Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

AS well as the Maidstone studios programmes are produced in many different locations and home studios. Long-standing breakfast presenter Tony Paul does his show from California.

The Ross Revenge and Radio Caroline are the broadcasting equivalent of an enthusiast-run steam railway.

The power increase will only be a matter of three or four dB – how that pans out in practice remains to be seen. I probably won’t notice much difference to the daytime signal here – weather conditions or, rather, ground conductivity seem to have more effect with the signal noticeably poorer during dry spells – and I doubt it will overcome to co-channel interference that makes 648 unlistenable here during the hours of darkness.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Pity they can't go back to 50kW or as DLT used to proudly say '50 milli megawatts of power....'

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

They are about to run their annual fund raiser and from their own website they are planning to increase their coverage. They also indicated that to me in a recent communication, so maybe they are planning to add another transmitter?

From their website....

'It promises to be another exciting year ahead for Radio Caroline. We are planning a substantial improvement in our broadcast coverage, and we must make vital and costly repairs to the Ross Revenge. But we can only do this with your support.'

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Picking it up in mid Lincolnshire, south east of the city, on a Realistic DX-302 receiver at an 'indicated' S6, with outside tree aerial which is not particularly resonant at this frequency - sound quality being what you'd expect from this model and type of receiver. Switched on the Bush DAC90A and received it weakly with a lot of background noise. However, moved the radio to a position near and in front of a window and reception is now very listenable, but with some background noise - obviously just using its own internal aerial. Have now switched off the Realistic receiver and am happily listening to Caroline on the Bush radio - although not for long, as I'm supposed to be getting on with jobs outside!

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Oops but all those counties in the bottom right hand corner of the map do look rather similar from up here....

Sorry
David

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Very decent signal from Caroline now here in Cambridge. Its relatively 'bright' signal processing encourages use of a little treble cut which reduces background hash. I was admiring the performance of the Pye 39 J/H and the PCR2 fed from the Wellbrook loop, then dug out my little Tecsun PL-380 which put the big vintage mains sets to shame - all on its own tiny ferrite rod aerial.

It does seem that satisfactory medium wave performance nowadays requires a directional 'magnetic' aerial to reject local interference which dominates the electric near field. Also it seems beneficial to avoid the mains supply and use a battery set.

Martin

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Another ICF-2001 and just about receivable (one bar) during the day from Seaford East Sussex, better at night. We are surrounded by South Downs hills which probably doesn't help.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

You can blame Gerardus Mercator for that;)

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Clear signal here (Dudley area) using R1155 and ex-RAF loop aerial, too much noise with long wire, Mike.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Details of the Orford Ness site can be found here:
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallery...54&pageid=1656
I believe Caroline moved from the standby site to the main site but driving just one of the 5 masts. It will be interesting to discover if the improved coverage in Kent, referred to by Ofcom, will be achieved just by increasing power or by driving additional masts to change the radiation pattern.

Radio Caroline have replied to my enquiry as follows:
Thanks for getting in touch. It seems OfCom rather pipped us to the post with this announcement as we were due to announce it during our August Fundraiser next week.

At this point we can say no more, and in fact I personally don't even know more as the actual coverage won't be known until the day the power is increased.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

This thread made me want to try my Philips D2935 which has done no work for a long time. 3x Leaky AA Duracells removed from the backup battery position. Corrosion to springs and contacts not too bad.

Caroline reception good on ferrite rod away from house during daytime. If it is still to increase in power it will be appreciated.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Unfortunatley Caroline is still only just detectable here on 648 the signal is still very weak but hopefully things will improve. Receiver is a yaesu FT 817 on a 60 foot wire earth is a 4 foot steak

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

In Leeds the reception varies. Because I live down a hill there is background noise accompanying the reception, sometimes marring the station.
However, when I took the Bush TR130 radio to east Leeds at Temple Newsam Park (near where I once lived) the reception is really great mainly because it is on a hill.
Hopefully when the tx power is increased some improvements will be made.
Mike

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

I get Radio Caroline here in the daytime with a noisy signal on a long wire and the Murphy B40D.

It is better, even listenable, with a Roberts R600 and a hastily assembled MW loop. Only outside though, there is too much noise inside, from next door I think. See picture below.

Loop is made from a 70cm diameter hula hoop with eight turns of insulated wire inside and a cheap tuning capacitor.

William

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Lots of you trying our receiving Caroline as a result of this thread. Just to be clear, they have not yet increased their power output.

They will be announcing more over this weekend during their annual fund raiser.

Reckon many more will be able to receive them soon, and those with fringe reception will be pleased to get a clear signal.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

PS - Nigel from Caroline is aware of this thread and has been reading it, but they won't comment further until the power increase takes place. Too many unknowns I suspect including of course how much they raise!

What is great to see if their continued commitment to the band.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Whenever I am able to get to the east coast, I endeavour to take the radio with me. The reception is really great at Scarborough, Cayton Bay, and Hornsea. It is amazing how great the 1960's transistor radios are in receiving Radio Caroline. I also try and take my Tee Shirt with the Ross Revenge in red for a bit of publicity. Many people still think that the station finished in 1980 (no thanks to the Press).
I bought the Tee Shirt at an event at Felixstowe (Suffolk) in 2017 when the commemorative stone was laid at a cliff side garden. What a brilliant day out! There were also vintage radios on display
I hope that more money is donated to the station in order that they achieve their goals. We (as a nation) actually owe Radio Caroline (and the other former offshore stations) a great debt for what they achieved.
Because my (now late) father once informed my brother (Nigel) & myself about "not to listen" to the offshore stations in the 1960's, well we actually got a "third degree lecture" about it. And all because he worked on a "Top Secret Site" in Suffolk at Orford Ness. You can imagine how determined it made me to see Caroline legalized. His actions were not his fault, but how his employers projected it! No wonder he was seriously ill later!
Cheers
Mike

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Nothing here in Cardiff, unsurprisingly. That whole area of the MW band seems to be fairly quiet.

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

There used to be one of these at ORF, sat doing nothing (?):

https://www.transmitter.be/tel-s4005.html

... I bet the Caroline team have drooled at the possibilities :)

Guy

Re: Radio Caroline Power Increase
 

Apparently the Cobra Mist TX used to run 10MW, though that wasn't a broadcast transmitter of course.