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Old 30th Oct 2020, 8:56 pm   #21
kellymarie
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

I remember Atlantic 252 I have lots of recordings of it mostly because buying cassette was cheaper than buying CDs or records. I was sad when it closed I remember it was always a good signal in the day but nigh time was a bit difficult here in the South West the 750kW transmitter in Algeria was a real nuisance. When Atlantic 252 closed I moved to listening to Classic Gold and Capital Gold but now even they are gone it's sad really don't you think?
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Old 30th Oct 2020, 11:50 pm   #22
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Atlantic 252 helped during the early 1990s before Virgin Radio started when Radio 1 started to play just pop and dance, and Radio 2 was still an over 60's station.

Anyone who wanted some louder oldies to listen to and their local stations couldn't oblige would turn to A252.
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Old 31st Oct 2020, 12:05 am   #23
Andy Green
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

I remember delivering the Optimod to the transmitter site in 1989, got a quick tour round the two Continental txs. Got another. Is it after it closed while installing the latest Optimod for RTE when they put it back on air. Snagged a few souvenirs of A252. In the early 90s I was involved with Leonard Kahn And he sold them a ‘power side’ assynetric sudebq d u it which was a modified Kahn hazeltine am stereo excited. The idea was to cut the FTTH if phase distortion caused by a mix of sky wave and groundwave. The unit drifted out of calibration and the suppression got worse and it began to
Lower the overall
Modulation level so it was eventually abandoned. I saw it in a corner on my last vist to the site
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Old 31st Oct 2020, 2:38 am   #24
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

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Originally Posted by Andy Green View Post
I was involved with Leonard Kahn And he sold them a ‘power side’ assynetric sudebq d u it which was a modified Kahn hazeltine am stereo excited. T
That's interesting Andy. So does that mean the observation I made in post #15 was true, and there was a time when there was noticeably more energy in one of the sidebands?

And was the exciter ever used for its intended stereo purpose?
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Old 2nd Nov 2020, 11:09 am   #25
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

I do remember listening to Atlantic 252 when it opened. Reception was good on my elderly GEC G817 radio and I like the slightly different playlist than was offered on from BBC R1 and the commercial stations of the time.
I also remember seeing Atlantic 252 posters being put up in Bristol mostly on bus shelters.
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Old 2nd Nov 2020, 11:58 pm   #26
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

I do remember it being quite popular and knew many folk who listened to it. My brother had a MK1 Ford Transit camper van in about 1990 which had it's OEM 2 knob-job LW/MW radio. He used to blast Atlantic out of the radio in that, and that's when I remember first hearing 252. I remember them playing songs like Free's Alright Now, Blue's Brothers Everybody Needs Somebody, and Roxette Dressed For Success to name a few. It changed though in to a top 20 station, I guess to compete with Radio 1 when it moved to it's new 97-99Mhz FM frequencies. Didn't listen to it much after that although it did appeal to my age group, I was one those and still am who liked listening stuff before my time.
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Old 3rd Nov 2020, 12:12 pm   #27
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spec-chum View Post
I was one those and still am who liked listening stuff before my time.
There's more of us around that the broadcasters would have you think!

I don't think I bothered with Atlantic 252 much after 92-93, except for the forays to Western Scotland and the brief period when I owned an old Vauxhall that only had an MW/LW radio. There was too much choice available locally.
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Old 3rd Nov 2020, 3:22 pm   #28
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Hi. Yes I remember it well when living in Suffolk in the 1980's. It is a shame that it was forced to close. I refused to listen to BBC or ILR stations and grabbed at the chance to listen to long wave instead.
Cheers
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Old 3rd Nov 2020, 11:26 pm   #29
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

A pity we got no more information about assymetric sidebands. Posts #24 and #15.
It was getting very interesting around about there.

I have been thinking upon why it might help? If you had some interferer on one side or the other maybe?
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Old 4th Nov 2020, 1:23 pm   #30
colly0410
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Would some kind of miss-tuning or impedance miss-match of the 252 TX aerial or ATU gubbins cause asymmetrical sidebands? Or the optimod compressor or stone wall limiter being bit out of kilter? Just some random thoughts I've had...
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Old 4th Nov 2020, 1:32 pm   #31
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Over the years there have been various schemes for asymmetric-sideband things as a way to 'get more modulation' and sound louder without causing splatter; I remember circuits appearing in one of Pat Hawker's Tech Topics which showed a basic 2-diode speech-clipper with separately-variable reverse-bias and series-resistors for each diode, so you could adjust the threshold- and amount-of-clipping for both positive and negative signal-excursions.

The downside, I believe, was 'origin-shift': coupling-capacitiors would take up a DC charge because the average energy in the positive cycles exceeded that in the negative ones.

These days, DSP and 'pre-distortion' do it all for you in software.
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Old 5th Nov 2020, 11:15 pm   #32
Glowing Bits!
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Default Re: Atlantic 252 - Any memories??

Sure can remember this station.
As I was born in 1986, this station was a part of my childhood, the tunes back then are the tunes I still listen to nowadays, forever old skool I suppose.
The only bad memory of this station is it's inability to work under a pylon, all was fine when the car moved further away from it, night time was hit & miss, it went to reduced output.
A quick heads up for anyone who wishes to relive the good old days, go on to tune in, there are two variants of Atlantic, one plays modern stuff, the other is as close as it gets to the old station, jingles included but minus the DJ's.
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