More power and frequencies for community radio stations

[biggiedan]

Did you see ofcom is giving community radio stations more power and frequencies. I thought flex or rinse might apply for more power but i did not see them on the list.

Source: https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/10/ofcom- ... -stations/

[wazza]

It does say they haven't finished processing the applications yet so the list will increase over time. I wonder how much extra power they've been given? The stations around this way don't seem to get out that well - the pirates have always had better coverage.

[Lordunderground]

Interesting, they had to do it.

There was a community station here that used 25 watts from a sparsely populated village, outside the village it was only audible by car radio for a short distance. The licenses request a certain output of live content, but it is not worth doing. Throw into the mix listeners split across modern platforms too, without more power it's simply not viable.

[fmuser877]

Has Funky 103.7 increased its signal as seems to be better for me?

[house-every-weekend]

Shouldn't be allowed. It's just clogging up the band with shite and higher power taking away valuable spectrum that could have been used for something decent instead. I remember when all you were allowed to run was 1W and mono too

[house-every-weekend]

Some of them are getting extra relays on different freqs. Some power increases, some 'coverage improvements'. Inspire FM (Luton). Already gets out way too far broadcasting their islamic propaganda.

[Lordunderground]

Has Funky 103.7 increased its signal as seems to be better for me?

No; as per my previous post in outer London area

As for the signal it may hit out well SE Essex and beyond, but for NW Essex just a few miles from Southend it's total pony - drowned out by 103.5 BBC SX. Some pirates and community stations from London are more audible.

[teckniqs]

That's the problem these days, Ofcom are clueless when it comes to allocating frequencies!

[Albert H]

The biggest problem is the BBC. Their Band II frequency allocations are based on the ones they were given in the 1950s. In those days, domestic receivers were quite deaf, and selectivity was dreadful - separating two stations 1 MHz apart was tricky!

The BBC national stations - Light, Third and Home - were spread from 88 - 96 MHz around the country, with little re-use of frequencies. This situation still exists, despite the massive improvement in receiver technology. In much of Europe, national stations are (usually) on an adjacent pair of frequencies, and AFC would largely handle the necessary re-tuning as you drove around the country. In the UK, the widely spread frequencies made RDS (with its "AF" data) a necessity.

Back in the late 1970s, a Government-commissioned examination of Band II (the "Wise Report") suggested keeping the BBC nationals below 92 MHz, and suggested "classes" of stations at varying power levels up the band in "sub-bands". Of course this was too sensible for the BBC and they squashed it.

[teckniqs]

This is nothing new, they have been handing out power increases left right and centre to 'community' stations since they started.

[Albert H]

Some of them are getting extra relays on different freqs. Some power increases, some 'coverage improvements'. Inspire FM (Luton). Already gets out way too far broadcasting their islamic propaganda.

If you find it offensive (and it is), JAM IT!!! Make sure nobody can be indoctrinated by it.