On Emley Moor baht 'at

Visited Emley Moor today, for an IOSH Health & Safety course. (Now I'll at least know the safe way of installing antennas in dodgy places, LOL). This time, I stayed long enough to do a (almost) full bandscan:

87.7 Asian Air - Bradford - RSL - ASIANAIR
92.4 BBC Radio Leeds - BBC Local - BBC LEED
94.9 BBC Radio Lincolnshire - BBC Local - BBCLINCS
95.0 BBC Radio Tees - BBC Local
95.1 BBC Radio Manchester - Holme Moss - BBC Local - BBC MANC
95.3 BBC Radio Leeds - BBC Local
95.5 BBC Radio Lancashire - BBC Local - BBC LANC
95.9 BBC Radio Humberside -BBC Local - BBC HUMB
96.1 Rother FM - Rotherham - ILR
96.3 Radio Aire - Leeds - ILR - RAD AIRE
96.6 TFM Radio - Bilsdale - ILR - TFMRADIO
96.9 Viking FM - Hull - ILR - VIKING
97.2 Stray FM - Harrogate - ILR / community
97.5 Pulse FM - Bradford area - ILR
99.8 2BR - Burnley - ILR
100.0 Unidentified - very weak, splatter from Classic FM
100.7 Century Radio - North East - IRR
101.8 Branch FM - Dewsbury, West Yorkshire - ILR / community (Christian radio)
102.0 Dearne FM - Barnsley area - ILR
102.5 Pulse FM - Bradford area - ILR - PULSE1
102.7 BBC Radio Leeds - BBC Local
102.9 Hallam FM - South Yorkshire - ILR
103.2 Sunrise FM - Bradford ILR / community (Asian) - SUNRISE
103.4 Hallam FM - South Yorkshire - ILR - HALLAM
103.7 BBC Radio York - York - BBC Local - BBC YORK
104.1 BBC Radio Sheffield - Holme Moss - BBC Local - BBC SHEF
104.5 Peoples FM - Leeds - Pirate - PEOPLES
104.7 Minster FM - York - ILR - MINSTER
105.1 Galaxy - Emley Moor - IRR - GALAXY
105.4 Century Radio - North West - IRR
105.8 Galaxy - Yorkshire - IRR - GALAXY
106.2 Real Radio - Emley Moor - IRR - REAL
106.6 BCB - Bradford ILR / community - BCB 106-6
106.8 Ridings FM - Wakefield - ILR
107.1 Trax FM - Doncaster - ILR
107.6 Real Radio - Yorkshire - IRR - REAL
107.9 The New Pennine FM - Huddersfield - ILR - PENNINE

I didn't bother logging the 'nationals', as it sometimes gets difficult to tell which is a 'on-frequency' distant TX, and which is bleedover from a more local TX.

Slight lift from Holland

Slight tropo noticed this evening, a number of stations heard with variable-weak signals from 87.6 to 88.1 FM. None strong enough for RDS.

Only one was ID'd, namely Arrow Classic Rock on 87.7

Seasons Greetings

Merry Xmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Winter Solstice, or simply Seasons Greetings.

Tropo is still evident. In Bolsover this evening, from 18:30, the following were heard.

On 88.1 was Frequency FM, the Leeds pirate (confirmed by announcements). Surprisingly reasonable signal.

At the same time, there was evidence of substantially enhanced reception of stations from the south west. On 97.6 was Wyvern FM from the Herefordshire and Worcestershire area, while Beacon Radio 97.2 from Wolverhampton was strong enough for the RDS to be receivable
( _BEACON _ )

Also from the south west, on 87.7 was an Asian RSL with speech and chanting in an Asian language. Although virtually unidentifiable from announcements, an advert was heard for a supermarket in Smethwick, Birmingham. Ofcom RSL lists appear to identify the station as Radio Dashmesh.

Closer to home, Amber FM from the Heanor area was on 87.9. Very weak. Was playing Northern Soul music at the time.


So, quite a "catch" today. I doubt if Santa could do better on the radio in his flying sleigh :-)

We traverse afar ...

so said the "three kings of orient" in the Xmas carol. And today, so do radio waves, on the VHF FM band at least.

The high pressure over the UK which is currently causing the annoying fog is also responsible for the tropospheric ducting, well they say it's an ill wind that blows no good :-)

Following stations were noted in Clowne, from 17:00 -

87.7 CAZ FM. Dutch, probably from Flevoland on the north Holland coast. With scrolling RDS (at one point, "CAZ" was on the RDS). Mostly in a foreign language, Xmas greetings from pop stars (including Destiny's Child) were in English. Format is pop music, both recent and oldies.

91.7 Unidentified. Sounds German. Playing what sounded like Xmas music.

100.7 Q-Music. Belgian. Heard before. Freq not listed (perhaps West Vlaanderen on 100.8?)

106.4 Kiss FM from East Anglia. English (when some rap records played, still in English - just about!). RDS = __KISS__

106.9 Again unidentified, language sounded French.

No chance of "following yonder star" until the fog lifts, however ...

Seasons Greetings!

High Oredish, Matlock, log

Tonight I visited High Oredish - 3 miles east of Matlock in Derbyshire, on a high hill. Good view to the East, can see Bolsover Castle and beyond.

Radio reception is equally awesome - large list of stations audible, only significant ones listed here:

87.7 Rother FM is an RSL from Rotherham. Format and (especially) jingles package strongly suggest it is run by the Lincs FM group.

87.9 Vixen FM, an RSL from East Yorkshire. Interestingly, signal was much stronger than that of Rother FM. RDS was VIXEN_87

97.2 Beacon FM from Wolverhampton. Good catch considering the distance, and the hills to the west and south

107.9 Freeze FM, a "station of unconfirmed licence status", from Nottingham according to their website. I think I can safely say that Freeze FM, whether licenced or unlicenced, is a really good station which played good music and had clean audio. RDS was scrolling, as follows:
_FREEZE__
TXT_ONLY
07899
015 466

This was the contact mobile number, for text messages. Soon after I texted a reception report, the DJ kindly gave a "shout" to the "Matlock crew" and "Anthony P" - cheers!

The stations listed above are only the "tip of the iceberg", a full log (except the national networks) can be found here

The fun didn't end when I left Highoredish. Nearby, slightly lower down but on a side of the hill with better reception to the South and West, the following additional stations were heards:

• Fiza FM, the Leicester based Asian women's station, on 97.1. RDS = FIZA___
• Galaxy 102.2 from the West Midlands replaced Lincs FM on the frequency. Sister station to Galaxy 105 in Yorkshire, part of a large dance music network which is rapidly becoming INR4 ;-)
• Kerrang Radio, the heavy rock and metal station, on 105.2. Thought to be from the West Midlands. RDS = KERRANG_