen to Radio Four comedies via the i-Player.

Besides this I'm an occasional listener to Absolute Classic Rock but this is usually only when the normal schedules are disrupted due to Bank Holidays and the like.

For 6 Music I have a FreeView box with all other stations de-tuned and its audio output connected into the old telephone wiring. I can then plug radios' Gram sockets into this network around the house.

At week-ends, when there's not much on any radio station, I switch a computer into this network and either play music or recorded radio programmes through it.

- Joe

['LIVEWIRE?']

To be pedantic, Atlantic 252 wasn't a 'pirate' station. It was licensed by the Irish authorities, and broadcast for about 11 years, IIRC, until replaced by the short-lived 'Teamtalk 252'. I used to listen to them from time to time. As for R.Luxembourg, like most then young people, I guess, I used to listen regularly to '208'. That, nowadays, in the evenings, transmits R. China International, but I believe the music station still goes out on Satellite. During the 'pirate' era, I used to listen frequently, mainly to Caroline and 'Big L'(aka 'Wonderful Radio London!'), but also to Radio 390. Don't listen to too much modern commercial radio, mainly because it caters for the under-25s, rather than us 'oldies'. Classic FM and, occasionally, Smooth Radio being the exceptions!

[D.Finney]

Has anybody ever come across an English speaking station called Radio Free Beijing or something like that. A while ago I came across it on my old Philips 213U late one night, I think it was at the lower end of the MW band and I have never been able to find it since.

[brenellic2000]

... Classic FM burbling away in the background... All it needs is an automatic mute for the monotonous adverts. I pray someone will still do an equivalent FM station when they finally move to digital.

All it needs is an automatic mute for the monotonous adverts

Everything does, I wouldn't mind paying a subscrition to get such a box, come to think of it I do (in a way), to the BBC. Good old auntie. When I was a boy mother called ITV 'the other channel' and wouldn't have it on.

[camtechman]

Originally Posted by D.Finney

Has anybody ever come across an English speaking station called Radio Free Beijing or something like that.

Yep, I have and if my memory serves me correctly it's via a repeater station somewhere in Kent. I think the UK broadcast stops at about 1:00 am in the morning.

A recent acquisition of mine is a Pearl River Model: SB6-4 MW & SW Radio (Made in the:P.R.O.C.) which has rekindled my childhood fascination to listening to Short Wave.

One station is CRI (China Radio International) which broadcasts in English from 10.00pm.

I have got one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tecsun-Digit.../dp/B00AJCQ19I great for when walking. It is a very good radio.

[Mikey66]

Johnnie Walker and Brian Matthews on Radio 2, otherwise it's mostly 6 Music and Radio 4 at bedtime.

[camtechman]

I used to listen to Brian Matthews but now that 3 Counties Radio (Beds, Herts & Bucks) have their own version (with Justin Dealey) I now listen to that on Saturday mornings instead (09:00-12:00) and especially as it's broadcast on MW as well as FM & DAB.

[PaulR]

Radio 4 it is (almost) worth the licence fee.