AM/MW Unlicensed/Pirate stations

[outis]

Are there any Medium Wave unlicensed / pirate radio stations in the UK nowadays? Especially any that can be received in Sussex or Surrey around Gatwick?

[XXL]

Put one on yourself.

[outis]

Put one on yourself.

last time I did that (not in the UK) I wasn't sure there were any listeners. Now I just wonder if any are left, do you know?

[XXL]

I think what you just said means medium wave is well and truly dead tbh. Iv never seen the point in it. It sounds nasty. It’s only good for speech.

[fmuser877]

as the post above I have tried MW but just cannot get out on it even end of the road its faded.
yet FM even low down on the pole has plenty signal for me and ok sound.
I wanted to set up an mw station playing podcast.

[Albert H]

I think what you just said means medium wave is well and truly dead tbh. Iv never seen the point in it. It sounds nasty. It’s only good for speech.

AM MW can sound pretty good if you know what you're doing!

If you want it to sound like FM, it won't, but with a little work at the transmitting end, it can sound really good. There are a few things that pirates frequently overlook:

• Getting the frequency response right is essential
• Getting the compression and limiting right is crucial
• Getting the transmitter modulation linearity right is a large part of the battle...

I find that it's usually good to roll off at about 25 Hz - there's no point in trying to modulate your rig with audio that low, especially as most receiver loudspeakers wouldn't be able to reproduce it. I then have a flat response up to around 950 Hz, then introduce a bit of lift - about 6dB/oct sounds nice - then roll off everything above ~7kHz.

My compression is usually done with a split-band approach - everything below ~250 Hz in one channel, and everything above that in a second one. Big bass sounds don't cause the whole audio spectrum to "dip", and the operation of the compressor is much less obvious. When it gets much too loud or there are overshoots too fast for the compression stages, I have a clipper to keep things in check. I make sure that I don't hit the clipper too much (it introduces distortion).

My transmitters use "envelope feedback" - a small sample of the output of the rig is demodulated back into audio, and reapplied to the input side of the modulator in phase opposition to the incoming audio - this is negative feedback. It helps to eliminate the worst distortions from the modulation amplifier, and it enhances the audio bandwidth of the transmitter. This goes a long way to ensure the linearity of the modulator.

It's illustrative to listen to the same program on both Band II FM and on MW AM. Listening at home, FM will clearly win. However, get into your car and drive, you'll find that AM is perfectly acceptable, and can actually sound better (or just be more audible over the engine noise)!

AM gear is cheap and easy to build. It's not a long way up in frequency from audio, so the construction techniques are nowhere near as restricted.

The only real difficulty with AM is the need for the biggest possible vertical radiator you can get to use. I've repurposed disused power pylons, run wires from the roofs of tower blocks, used trees as masts, and even loaded up a bridge superstructure! On Long Wave, I made a disused railway line the radiator!!

If you're prepared for daytime only broadcasting, the power can be pretty low. I've had great results with just 20 Watts carrier / 80 Watts peak, but if you want any useful night time coverage, you'll have to run a few hundred Watts. Remember - the output devices are cheap switching FETs. The devices I used for the RF and the modulator in the 20 / 80 Watt circuit are just 90p each!

DO NOT take Radio Caroline's abysmal AM audio quality as a benchmark of what can be done. They've been offered better audio processors (by me - I offered an Inovonics 222), but want to carry on with their crappy Broadcast Warehouse DSPX!

I'll put some suggested circuits up here. Getting on to medium wave is relatively easy, and needn't cost too much!

[outis]

I think what you just said means medium wave is well and truly dead tbh. Iv never seen the point in it. It sounds nasty. It’s only good for speech.
[/
AM/MW can sound quite good (even approaching FM) but there are something to consider.
It's down (mostly) to receiving equipment and sometimes the transmitting equipment can help too.
If today AM/MW sounds nasty is because of the bad receivers. The radios today are just made to make AM sound crappy.
I have good radios from the past that sound great (provided the station sends good signal, not all do) like the Roberts R700 (the best sounding AM radio I have)
Even the relatively recent RD25 (DAB/AM/FM) is decent (in its "surround" setting) in comparison to other radios one can buy today from the same company (9928, 9954)
And I have a SONY SFR-42 AM Stereo that can sound very close to FM (although only some unlicensed stations in Greece only transmit in AM Stereo, but used to be able and receive in the UK the France Bleu.
Then there are the stations. AM stations in the UK playing music don't sound very good (Gold or Absolute radio) - Radio Caroline isn't sound great either (but better that others). There are local LPAM stations though like 1431 East Surrey Hospital Radio that the sound is quite acceptable even if it's not FM quality. With the right radio like the R700 the sound of such a station is decent.
Experimenting myself (LPAM) I could get very good sound on a card AM radio. It's sound to the bandwidth the transmitter allows and the selectivity of the radio (as Wide as possible) - and I am not even mentioning the AM/MW HiFi tuners of the past because they are hard to find and expensive today.

[Nige from Brum]

I heard Rock Revolution on 1233 KHz the other night. Blackbeard appears regularly on 1512.
There's also Energy AM on 1440 at the weekend from Ireland & radio north on 846.
In the coming days there will also be a few Dutch stations audible in the official band, as well as 1611 to 1710.

[FMEnjoyer]

I think what you just said means medium wave is well and truly dead tbh. Iv never seen the point in it. It sounds nasty. It’s only good for speech.

Some people like pirate radio for the feeling of it, some of the music on fm is a load of rubbish at times, though personally i am open to all music types, it;s almost secondary to the nostalgic feeling. when you hear recordings from the 90's they are no exactly hi fi, mono with a load of interference old worn dull vinyl and and £5 tandy mic. mw can sound good just not much top end hard to do well on a budget though.. anything to generate a bit of excitement would be welcome.

[FMEnjoyer]

I heard Rock Revolution on 1233 KHz the other night. Blackbeard appears regularly on 1512.
There's also Energy AM on 1440 at the weekend from Ireland & radio north on 846.
In the coming days there will also be a few Dutch stations audible in the official band, as well as 1611 to 1710.

any word on the ones in the normal band nige?

[covidplandemic]

I feel like am is getting a bit more popular and I think the dti are less vigilant!
radio nova always had a great sound and it would be great if we had more stations on medium wave.

[tokingmenace]

Blackbeard on 1512 sounding good tonight Nice audio.

[outis]

Thank you. Let's see if I will hear anything. Will monitor these frequencies. In the UK I have tried transmissions, very careful not to go much beyond the house, 10mW around with minimal antenna to reduce the range. So rather passively nowadays I'm looking to find what is left out there, if any... Tonight I can receive a station playing musing on 1629 KHz but no ID announcement.

[radionortheast]

I can’t imagine there been that many pirates on mw in the uk, you would be only transmitting to yourself or other anoraks if you had a big aerial, a lot of effort to go too not much of a reward. I think it mostly existed during the offshore days, the audience has long since left so theres little incentive to broadcast.
Blackbeard is the only one i’ve heard from the uk, there did used to be radio brittania before the operator died, bit the bullet. There was also energy fm on 1494, it is based in tenerife you could hear it a year or two ago. Energy am 1440 is ireland, on the east side of the pennines I only hear something very weakly, it can be heard on the north west coast.

[outis]

I can’t imagine there been that many pirates on mw in the uk, you would be only transmitting to yourself or other anoraks if you had a big aerial, a lot of effort to go too not much of a reward. I think it mostly existed during the offshore days, the audience has long since left so theres little incentive to broadcast.
Blackbeard is the only one i’ve heard from the uk, there did used to be radio brittania before the operator died, bit the bullet. There was also energy fm on 1494, it is based in tenerife you could hear it a year or two ago. Energy am 1440 is ireland, on the east side of the pennines I only hear something very weakly, it can be heard on the north west coast.

In other places people broadcasting on AM see themselves mainly as unlicensed "radio amateurs" and experiment is the main reason for the transmissions, so they don't care much about having an "audience."

[outis]

Today I can hear a station on 1602 KHz. English speaking. No UK station is listed on 1611. Could it be an unlicensed station? Plays older pop.

[radionortheast]

Theres just desi radio asian station on 1602, licence expires next year so they might be renewing it, hearing it tonight with fades. I heard something last night sounded like someone speaking in english with foreign accent, problalby a dutch pirate, perhaps you might of been hearing it too.
I have an old radio listeners guide, theres no stations listed above 1602, There is radio augusta on 1611 plays oldies, think its some english people who do the programming it is relayed some were in Europe on that frequency? assuming it must be unlicensed, not somethings thats been licensed in whatever country its coming from, I never hear it clear enough to hear any talking, seems a bit weird to me.

[outis]

Theres just desi radio asian station on 1602, licence expires next year so they might be renewing it, hearing it tonight with fades. I heard something last night sounded like someone speaking in english with foreign accent, problalby a dutch pirate, perhaps you might of been hearing it too.
I have an old radio listeners guide, theres no stations listed above 1602, There is radio augusta on 1611 plays oldies, think its some english people who do the programming it is relayed some were in Europe on that frequency? assuming it must be unlicensed, not somethings thats been licensed in whatever country its coming from, I never hear it clear enough to hear any talking, seems a bit weird to me.

Thank you, Desi, yes, it was a typo, I meant to write 1611.
I am looking for "unlicensed amateur" (aka "free" or "pirate") stations on MW in the UK, if any left, reception around the Gatwick area. The one on 1611 seemed a candidate.
Other than that I got a station on 1638 playing mostly German/Austrian folk music - probably a Dutch station. Next day got the same programme on 1620 so I guess he moves freq. And some Greek on 1701. When the Greek went off air I could get a Spanish (I am told that the Spanish Coast Guard transmits there.)

[FMEnjoyer]

Hello outis...there is a station up that end of the MW dial called Radio Augusta.



Most likely them, the Dutch stations also quite often drift about a bit not so much PLL MW TX
I think, many old rigs being used, it can be very active there on a Saturday evening.

I have a listen out using a long dipole stuck on a fence you can have a read here..

viewtopic.php?p=41785

You don't need an outdoor antenna though you can pick them up using a decent MW receiver
like a Sony that allows you to switch between some different MW modes that allow you to listen up beyond
1602.. both Tecsun PL series and old Sony ICF sw7600gr allow you to do this and they can come in quite
well on the internal ferrite rod, you can certainly pick the stronger ones up.

It is all very nostalgic and heart warming on MW, like the old days.

You have to change your expectations, that's all, warm sounding audio with all the radio noises and fading in and out
it makes you feel like it is really coming from afar which it is, depending on where you are in UK or Germany etc. round Europe
it is a 220 + miles hop to get here. I bet they cover a big chunk of Europe on a good night of skip.

so up to 300miles any direction.. 600 miles circumference is not to be sniffed at.

[Albert H]

Years ago, running a couple of hundred Watts (carrier!) on MW from near Breda in the Netherlands, we got regular reports from Austria, Spain and Italy. The interesting times of day were sunrise and sunset - weird things happen in the ionosphere, and relatively low power stations can really travel!

The only real problem with MW is the size of the aerial. We used to use "slopers" from tower block roofs, loaded against the building lightning rod, so it made a big inverted-V aerial. We got phenomenal coverage in the daytime with low power!