doctors pirate radio

[mixfm]

doctors filmed in birmingham [ pirate radio ]

[teckniqs]

Watching most of that was absolute cringe but funny too.

...He's before my time but looks like they're blatantly portaying the DTi/Ofcom guy as the Birmingham version of Mr. Eric Gotts.

[mixfm]

i liked the veronica rig in the flat;;;

[teckniqs]

Nice find, love these random pirate related episodes.

[pirateaddict]

Spotted the old Veronica box as well..But the bloke wasn't even dti,was just a pillock..What would have really happened if some nosey twonk turned up like that in a studio back then?? An accident maybe?

[radionortheast]

the singing of endless love over the air, I couldn’t be more amused by this

[Persona Non Grata]

Sometimes the line between DTI guy and random pillok could be somewhat blurred as was the case of aforementioned Mr Gotts who had something of a reputation for going above and beyond even to the extent of embarking on unpaid and unsanctioned overtime

The Licenced amatuer fraternity had more than it's fair share of "random pilloks" although then again some of the biggest pirates I've ever encountered have been licenced hams.

[shuffy]

Gotts who had something of a reputation

Apparently even Eric Gotts' colleagues considered him obsessive. Up here we had a guy in the 70s/80s ("uncle" Gordon) with similar traits, borderline personal vendettas but not in Eric's league. Later when the former GPO "RIS" role went to the DTI, it got more business-like with less of these "characters". Actually in the 90s, I used to work with a couple of Gordon's ex-colleagues who didn't go across to the DTI and I regret not having more detailed conversations with them about their old roles. I know they had some great times though.

some of the biggest pirates I've ever encountered have been licenced hams

Certainly on the lower bands, never really encountered it on VHF unless you're talking about builders - definitely more than one licensee among the ranks (not mentioning any names - and it's not me).

I Must admit I quite enjoyed this Doctors episode, it's fluffy and not exactly taxing. They'd clearly done some research but it was a bit muddled, I'm sure in an early scene the DF gear shows 10GHz and the beam looks like it's for band III or something. So they were playing the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. As for singing on air? That's your resignation right there. Having said that, one guy ended up England's Eurovision act...

[Persona Non Grata]

I think I saw that programme (weirdly randomly stumbled into it after watching a video tape as one often did) back in the day. Seem to remember thinking if direction finding at 10GHz is a struggle for folk (like the DTI) with the resources of a nation state at their disposal how on earth can a "random pillow" manage it ?

[shuffy]

how on earth can a "random pillow" manage it ?

Well he's going to struggle on 10GHz with a Band III aerial!

I'd be the first to admit to being a "pillow" and I've built a bit of microwave stuff, but never tried to track a link. Can't imagine it being very easy - once you're close, I guess you're relying on local multipath unless you can get right in the beam. I'd say the pirate's holding most of the cards.

It's all a bit academic these days of course, because an internet based link direct to your TX is cheaper and just as secure and reliable as microwave.