Author: Brian Greene

will be popping up everywhere from September 2017

If you miss the sounds of those old giants of shortwave like VOA, Radio Moscow et al, here is a site to pump your cans with sounds of powerful stations that traded their international diplomacy in a currency that was measured in kilowatts by the hundred.

The Shortwave Archive is gathering old recordings of large and small, regular and wonderful radio stations of the 1.6 to 30MHz bands. Enjoy.

There has been no announcement from RTE about where to hear the All Ireland hurling and football finals this year.

since the mid 1990s RTE has rented transmitter space to broadcast our national games across the continent of Africa.

Last year’s All Ireland hurling final was broadcast from 1300-1700 on 15320KHz with an impressive 250 kW from South Africa.

update: 03/09/2017 game time. No sign of RTE on 31m or 19m markers are to last years locations.

September 30th to Oct 1st BBC Radio 1 will celebrate 50 years on air with a pop up station featuring previous and current presenter each hosting 1 hour.

from Gazette
Foo Fighters will kick off a month of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio 1.

The US rockers will perform in the station’s iconic Live Lounge, but from their own studio in Los Angeles, on September 1 to launch the special event.

Jay Z, Chris Martin, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and The Killers are also among those taking part in Live Lounge Month.

I was asked to do a set of 10 voiceovers for Declan Ralph on 90.3 NEAR FM – I was happy to oblige

Here is the promo #10

Back in 2009 as The Boat That Rcked (Pirate Radio) was hitting the screens the following article was run in Focus On Film.

How did the stations mentioned fare over the last 8 years.

AM 1330 The Blaze at Arizona State University — Online Only
Edge Radio 106.7 — blog appears to be a click farm
WRPO-FM old website offline – now a low power station.
Pirate Cat Radio — Stream is down and blog is over 1 year out of date.
1.5 / 4 is the score card, the half point where an on air is now only online.

Modern Pirates on the airwaves: Richard Curtis’ Pirate Radio remembers a time when pirate radio was the only way outlaw stations could reach an audience hungry for new music. Since that period in the 60s, much has changed with broadcasting standards, internet communications and radio technology. We wanted to know, however, does pirate radio still exist, and what makes it necessary. Mike Johnston reports.

You don’t have to break out your eye patch or learn to preface every statement with “Aarrrrr” to be a modern radio pirate. All you really need is a computer and the desire to be heard. There is a potential audience of 1.6 billion internet users worldwide and, as the technology that enables digital broadcasting continues to evolve, its ability to compete with traditional analog radio also increases. For example, both Shoutcast and Ustream now have iPhone apps that allow listeners to receive digital broadcasts wherever they go. more….

Reading Where Great Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson last week. I learned that Lee deForest (the grandfather of radio) accidentally invented the Audion which went of to be the vacuum tube.

The story goes that a Bunsun burner in his bedroom laboratory in 1903 changed colour when he sparked his spark gap transmitter. What is a spark gap transmitter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8EgTyzG1gI

The spark gap transmitter is a descendent of an Irish invention. The Induction Coil was invented by Rev Nicholas Callan in Maynooth in 1836.

The blue flame of deForest’s Bunsen burner changed to red when the spark gap transmitter was activated. According to Johnson’s book this was an error. The flame change was not created by the massive all band electromagnetic pulse from the transmitter but was caused by more simple wave, an acoustic soundwave or air being pushed.

Never the less the error set deForest off on a tangent that would lead him to invent the Audion which was a very ineffective but much needed amplifier. The Audion was later improved by placing its gates inside a vacuum tube.

I was happy to believe this story until tonight I read a story on OneTubeRadio.com.

Possible truths
1. Lee deForest didn’t understand what he had invented
2. Flames do conduct electromagnetic waves
3. The Audion was not an efficient amplifier
4. The Vacuum Tube was the improvement the Audion needed.

So here is the really interesting thing, deForest though ignorance, blind faith and belligerence invented something from a scientific error that directly led to the ideal solution which is still used to this day in guitar amplifiers.

So sometimes mad scientists invent what conventional scientists will never discover because learned conventions mean they would never be barking at the wrong tree. All hail the mad scientist.

The Martello Tower in Howth was the scene of tests in the early 1900s for deForest and the British Post Office. At the Martello Tower today is The Hurdy Gurdy Radio Museum that has a real working Spark Gap Transmitter. If you ask them nicely they will demonstrate it for you.

1957 Lee de Forest This Is Your Life

The smallest radio station in the world 107.9 FM Radio Scilly Closedown Sequence – Radio Scilly Goes AUTOMATIC 7 days a week from 10PM TO 7AM

Wikipedia says

Radio Scilly is a not for profit, non-profit distributing community radio station. It launched at 2 pm on 3 September 2007, and broadcasts to 2,100 residents of the Isles of Scilly.

It broadcasts on FM on 107.9 MHz from the existing radio mast by the Coastguard Tower at Telegraph on St. Mary’s island. Currently, BBC Radio Cornwall transmits from there on 96 MHz. Tests show that all of the Isles of Scilly can be covered from this site, and the transmitter output power is 100 watts vertical polarisation, although the station is licensed for up to 200 watts mixed polarisation.
It claims to be the world’s smallest radio station, due to the small number of residents on the islands, and the fact that reception beyond islands is very limited (reception is possible in St. Just in Cornwall). However, its licensed service area population is slightly larger than that of the UK’s smallest licensed station Two Lochs Radio which broadcasts to an official service area population of just 1,681.

Every good pirate radio ship needs a good anchor. Testing Anchor.FM app for what is says is ‘radio reinvented’

Made for DCTV by broadcast historian Eddie Bohan this is Dublin Pirate Days. Episodes 1 & 5 are missing in action but I hope to source them. There is some great content here, but do excuse the audio quality which suffered in the production budget.