flex

Discuss all things relating to the busy London Pirate Radio scene.
famefm
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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:29 pm

I think the power reduction has been this weak about 18 months now and before that a power reducton before that about 3 years ago nothing to do with the license application just lack of good high sites if they had won a licence they would have switched off like flex did

Giggles

Re: flex

Post by Giggles » Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:21 am

famefm wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:29 pm I think the power reduction has been this weak about 18 months now and before that a power reducton before that about 3 years ago nothing to do with the license application just lack of good high sites if they had won a licence they would have switched off like flex did
Lack of good sites in london! Lol nope thats not even close they just gave up i think less djs adverts and listerners same as station fm they used to be the biggest in london now they run a cd direct of a house covering two miles also. Alot of stations are the same 99.6 ragga 101.2 unique 104.7 turkish 101.9 beat 95.4 roots 94.6 kool was all big stations now use houses or 25w.Origin, pulse,vibes,vision,mystic and 102 are the few that cover most of london now the rest are for local areas only. Brixton and harlsden has 10 stations that play the same music some of them should merge. Same as the turkish staions all of them are on cd anyway and stations like wax and cyndacut should merge as neither has djs or adverts so by merging they cut costs in half and provide a better chance for djs to get listerners.thers loads more also like this all over london that play the same music and in the same area why fight for djs and tx sites when you can merge and make more money and listeners it makes no sense.this forum one tells you that nobodys intrested in radio so why not maximise the final stretch and make some money before it dies completly

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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:29 am

They need to talk to each other and there is little chance of that I thought ragga 99.6 had closed down?

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Re: flex

Post by sparkypaul » Thu Aug 03, 2017 12:08 pm

Whats the point of a station only getting out two miles. Jeeezz. They must have a maximum of about three listeners at any one time. How the hell are u supposed to attract advertising with that. I get more listeners when I play on the decks at home. Lol. It truely does seem pirate radio is dead. Y cant someone start a decent station with good coverage and djs/presenters thst are interesting. It cant be that hard. But u gotta put the work in. Take a risk. U might lose some money to start with but then again if youre good enough and persistent then maybe we could have another Kiss or LWR.

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Re: flex

Post by Lordunderground » Fri Aug 04, 2017 6:14 pm

"Last week i had it clear for two miles in east london everywhere else it was unlistenable so i gather it cannot be more then 25w or theres a tx issue but im 99% sure they decreased power to try and get license or something like that as they used to get all over now they get east london and not even all of that!"


Agreed, their not getting into Essex anymore have not for a while, not the best frequency either wiped out by Classic even when in range

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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:28 pm

Definitely been this weak before the license application been this bad over a year now at the same time the 100.3 is ridiculously powerful it's broadcasting all the way from the Isle of whight at the same time BBC radio solent is from a similar area and on 96.1 but does not cut into S dance

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Re: flex

Post by teckniqs » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:37 pm

96.1 is from the very same mast, only it's 25 times less of the ERP.

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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:42 pm

Shame they can't turn down the power on classic fm don't know why it needs anything like that much power must get out almost 100 miles at times

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Re: flex

Post by McDonalds » Sat Aug 05, 2017 10:46 am

Hopefully in time classic FM turn off its FM and be on DAB and then be much more space.
for community stations.

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Re: flex

Post by teckniqs » Sun Aug 06, 2017 12:08 pm

famefm wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:42 pm Shame they can't turn down the power on classic fm don't know why it needs anything like that much power must get out almost 100 miles at times
Because there's a lot of big hills and deep valleys in the coverage area which need the extra power to receive it.
Classic FM have also got many less lower powered relays than BBC radio 1,2,3,4 so if anything they could do with even more power! :D

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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Sun Aug 06, 2017 12:59 pm

I rember they could have been on 99.9 in guIlford and they turned it down and because of that when London had the next 2 London wide licences kiss was given 100 fm because they didn't need 99.9 for classic and I know it was 2 years before classic started but the freqency had already be decided

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Re: flex

Post by Albert H » Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:07 pm

Band planning in the UK is a sick joke based on the properties of 1950s domestic receivers. The BBC still insist that they "need" half the band, and the adjacents planning for the commercial stations is just plain silly.

Back in the late 70s the Wise Report demonstrated that the BBC nationals could all be confined to below 91 MHz - nationally - without interference problems. Regional stations would take the next 5 MHz chunk of the band, followed by another 5 MHz for city-wide stations. That would leave everything above about 101 MHz for community and "community of interest" stations. It would be easily possible to run between 40 and 50 stations into the UK's major cities - at minimum 300 kHz adjacent spacing.. This sensible plan didn't suit the BBC, so it was filed under "interesting" and forgotten about.
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Re: flex

Post by famefm » Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:46 am

I actually had a radio around about the mid 60 s that could Bearley separate 5 points apart so that thinking really is stuck in the past and modern sets can separate only 2 points pretty well

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Re: flex

Post by thewoodstarr » Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:05 am

It takes months to sort it out, they already had a great studio, whether they use it is another thing? They also have to sort out the transmission site, Transmitter, that will cost a bit. Ofcom would not have granted them a Licence if they didn't have funds to pay for it, and they would have been means tested. its one of the requirements when you put in a letter of intent in.
100 Watts from a decent site, I will get them.
Good luck flex.

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Re: flex

Post by Albert H » Sun Aug 13, 2017 11:26 am

thewoodstarr wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:05 am It takes months to sort it out, they already had a great studio, whether they use it is another thing? They also have to sort out the transmission site, Transmitter, that will cost a bit. Ofcom would not have granted them a Licence if they didn't have funds to pay for it, and they would have been means tested. its one of the requirements when you put in a letter of intent in.
100 Watts from a decent site, I will get them.
Good luck flex.
They will probably rent the transmission equipment. It's the way that most little stations do it since they then don't have to deal with the technical hassles of type approval, site approval, commissioning and testing. A suitable - properly type-approved transmitter can cost as little as £1800 or as much as £10,000. It all depends on the quality of build, reliability factors, built-in redundancies and additional facilities. The cheap Italian crap makes it for spectral cleanliness and other basic RF properties, but they're never truly reliable and are always a false economy.

The rigs we supply at this power level are (usually) in 19" rack cases, with the modulator in a 1U box - including audio filtering, stereo and RDS encoders and modulation level limiting. The PA is in a separate 2U box, and the power supply in another 2U box. This makes for a relatively big rig, but gives room for the installation of changeover modules, redundant power supplies and PAs. The rigs are designed for 24/365 operation, and achieve this through conservative component ratings, plenty of passive cooling (fans always end up jammed with muck!), and 100% redundancy of critical parts. There's also comprehensive telemetry, so details of the operation of the transmitter is available to the station operator at all times without the need to visit the transmission site.

As with most things, you get what you pay for - if you buy cheap gear, you get cheap performance levels.
"Why is my rig humming?"
"Because it doesn't know the words!"
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Giggles

Re: flex

Post by Giggles » Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:15 pm

Albert H wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2017 11:26 am
thewoodstarr wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:05 am It takes months to sort it out, they already had a great studio, whether they use it is another thing? They also have to sort out the transmission site, Transmitter, that will cost a bit. Ofcom would not have granted them a Licence if they didn't have funds to pay for it, and they would have been means tested. its one of the requirements when you put in a letter of intent in.
100 Watts from a decent site, I will get them.
Good luck flex.
They will probably rent the transmission equipment. It's the way that most little stations do it since they then don't have to deal with the technical hassles of type approval, site approval, commissioning and testing. A suitable - properly type-approved transmitter can cost as little as £1800 or as much as £10,000. It all depends on the quality of build, reliability factors, built-in redundancies and additional facilities. The cheap Italian crap makes it for spectral cleanliness and other basic RF properties, but they're never truly reliable and are always a false economy.

The rigs we supply at this power level are (usually) in 19" rack cases, with the modulator in a 1U box - including audio filtering, stereo and RDS encoders and modulation level limiting. The PA is in a separate 2U box, and the power supply in another 2U box. This makes for a relatively big rig, but gives room for the installation of changeover modules, redundant power supplies and PAs. The rigs are designed for 24/365 operation, and achieve this through conservative component ratings, plenty of passive cooling (fans always end up jammed with muck!), and 100% redundancy of critical parts. There's also comprehensive telemetry, so details of the operation of the transmitter is available to the station operator at all times without the need to visit the transmission site.

As with most things, you get what you pay for - if you buy cheap gear, you get cheap performance levels.
So you own a company that sell legal rigs albert nice whats that called mate? I'd like to have a browse on your website.you are one busy man you never stop suprised you have time to post here pal. I thought only broadcast warehouse did the local stations under 300w so shows what i know.

Giggles

Re: flex

Post by Giggles » Wed Aug 16, 2017 2:10 pm

Albert whats your company called pal??

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FM King
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Re: flex

Post by FM King » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:14 pm

Why is that any concern of yours, pal?

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Re: flex

Post by Albert H » Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:17 am

FM King wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:14 pm Why is that any concern of yours, pal?
Exactly. Anyone who needs to know who we are already knows who we are. We don't build pirate gear, and haven't for a long time,
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"Because it doesn't know the words!"
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Twista UK
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Re: flex

Post by Twista UK » Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:32 pm

Does anyone know when Flex will begin broadcasting?

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