Merseyside

[g33ky]

Lol , I remember my mum having a similar rant at me once, thankfully the mic wasn’t up, but a lad near me got a bollocking on air as he left the mic up and it went on for quite a while , you reminded me of that ha, I can’t get this station at mine, must be very weak.

I recorded about half an hour of the station, heres the clip I mentioned. I still can barely understand whats being said (again volume warning) http://www.g33ky.xyz/87.7_kids_dad.mp4.

[g33ky]

UPDATE: I have figured out the station. It is "Childwall Community Radio" from Liverpool, an RSL for 6 days apparently. The station seems to be modulating normally this evening. RDS is "CCR FM", managed to catch it while up a hill. Funnily enough I was driving through Childwall on my way home and I couldn't get CCR because a car behind me had an in-car TX on the same freq. Nice one Ofcom...

However... when I was driving around trying to get a good signal I did notice this other station continually cutting in. I initially thought an in-car TX until I went to an empty road and it was still cutting in. Will have to take a look and see if it's still there after this RSL is over.

[LeeCavanagh]

Yes you are right there, ‘Nice one ofcom”.

[Matt]

After reading this thread yesterday I tuned into 87.7 on the way home from work and caught the end of a song and then a bit of an interview with an animator. It was fading in and out but it was just about listenable (in anorak terms, anyway).

Then, the other 87.7 station started to fade in as I drove on. It's that occasional one that comes on once every couple of weeks, just for a couple of hours, with just music. I can't imagine it'll be back before the end of the RSL, given its usual pattern of broadcasting.

[g33ky]

Seems to still be having some modulation issues, quiet like yesterday then back to normal volume, very choppy audio at times. Actually getting wiped out by Spanish SpE at times.

[LeeCavanagh]

I thought all community stations had to meet a minimum spec to be allowed on the air, or have someone official come sign off before they could broadcast, clearly Im Wrong

[LeeCavanagh]

Didn’t that pirate onn87.7 used to only come on at weekends? Are they now also randomly coming on during the week too?

[g33ky]

I thought all community stations had to meet a minimum spec to be allowed on the air, or have someone official come sign off before they could broadcast, clearly Im Wrong

As this is an RSL I don't know if the rules are the same, but I hope they can fix the issues as they're only on for six days lol. There's very little info about the station online; can't see anything on the Ofcom website, only reason I know it's six days is because of a Facebook post I found.

With regards to that other station on 87.7, I assumed the same as you but as it seems entirely random as to when it's on we're probably missing half the times it is on. I'm always scanning around in Liverpool to check for stuff (what else do you do in traffic jams ) but dont usually see anything of significance, only main thing right now is that thing on 108.

[teckniqs]

What's on 108 is that M.A.R?

[Matt]

There's no real pattern to 87.7 at all. It's as likely to be on on a weekday as a weekend.

108 was actually listenable with no distortion one evening last week! It's not MAR, it's random speech stuff. American lectures, dramas, talk radio... usually distorted and often to the point of of making it unlistenable. It seems to be always on, with a blank carrier first thing and audio pretty much every day early evening.

[g33ky]

There's no real pattern to 87.7 at all. It's as likely to be on on a weekday as a weekend.

108 was actually listenable with no distortion one evening last week! It's not MAR, it's random speech stuff. American lectures, dramas, talk radio... usually distorted and often to the point of of making it unlistenable. It seems to be always on, with a blank carrier first thing and audio pretty much every day early evening.

108 was on at 8am the other day, nothing better than conspiracy theories to wake you up in the morning! Whoever is using that TX must be a proper nutter as they seem to listen to this stuff all day .

[Matt]

Meant to post earlier in the week but didn't get round to it. There were a couple of bits on over the weekend. 87.7 was on for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday. That's the first time I've heard them two days in a row. Sunday was interesting... A live performance by the cure followed by a Sash album then off

108 is still doing its thing, usually distorted, with dramas, speech, lectures etc. Often unlistenable. I don't get this station at all

Also this weekend, there was a rare appearance from Concept on 100.8 on Sunday afternoon and evening.

[g33ky]

Meant to post earlier in the week but didn't get round to it. There were a couple of bits on over the weekend. 87.7 was on for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday. That's the first time I've heard them two days in a row. Sunday was interesting... A live performance by the cure followed by a Sash album then off

108 is still doing its thing, usually distorted, with dramas, speech, lectures etc. Often unlistenable. I don't get this station at all

Also this weekend, there was a rare appearance from Concept on 100.8 on Sunday afternoon and evening.

I heard 100.8 when I was driving around, comes on maybe once a year for a bank holiday weekend. Didn't see anything on 87.7 throughout the weekend, was often checking my SDR but didn't spot anything on there.

Not sure when you heard dramas on 108, every time I drive around there its always either conspiracy talk shows or right-wing talk shows.

Additionally, there is an SDR in Warrington which occasionally pops up. I tuned it into 101.4 the other day and heard back-to-back pop music, no IDs even through 4 songs. Not a great signal on the SDR, and I get nothing around where I am. You hearing anything Lee?

[Matt]

100.8 does tend to be strictly bank holiday weekends although they did do a few Sundays in a row earlier in the year during the lockdown. It used to be Central but it's Concept now.

87.7 did their usual early evening shifts when they were on this weekend - about 5.30 to 7.30ish, although it was off a little earlier than usual on the Sunday.

108 does tend to be either dead air, lectures or conspiracy stuff (and Talk Radio on one occasion) but it is occasionally dramas, complete with sound effects. When I've heard that it's usually around 6-6.30ish. Unfortunately, it's usually so distorted that you can't work out what's going on. Next time I hear something like that I'll get a recording and post it.

I've never heard 101.4 but I'm not over Warrington way much.

[LeeCavanagh]

Additionally, there is an SDR in Warrington which occasionally pops up. I tuned it into 101.4 the other day and heard back-to-back pop music, no IDs even through 4 songs. Not a great signal on the SDR, and I get nothing around where I am. You hearing anything Lee?

Hi mate, hope you are well, sorry i missed this message until just now. I’ve not had a radio on for about 2 months, i know i know, what’s happened to my anorak geekiness, it will come back again soon no doubt.

As for 101.4. I will make a point of scanning, if you do happen to hear it, feel free to text me on my mobile, if you kept the number.
When does it usually come on? You mention other day, does that mean daytime? Weekend? Or at night?

[g33ky]

Additionally, there is an SDR in Warrington which occasionally pops up. I tuned it into 101.4 the other day and heard back-to-back pop music, no IDs even through 4 songs. Not a great signal on the SDR, and I get nothing around where I am. You hearing anything Lee?

Hi mate, hope you are well, sorry i missed this message until just now. I’ve not had a radio on for about 2 months, i know i know, what’s happened to my anorak geekiness, it will come back again soon no doubt.

As for 101.4. I will make a point of scanning, if you do happen to hear it, feel free to text me on my mobile, if you kept the number.
When does it usually come on? You mention other day, does that mean daytime? Weekend? Or at night?

It's alright lad, we all have other stuff to attend to . I think this would have been on the bank holiday weekend, evening time, but I can't remember now. It may be on often, but this SDR in Warrington only comes on occasionally and is the only place I can hear it. I'll keep my ears open .

[g33ky]

It's alright lad, we all have other stuff to attend to . I think this would have been on the bank holiday weekend, evening time, but I can't remember now. It may be on often, but this SDR in Warrington only comes on occasionally and is the only place I can hear it. I'll keep my ears open .

This 101.4 signal seems to be coming from Manchester. RDS is "TEST", PI code 66B6 which isn't a proper PI code for the UK. Dunno if its a pirate testing or a legal station testing though, very odd.

[mixfm]

maybe bass fm testing..

[g33ky]

87.7 has been on again tonight with it's eclectic mix of music. Big news though, the station actually ID'd this time! Unfortunately, I was very unlucky and only managed to catch the second half of the ID as I was at the same time monitoring 108Mhz as I've had some odd signals on this throughout the day. I cut back to 87.7 mid-way through the ID so all I got was "on 87.7 FM, hope you enjoyed the show!" in a high-pitched chipmunk-like voice, then the TX turned off about 10 minutes later after some closedown music. Very annoyed at myself now for missing that ID as this station is annoying to catch .

[Matt]

Gutted that I missed that! I had it on on Saturday but I wasn't exactly listening as there were a load of kids round ours.

What's been happening on 108 over your way? Over here, it's that same station that's pumping out the dramas, documentaries but I'm guessing you've heard something else.