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Old 26th Nov 2017, 2:38 pm   #221
Nuvistor
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

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Originally Posted by Richard Cooper View Post
Does anyone know how I can tune into this on a 1988 Roberts RCS80? It is too close to R5 Postwick on 693 and won't stop on 648, but scans straight past 648, presumably because the RCS80's manufacturer's settings are such that there has to be a minimum sig strength for the scanner to stop at a frequency and lock onto a station? Unless there's a manual override which i can't find!
Manual override.
Hold down the Alarm/Man button while using the Tune up or down button, 9khz steps on MW.
User manual and service manual on the Roberts Yahoo group, user manual in the photos section.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...ums/1306887289
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 3:01 pm   #222
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

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...Where's the Radio Caroline studio located?
Where's the Radio Caroline transmitter located?
The current broadcast is using the studio on board Ross Revenge, anchored in the Blackwater Estuary. The 648 Khz tx is at Orfordness, The 1368 Khz tx belongs to Manx Radio on the Isle of Man. When the 648 service starts 'proper' I suspect much of it will originate from their land studios which are now in Kent somewhere I believe. They used to be at the old TVS facility at Vintners Park in Maidstone, but I'm fairly certain they've since moved

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Old 26th Nov 2017, 3:03 pm   #223
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Thanks for that Stu.

Lawrence.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 3:24 pm   #224
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Hi

It's all a bit disjointed at the moment it seems to me, split into three services.
Their 'main' internet stream, second 'flashback' stream, and then the monthly-ish 'Caroline North' programme,
which is the one that appears on 1368, and is the one currently simulcast for testing 648.
These broadcasts are the only ones that currently originate from the ship.
I rather suspect some 'consolidation' will take place when their licenced service begins in earnest.
It is after all a 'community' licence for the Suffolk area.
This could end up in a 4th version of Caroline
I suppose the most important bit is they are there.

Their own website is probably the best source of info

Being able to listen on two frequencies last night in the car, albeit with some deep fading was very reminiscent of the old days

If you fancy a look at the big ampliphase transmitter on board, it's possible to visit the ship and well worth the effort!

Regards
Stu
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:10 pm   #225
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

I'm sitting here eagerly waiting for sunset at some 16:15 when hopefully Caroline will appear again.

Is there a simple way that I can tell the skip distance for a given wavelength? The formulae I am looking at seems to need the brain of Einstein to work it out.

https://tinyurl.com/y8glqys3

I am some 300 miles from the Manx 1368 transmitter and 185 miles from Mersea Island yet last night the Manx signal was far stronger than Mersea. I understand that the power outputs used are fairly similar.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:11 pm   #226
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Picked it up here last night on a Sangean ATS-803 portable using the internal antenna about 2330 but it was fading quite a bit. Every few seconds I could quite clearly make out what was being said though. I must try an external antenna or maybe a loop to see if I can get a better signal. When Manx radio is broadcasting I can get a reasonable signal here "up north".
Alan.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:22 pm   #227
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

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I'm sitting here eagerly waiting for sunset at some 16:15 when hopefully Caroline will appear again.

Is there a simple way that I can tell the skip distance for a given wavelength? The formulae I am looking at seems to need the brain of Einstein to work it out.
There are a few modelling software applications that have been developed but there are so many variables that the authors don’t claim them to be perfect. Angle of radiation of the transmitting aerial, conditions in the Ionosphere, etc, etc.
Usually they will claim reception on a certain number of days in a particular month.
Also too complicated for me but that’s the beauty of “DX”, never know what may turn up.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:36 pm   #228
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Good signal strength and S/N ratio all day on 648 kHz here in Cambridge - strength comparable with BBC Radio Essex. Excellent on both Pye 39 J/H and PCR2 receivers. Big reduction in local QRM by using my Welbrook loop aerial. Can't find anything on 1368 KHz though. Will try again after dark for the sky wave.

Martin
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:39 pm   #229
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

The foreigners are just starting up at 15:40 so here's hoping
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 4:52 pm   #230
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

“ Simple” formula for Skip distance.
The problem is how do most of us find those values to put into the equation at any single point in time.

The formula is simple if you have those values.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 5:07 pm   #231
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

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Originally Posted by stuie319 View Post
It is after all a 'community' licence for the Suffolk area.
This could end up in a 4th version of Caroline
I wonder what they'll call it. Radio Caroline East?
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 5:50 pm   #232
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Got it just fine here [648] on my Eddystone 840A and 60-odd-foot longwire.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 6:02 pm   #233
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

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Good signal strength and S/N ratio all day on 648 kHz here in Cambridge - strength comparable with BBC Radio Essex. Excellent on both Pye 39 J/H and PCR2 receivers. Big reduction in local QRM by using my Welbrook loop aerial. Can't find anything on 1368 KHz though. Will try again after dark for the sky wave.
Ah the magic of darkness and the sky wave.........1368 kHz rolling into Cambridge now with a listenable but fading 'Radio Luxembourg' type of S/N ratio. So nostalgic! Not bad considering it's come all the way from the Isle of Man, but then Snaefell is pretty high.

I'm most intrigued that the distant 1368 kHz signal from IoM arrives here all of 25 seconds before the closer 648 kHz signal from the East Coast. I guess that the internet must be involved in the transmission path of the latter? Or perhaps both? I wonder how long the signals dwell in cyberspace.

Martin
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 7:55 pm   #234
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Heard them testing on Saturday on 648 in paralel with the Manx radio 1368 relay the signal on 648 came in reasonable well when it faded in unfortunately the signal wasn't audible on a normal radio with ferrite rod areal but was ok on my wire into my FT817
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 9:31 pm   #235
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Good old skywave! 1368 booming in on the Sony portable with the little loop and easily listenable with just the ferrite rod. Easily as good a signal as I used to get from RNI 1kHz lower.

648 OTOH now very poor - there but not listenable - weak with fast ionospheric disturbance.

I don't listen to a lot of pop radio now - though I do get various stations inflicted on me at places where I work - and I have enjoyed today's programming with songs I haven't heard in years, nay decades, in some cases. A great change from the homogenised output of most stations these days.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 9:50 pm   #236
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Just managed to pick Caroline up on 648 for a shortwhile before it faded out , that was with a RP30 not really listenable but i will keep trying.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 9:54 pm   #237
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Reception perfectly listenable here although weak (S2) at 2pm this afternoon on the Grundig portable. At 8.30pm this evening, however, it's audible but barely of entertainment quality. Rapid fading at ~4Hz and even my Bush VHF81 is struggling to make sense of it!
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 9:58 pm   #238
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

Not a peep on either frequency today

Looking up Radio Wiltshire I found that is also on 1368 but very weak and last night I was tuning slightly low for best reception definitely off RW center frequency and I could just tune in each station seperately on a DAC90A so Caroline (or the Beeb) might just be using an offset. I haven't got any test gear here so can't say for sure which one it is if I am correct.

Last edited by Boom; 26th Nov 2017 at 10:03 pm.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 10:19 pm   #239
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

I took a 1958 Inscol to the coast, at Withernsea & the improvement in signal was remarkable. What had been barely audible had come up in strength to the point I could wander with the radio in my hand listening to Caroline.
There's a (outside) chance somebody else was doing exactly the same thing with this radio fifty-odd years ago.
I dare say that if you lived in the Yorkshire Dales you might get the 1368 Khz Manx relay, but not in Holderness.
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Old 26th Nov 2017, 11:08 pm   #240
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Default Re: Radio Caroline to return on Medium Wave.

The fading is very slow. At times you can listen fairly easily, but at it's worst the two stations that are in the background make it hard to tell what is on. Only because I already knew the tune did I realise they were playing Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix.

This ground-wave/sky-wave interaction and thus fading. Is it always closely related to local sunrise & sunset? Just wondering, because it does seen that the competing stuff starts to intrude about sunset.
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