Hi

My rig builder emailed and asked me what freq I would like him to tune it to, however i'm very new to setting up a station, and I need some guidance about how to choose a freq if possible please.

What's the best way to choose one?

Thankyou in advance

What area are you putting it on from?

Leeds area. There is quite a lot of space on the dial round here, there was a station a few years ago that was pretty well known called Frequency FM 88.1 but that's been off for time now. My builder advised me that the rigs components would better suited to lower down at the bottom end of the band.

The FM broadcast definately travels further on the bottom of the band, I think RF moved to 90.4 before going off air so 88.1 should still be OK as the only thing that could affect it is Heart 88.0 many miles away in Wrexham, go for it!!

Sounds good to me teck! Thanks for the reassurance!

Decided against 88.1 in the end, I took my receiver to the top of my house and tuned to 88.1 - some asian station (probably coming from bradford/batley/dewsbury) wailing prayers out at full volume. I've asked my builder to tune my rig to 87.9 instead, it's 100% clear of any other broadcasts. Best to be safe than sorry

Just to it the easy way, get a link on their STL frequency and send out your station over their TX. Job's a gudden!

That actually would be a hell of a lot easier, and much, much cheaper!!

And put the frequency to a good use....

It was just a silence on 90.4 a few days ago when I was in and around the area - can't pick it up where I live, but i'll see if I can hear anything tomorrow. I've no idea where the tx site is, but have a few ideas

triplestack wrote:Decided against 88.1 in the end, I took my receiver to the top of my house and tuned to 88.1 - some asian station (probably coming from bradford/batley/dewsbury) wailing prayers out at full volume. I've asked my builder to tune my rig to 87.9 instead, it's 100% clear of any other broadcasts. Best to be safe than sorry

Sounds like Ramadan FM is back on overmodulating as usual.

I wouldn't get too hung up on whether it is top or bottom of the band. There is an argument that middle is best because receive antennas and other tunable items in receivers are optimised for the middle and roll off slightly at either end of the band. But to be honest, top, bottom or middle will make naff all difference. The most important criteria by far is whether it's a clear channel, and the adjacent and next adjacent channels are clear or reasonably quiet. So take a scan up and down the band on a car radio and use your ears to get a shortlist of frequencies. Then take a tour round your intended coverage area and check which one seems cleanest on average. Be aware that 87.7 and 87.9 are used by RSLs from time to time, so may present more risk if one comes on nearby and complains about you.

From my own personal experience and many others I've spoken to, I've found the FM signal reaches much further at the bottom of the band than anywhere else.

teckniqs wrote:From my own personal experience and many others I've spoken to, I've found the FM signal reaches much further at the bottom of the band than anywhere else.

My rig builder explained that it was down to the specific components on the boards he is using that are "better-suited" to lower down the band. Something about how the components are designed for better performance in lower freqs than band 2? Can't remember exactly what he said now...

NOYB wrote:I wouldn't get too hung up on whether it is top or bottom of the band. There is an argument that middle is best because receive antennas and other tunable items in receivers are optimised for the middle and roll off slightly at either end of the band. But to be honest, top, bottom or middle will make naff all difference. The most important criteria by far is whether it's a clear channel, and the adjacent and next adjacent channels are clear or reasonably quiet. So take a scan up and down the band on a car radio and use your ears to get a shortlist of frequencies. Then take a tour round your intended coverage area and check which one seems cleanest on average. Be aware that 87.7 and 87.9 are used by RSLs from time to time, so may present more risk if one comes on nearby and complains about you.

Good point about the RSLs, Radio Ramadan is overmodulating at the moment, can hear it on 87.9, 88.00, 88.1, 88.2..... It's coming from Bradford. http://www.ramadan.co.uk/radio-ramadan.php

I live nearer Bradford than Leeds so that explains why I can hear themso clearly now. My TX site will now be in a different location, so I've asked my rig builder to tune it to 88.1 as planned originally. I don't want any complaints or headaches from legals so back to plan A for me.

I hear Buzz FM 88.1 are returning after 7 years off air in Manchester, but obviously with the Pennines and Peak District in the way you won't have much chance of interfering with each other even if at all.

They were originally 88.0 but moved to 88.1 due to the constant appearance of the RSL's.

Totally agree teck, the terrain would definitely prevent any interference, was on the M62 last week coming back from Liverpool on a stag do. Beautiful scenery to accompany my terrible terrible hangover!

It's a very well known fact that lower FM frequencies reach further, just look at band one for instance.