Re: What's the weirdest thing you have ever heard on the fm dial?
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:08 pm
I once heard a transmitter on the frequency of an occasional pirate in Merseyside with just muffled voices, like the mic had been left open and we could hear a conversation in another room. It wasn't great reception so I couldn't make out any of what was said. It went on like this for quite some time!
I was responsible for an odd broadcast myself, but not on the FM band. I was managing a station that had been awarded a Low Power AM (LPAM) licence. We were preparing to go on in a couple of weeks but something had happened to the satellite dish that we were using to source IRN for the news and it wasn't picking anything up. This was in the days before everyone had a mobile phone, so we were a bit stuck for ideas about how one of us could be on the roof adjusting the dish while the other was in the studio in front of the TV to see when we got the signal (it was a flat roof with a raised bit in the middle where the dish was mounted). So I had an idea. I switched the transmitter on. There was a guy on the roof with a portable radio and me in the studio in front of the TV with the mic open. He'd adjust the dish bit by bit with me giving it "Nothing... Nothing... Nothing... Something. Keep going that way. Too far, go back a bit..." until after about 15 minutes we had it sorted. We switched the transmitter off and quietly agreed that it might be best not to share it with the rest of the management of the station. I'd be pretty surprised if anyone heard it!
I was responsible for an odd broadcast myself, but not on the FM band. I was managing a station that had been awarded a Low Power AM (LPAM) licence. We were preparing to go on in a couple of weeks but something had happened to the satellite dish that we were using to source IRN for the news and it wasn't picking anything up. This was in the days before everyone had a mobile phone, so we were a bit stuck for ideas about how one of us could be on the roof adjusting the dish while the other was in the studio in front of the TV to see when we got the signal (it was a flat roof with a raised bit in the middle where the dish was mounted). So I had an idea. I switched the transmitter on. There was a guy on the roof with a portable radio and me in the studio in front of the TV with the mic open. He'd adjust the dish bit by bit with me giving it "Nothing... Nothing... Nothing... Something. Keep going that way. Too far, go back a bit..." until after about 15 minutes we had it sorted. We switched the transmitter off and quietly agreed that it might be best not to share it with the rest of the management of the station. I'd be pretty surprised if anyone heard it!