Remember tuning over this, the dj was talking to someone said pirate was effecting her signal or something, the guy got on about said something don't they usually have their transmitters in biscuit tins, might of been an asian pirate. This was going back a long way, pre 2004 at least, between 1996 and that time.

Wonder what that station was that had its a transmitter in a biscuit tin, I think the whole idea came from the earlier arena documentery. I think biscuit tins rust, their compleatly sealed there would no air flow to anything inside, there also flimsy too, chance something could short circuit, gromits would be needed round cable entry points too.

Heres the first documentary I ever saw about pirates in hackney from the area night, it shows the biscuit tin transmitter about 7 minutes in its full glory, think they'd have it in a hair dyer like everyone else.

radionortheast wrote: ↑Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:25 pm

Heres the first documentary I ever saw about pirates in hackney from the area night, it shows the biscuit tin transmitter about 7 minutes in its full glory, think they'd have it in a hair dyer like everyone else.

I remember pre booking the TV for the day this was first broadcast. I was so excited for it because I was immersed in it in Yorkshire and that was the first opportunity to see how it was being done in the UK's pirate epicenter of London City. Safe to say we were probably a bit better equipped studios than the majority except Kiss and the top dogs. The whole underground scene was really lively then, so much new music, evolving technology and so on.

Theres the playlist for arena radio night, incase anyone is interested in it

Ive operated plenty of biscuit tin transmitters back in the day. Not everyone lived around the corner from a Maplin store (I guess these days nobody does). Ventilation/cooling is only a major issue at higher power levels and a small PC fan with a few holes drilled in the biscuit tin takes care of that. There are also various methods to hold boards in place and mitigate the risk of shorting.

Biscuit tin transmitters are not necessarily crap. A crap transmitter is a crap transmitter regardless of what (if anything) it's housed in.

I think biscuit tins rust

Depends on where/how theyre stored.

Resisting the temptation to poke a biscuit tin as the noise when pops out is not very nice. Outside of this documentery i’ve only ever seen them in long oblong boxes with what looks like a pc fan in side. I don’t know much about this, suspect there was some unpleasauntness involved installing this stuff, don’t know weather to leave it alone, does take away something from it, curosity did kill the cat in the end.

I thought they were left alone for a few months, not taken every week, I do feel sorry for Lee getting convictions over it, wouldn’t want to encourage him or anyone to go back into it, just because liked tuning over them on a weekend. I did think about it getting someone to relay some tunes over leeds, as they’ve got nothing, leave the hamster dance. Maybe better living away from cities, if you still want to do it, low power not bother anyone cause problems for others some were, people have the know how to make clean transmitters. personally I can't follow the instructions on anorak's corner.