had something on 87.5 today in leyton, sounded like african

There's always something on 87.5 MHz pretty much wherever you go in London. It seems to be the favourite frequency for those little iPod transmitters. It's quite amusing to drive past a line of stationary traffic, tuned to 87.5 MHz on the car radio, and hear what's being "broadcast" by many of the cars!

Yes! - and try to figure out which car it's coming from, this can keep me amused when stuck in traffic! - had some Spanish music coming thru the other day and was looking all around..... is it that one.... what about him.... then spotted a car with a Barcelona FC thing in the back window... IT'S HIM!!!!! - sure enough as we parted.... it went..... this probably says more about the state of my life to be honest...

I thought that these really local car things were normally set on 87.7fm

famefm wrote:I thought that these really local car things were normally set on 87.7fm

What planet did you hear that from?

Some have presets, some can be tuned anywhere. If you've got a freely tuneable one, you'll probably find it comes straight on 87.5 when you first turn it on, and in most parts of the country that's usually the clearest freq, so that's why you'll find most "iTrip"s on 87.5. I've come across them all over the place, but you're most likely to hear them on 87.5.

I sometimes even pick these things up on the SDR at home if a particularly strong one is being used in a car nearby.

There is somebody in my street who has one and uses it to link their Freeview / Sky / cable box to the radio, often watching Bollywood films. I can just about pick it up, but sometimes the signal is a bit stronger. One time it was strong enough to have a wander about and pinpoint what end of the street it was coming from. I'm determined to figure out which house it is one day.

4therecord wrote:this probably says more about the state of my life to be honest...

I know the feeling

I didn't say I was completely sure and was a few years ago because nothing legal comes on below 877 and it could be what you said that the equipment will work that low down?

Most of those little car transmitters aren't "legal" either. The authorities ignore them because there's just too many of the damn things to do much about it.

Talking of 87.5, Raw coming in nicely via the big tropo opening this evening They just gave a shout out to somebody in Portsmouth. A mix of Netherlands and London in various spot on the dial in Bristol tonight.

Some of the distance reception will be down to the high pressure weather system we have at the moment

It's also enoying if you want to pick a station like select 99.3 because you get radio one instead every time when it's high pressure and I'm only 20 miles from London

I just checked again and I have radio one on 99.7 as well and that never happens here?

one set up here playing a mix of eminem and trance, another very strange one would go throught the village at exactly sametime about 4 o clock each day, it could be heard throught out the village on 87.75 was just a blank carrier, one time i heard something it sounded like a childrens nursery rhyme on it, often heard taxi cabs playing bhangra.

it can be annoying if your testing going round and your radio has a soft mute on it, then you'll get deafened by them. you hear more of them up here than actual pirates, suprized someone hasn't started a blog on them! I must of heard 100's

radionortheast wrote:one time i heard something it sounded like a childrens nursery rhyme on it, often heard taxi cabs playing bhangra.

Yeah, I've heard talking books (faded in, said something about a mad professor, and then the signal went again), one-sided phone conversations, strange African or Arabic music... I've been on trains and picked up iTrips on the Tecsun as the train goes over a road, or pulls in to a station right next to the car park.

This thread has about three conversations going in it now

you could pick up an awful lot on a bridge over a motorway, some of them have rds you could collect the pi code, thats what some people with like other radio stations do but I don’t get it myself! maybe dosen't seem that interesting. some use the transmitters when they have a christmas display thought i’ve not heard them myself, would be funny if someone put the frequency they where using up in the back of their car and put on their own private show for the car traveling behide, i’ve often wondered what private radio was think i saw it mentioned in the nrg workshop.

A 50mW exciter on the right freq traveling down the motorway could be fun, blotting out Radio 1 or something, but you'd have to play something short and worthwhile.

they are quite good in some places around herts and then compleatly missing in others patches .