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LOGS / NEWS - MAY 2017 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
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It is not too often we advertise something on this dx site. In fact, the last item was a receiver I was selling. But I would just like to give a plug if I may to a new radio book which has been published, which coincides with 50 years since the closedowns of 1967 of the offshore pirates, except Caroline. And of course to coincide with the granting on an AM licence to the afore mentioned Caroline. A few samples of the book are inluded below, and links to the main supplier.There may be other outlets, and Stuart may well add some corrections. The book itself is going to be a great read. I have not taken time to sit down and read it as yet, but rather jumping in at the odd page and having a sniffter, and had to end up pinching myself to put it down. So yes, another Offshore Radio book is now on the shelf that is well worth a read. Maybe a more in depth review will be on these pages soon. http://www.stuartvint.com/book.html
Here in Scotland, we are going through a very good spell of dry weather, which resulted in much outside work being done here.... But it really is time to put in an appearance here on the web site. No updates have been done in over a year. My main problem is having too much work on, which is of course a good complaint!!! But it doesn't have knock lumps out the dxing time. At the end of May, we are sizzling in a red hot Scotland, and I am still trying to work through many outside jobs that need done around the place in the limited time I have these days. Not least the unfortunate job of digging drains and unblocking!!! Well someone has to do it!! I do not have any servants, so needs must...lol... I had a message from AB re any dxing and UK first known logs etc for this past winter. Believe it or not, I have had such poor reception most days I try recording, that I really have not been recording very much at all. I am still convinced I need to buy a new 300m run of coax, decent stuff this time. More on this during the summer hopefully... I was perhaps inspired that things may not be as bad as they seem, when I met dx pal Paul C on his walking trips locally. Some mornings he reported, there is absolutely nothing. This lack of signals I was not at all used to, having had a 500m or so beverage up for many a year. Hence I am convinced it is not all band conditions that is the trouble. It was also good to be off last Saturday when a bit of sporadic e showed on band 2. I was only using a vertical antenna, as I couldn't see the feeder for VHF Yaggi. Also wasn't set up with Elad or FM+ yet. Shack is in a state of disrepair... Again I hope for improvements soon!! Oh yes, and I do know about the latest pages that have a few duff links in them. I shall endeavour to repair, as I am late for a local busy tourist day as it is.....
PERSEUS LAST UPDATE: It was pubicly stated a few weeks ago that the Perseus software will cease to be developed. This is a great pity, for it is the best gui I have used in MW dxing. There is not much chance I would gather, of anyone else taking over development in the serious hard code way Nico did. We still have fine receivers, but for the software development, I guess that's it.
RECORD MIRROR UPDATES: Anyone of a certain vintage may well remember the radio articles in Record Mirror magazine some years ago. In fact during the Dutch offshore era in 1973 - 1974 there was so much weekly coverage of the radio scene that it becam a weekly paper for many of the day. Including myself. But years ago everything was thrown out in clearances, which at the time infuriated me as a young lad. Radio Times, comics, pop magazines, eg Fab 208, Music Star, Popswop, etc. My precious Record Mirrors - all gone. Now many years later, I have been slowly trying to buy back my collection of at least Record Mirrors. I have done well so far, with only a few gaps still to fill. The updated pages are available here. =================================
I have made some old notes available below that were made with good faith to upload to this blog, but the entries were never finished, and thus left to rot on a drive. But I have left them at the bottom of this page, because once finished, at least my Irish weekend away will be documented properly and on line in a better place. ====================================== FINALLY AN UPDATE (OCTOBER 2016!!): Here in Scotland this summer, time has been limited again due to work. This is a good thing of course, but it don't half take it's toll on my dxing. I have already started to prepare pages for July and August, but nothing got as far as publishing!! At least now in late Speptember, I am beginning to hear some dx again, and this of course brings with it the old enthusiasm.
SCRUB THAT, IT IS NOW OCTOBER!!! Well it is October now, and still struggling to get some updates on these pages made. But there has been little in the way of dx to encourage!! I have been recording, but have not really had anything too exciting of late. In August there were some SS stations that may well have been of interest. I still have these files to go through and delete where necessary. A few logs over the last few months are included here more so as I can go back to the files and try and identify the signals.... ******************************** LOGS FOR OCTOBER 2016
891 Radio
538 with loop ann of am closure 3/10 0600
******************************** IRELAND AGAIN AFTER 35 YEARS: (NB: THIS STORY REMAINS INCOMPLETE SO FAR, BUT THE PLAN IS TO AT LEAST FINISH OFF THE TALE....) ========================================== One thing I have done that has given me some radio / dxing inspiration, is to go away for a short trip to Ireland again. This happened on 30th September 2016, Friday, until Sunday night, 2nd October. It was 35 years ago this summer when four young fellows went on holiday to explore the Irish pirate radio stations of the early 1980's, and ended up visiting around 30 stations. These were commercial seven day a week radio stations, and not your stereotype Sunday hobby pirate. One of us now lives out in Thailand, so it was not very practical to have the four of us together again, which last happened in 1985 at a Caroline Convention in London!! But the three that still reside in the UK had been planning this trip for a number of months. My other old pal, Ian formerly from Scotland was going to drive this time around. Gary drove all around Ireland in 1981, mainly because none of the rest of us could at the time!! I had taken a train to the village. Three trains actually by the time I had found my way from my own village to Glasgow. On the main Glasgow / Preston train, I was sitting quietly on a seat myself when three young fellas appeared with cases of beer and sat across the passage.Oh christ I thought. This always happens to me. But I couldn't have been more wrong. They were three students, heading home from after being at a Man City game in Glasgow. Football fans, young guys, loads of drink, and the young lads could not have been more mannerly and cool young dudes!! In fact they were so cool that they shared their beer with me!! I had to meet up near Blackpool at my old pal Gary's qth. The village he lives in still has a lovely market area in the centre, with privately owned shops, eg a small bakers shop that was qued to the door at lunchtimes. There are also lovely welcoming quaint very typical English pubs. The pub we met up in seemed to be heaving on a Thursday night for my arrival around 7pm. I had not been to visit in around 16 years, so this was just such a great opportunity to be able to go and catch up with old friends. In the morning when Ian showed to pick us up, it was kind of nostalgic, thinking back to the time many years ago when we all met up in Manchester City Centre. We had no phones in those day, yet still managed to meet up around the Picadilly area. As we neared the junction of the M6 where we split to join the road to North Wales and the Holyhead ferry, traffic backed up to a horrendous level, and we were at a virtual standstill. I was glad that Ian was at the wheel. I was also glad I didn't have to try to make my way through traffic like this every day to get to work. The ferry crossing was by the modern fast ferry. Up on deck it was very windy though I suspect the previous days winds would have been amplified at sea. I think I had a big boozy looking weather beaten face for a few days after this!! This time around we were not loaded down with Grundig radio's and heavy gear, and especially not myself, travelling by train. Gary was taking a pair of his mp3 recorders, Taskam DR-07, and Roland R-05. Like in days gone by, the first port of call was to be Drogheda, home of former Boyneside Radio, and at one time also to splinter group Community Radio Drogheda.
DROGHEDA AND MILL LANE 2016 We arrived in Drogheda by way of the old Rossnarea Hotel on the Dublin Road, which was the former home to Boyneside's powerful 1305kHz transmitter. Drogheda was a very busy town on a Friday afternoon. So the first thing we did was find where our B&B was. As it turned out, it was a stone's throw from the old radio station, so we ended up parking up for the night in the fellow's car park, and booking in. Dennis that owned the place was a hell of a nice chap, and your typical stereotype Irish man. Amusing stories to tell, liked a pint, and not forgetting serving a hearty breakfast the next morning to strart the day. Our first place on the imaginary list to visit, was the old studios at 14 Mill Lane, just off Trinity Street, by Donnaghy's Mill. When we walked down the quiet little street, where we were pretty taken aback to find the building that was once the studios of Boyneside Radio, a large commercial radio station in the 1980's, had no roof. The poor little building looked so forlorn and forgotten at the bottom of Mill Lane, sitting all boarded up in the shadow of the old abandoned mill. Now there was a large fence around the mill building to keep out whoever. Boyneside Radio formerly had transmitters in the mill building itself, including the one we had seen in 1981. Google Street view in 2010 shows a roofed building, though boarded up. There were a few antennas on the chimney at the mill, but later on that day, Heddy Eddie told us the aerials were to do with something else, and were not the remains of pirate radio from 30 years ago.... which would have been a nice romantic thought after all this time. In 1981 we had gone along to the Kings Cafe on Trinity Street. Sadly it was gone, and a larger Italian resturant in its place. We had also gone for a pint in the pub just at the top of Mill Lane back in 1981. There was a pub there in 2016 called Donaghys Bar.The area that used to be accessed from Mill Lane was still there. The doorway from Mill Lane was still visible although blocked off, and the door was now on the corner. Google 2010 shows the pub as Q Bar. But the 2014 Street View show much the same as we saw. Ian visited Boneside Radio in the August of 1981, and by mid September he was on his way across the water to start a new job and a new life on the station. This included a tv station, by the time I visited in the Spring of 1982. Our plan was to meet Heddy Eddie, who was the chief engineer for the Boyneside Radio network throughout the 80's except when he was with Community Radio Drogheda for some months, approx August 81 - April 1982 when the stations merged to form one station again. Also coming to have a pint with us was Tony Davis, of Boyneside Television.
DUBLIN CITY AND THE GPO MUSEUM
THE MOTORWAY TO THE MIDLANDS
DUBLIN ON A SATURDAY NIGHT
DUBLIN ON A SUNDAY MORNING FOR BREAKFAST
PRINCE TERRY OF WESTSIDE RADIO
THE DELIGHTFUL AND HISTORIC SANDS HOTEL IN PORTMARNOCK
While waiting their arrival, we sat out front taking in the spectacular views. I could never tire of sitting at Portmarnock and taking in the breath taking outlook from the hotel, whether it be out to sea, towards Howth, the Dublin Mountains, or even simply looking across the amazing beach that many seaside resorts would kill for. One can only now ponder over the many famous radio personalities who came along this way every day back in the Sunshine days. The bar would have been buzzing of an evening with wireless chatter. Here we were, some 35 years on from out initial visit. The Sands Hotel is now called The White Sands, the tall mast is gone. The hotel looks somehow very different to the early 1980's, yet Tamango Discoteque is still there!! Remember the adverts for Tamango?? For those who have no recollection on what the Sands Hotel could mean to a bunch of aging radio enthusiasts, let's flash back to 1980 and the start of what was to become one of the biggest radio stations ever to hit Ireland, Sunshine Radio. They began life as a MW only station, on 531kHz. Included on their daily sched were presenters from the offshore era such as Tony Allan, Robbie Dale, Chris Cary, Tom Hardy, Stevie Gordon / Dunn, Don Allen, Johnny Lewis / Steven Bishop. Other presenters included Decklan Mehan, Tony Dixon, Tony Fenton, Martin King, Peter Madison, and many many others. Many reading this I guess will have heard of none of these fellows. There are many bits and pieces on our dxarchive area about Sunshine 539, including dozens of recordings from the early days until the final closedown in 1988. ireland_a_to_z_irish_pirates_sunshine_radio_portmarnock_index.html The all too brief holiday over in the republic came to an end. What was my favourite part of the trip??? Was it the Sands Hotel? Was it the Boyneside Radio studios?? Was it the GPO Museum? Could I say that it much more simple than that, and say that it was sitting having a few pints with some long standing auld pals whose beer drinking arms and mine have not crossed paths in far too many years.
BARRIE JOHNSTON RIP: Some sad news reached us just before the Irish trip, was the death of Barrie Johnston late of the Anoraks UK famous Weekly Report. These are all scanned and uploaded on this site.... on the DXARCHIVE area of the site.
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OLD ENTRIES THAT NEVER QUITE MADE IT LIVE..
So far July and August have been as miserable as October here...... with only very few exceptions.
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So far this summer and into early autumn, I have not been recording much. I did go a walk to the antenna the other day, just checking all was well after fermer Sanny had been busy with the hedge cutter. But all the work that was done (last year I think it was) to reroute the cable up through the middle of a hedge well out of harms way seems to have paid off. I also have been busy with the mast I use to hang the various antennas over. So maybe I have finally made a start to servicing the set up here!!
MID SUMMER: You always think that you will pay for any good weather early in the summer.... Now we are paying for the good spell we had in June and late May.... Though I had to scrape the windscreen on the car in early May, by late May we had some good days. In June there were some scorchers here, and the old short troosers were dug out the pile again!! So far July has been as miserable as October here......
A LITTLE BIT OF MW DXING: I really have had no time recently for dxing, and have once again missed every single bit of sporadic e on band 2 that dx neighbour Davie was receiving. Pity, but sadly work has to take priority here. But a few times I have set the timer for MW.
1380 just before
0300 9/7 ss ann
NEW LEGAL DUTCH PIRATE: Former Atlantis 1521 from Holland has been heard regularly now on 1395kHz.
THE PROBLEMS YOU HAVE THESE DAYS WITH THE PHONE COMPANY: NB:This was meant to be a complete story, which remains unfinished. The final time scale was quite startling, and outrageous.... It seems so many folks that I know have had problems with their phone companies and their customer service. Not least even trying to contact someone who is both helpful, and who's first language is English. On Sunday 19th June, our landline (and of course web) went dead. This must be some fault or other I think to myself. There had been a lot of noise and partying next door in the park the night before, so instinctively I set about checking the nearby pole incase the cable had been damaged. (Neighbours engagement party) But no, everything was intact.
SUNDAY 19TH JUNE: I used the YLs web connection to try and chat on line to Plusnet to see about the phone. It was a complete waste of my time and theirs. I spent around 2 hours by the time I got through to the first half wit, who was no help what so ever, and getting through to the second person who I thought was being helpful for a while, but as it turned out they were completely useless as well. it was like dealing with backward school kids. I would have been as well calling up the boy scouts.
MONDAY 20th JUNE: Called Plusnet on their freephone number from the mobile. The YL I spoke to seemed to think that we had not been with Plusnet since December!!!! Who was providing the service then??? Why was I still using the Plusnet router, and nothing had changed to my knowledge... The YL on the phone seemed helpful, but couldn't give me a straight through number to contact her again. So she arranged to ring me the next day at 1pm as I had to go back to work, and she was going to look into this.
TUESDAY 21st JUNE: 1pm came and went, and I had to ring up again and start the whole story again!!!!! This time basically the same story, but the fellow on the phone took an order for phone and web connection to be completed in 10 to 14 days. 10 to 14 days I say???? Someone has only pressed a button somewhere on Sunday and cut us off!!! That seemed a hell of a time if you ask me. Considering we were all wired up already. The guy at Plusnet did not seem to understand that we had a working phone and broadband up until 2 days ago. He was however English spoken, which seemed to be a bonus, even if his basic understanding of the problem was not on a pre written sheet he was trying to read from..
FRIDAY 15th July: Router finally arrives.
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