Saturday, March 28, 2009

London log

Was in London today, for the big "Put People First" demo against job losses.

On the coach down, an unidentified pirate was heard some way north of London (approx junction 7 of the M1) playing a loop tape of an advert for an event in Reading. By junction 6, this had been replaced on the frequency by the London pirate Platinum FM.

After the march arrived in Hyde Park and before the speeches started, I put my new radio to good use. It's a Roberts ecologic 1 DAB/FM with RDS radio. The RDS is actually more versatile than that on a car radio; as well as the station name, you can also see the Programme Type (PTY) and scrolling programme info. Not that the Programme Type is of much use in practice - many of the pirates selected "Talk" or "News" for this flag!

Anyroad, here is the list. Mostly pirates (or presumed pirates), unless otherwise stated.

87.5 Platinum FM, no RDS
87.7 NME Radio (RSL), RDS = N_M_E
89.4 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN
90.6 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN
90.8 Lightning FM, RDS = LIGHTNIN
91.6 Genesis Radio, no RDS
91.9 Pulse FM, RDS = PULSE_FM
93.8 Vibes FM, RDS = Vibes FM (Do not adjust your screen - it seems it is possible to have small letters in a station's RDS name!). Scrolling info RDS = "Vibes 93.8 FM. The People's Choice."
94.0 Touch FM, RDS = TOUCH'94
95.5 On Top FM, RDS name was scrolling
96.0 RDS = S-DANCE
96.4 Hot 96, no RDS
97.9 Passion FM, RDS = PASSION
99.3 RDS = SELECT_UK
99.5 Radio Galaxy, RDS = galaxy
106.4 Village Radio, no RDS
108.0 Unknown FM, RDS = UNKNOWN, scrolling info RDS included studio text number

Unidentified stations thought to be pirates (all no RDS except 94.5) were heard on 88.6, 89.8 (Station FM?), 92.2, 92.3, 94.5 (RDS name scrolling with an ad for an event), 97.6, 98.2, 99.1, 99.7, 100.2, 100.4, 101.2, 101.7
(Believe it or not, this is probably not an exhaustive list!)

In addition, ILR's Radio Jackie 107.8 (the ex-pirate) and 96.5 The Eagle were also heard.

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Monday, March 02, 2009

KBFM Leeds returns

Leeds based Asian RSL KBFM heard this evening, on 87.7. The RDS appeared to be the station's phone number.

Another Asian station heard more weakly (near Leeds) on 87.9, thought to be Radio Milad FM from Bradford.

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