RTE on FM in NW england?!
carguy143
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I've just fitted a new car stereo, it did an auto tune on FM and i am picking up RTE R1, RTE 2, RTE LYRIC and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, in full stereo, no crackles, and with RDS. I am in Leyland, near Preston in Lancashire.
I didn't think these stations were broadcast over here, or am i missing something?
I didn't think these stations were broadcast over here, or am i missing something?
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http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_nwe.html
I'm in North West England and a regular listener to RTE1 on 252LW in the afternoons. When I tuned in today to listen to the News At One and Live Line, it was off-air, it came back about 1.10pm. I have no idea how long it had been off-air but that's not happened before when I've been listening.
Oddly, sometimes you get Absolute Radio on around 270LW, some chap on here explained how it might happen (can't remember how or on which thread, I'm afraid).
Regards.
FWIW RTÉ 2 FM on 612MW (as it was then) used to be loud and clear in Leyland when I was at college there.
And as for Absolute on 270 - I always used to get Magic on 276LW for some odd reason - never did fathom that out (and Classic Gold GEM here on the same frequency never repeated that feet)
At my parents house on Anglesey the Irish stations romp in under flat conditions including most of the Dublin ones. Last time I was up there Real NW on 105.4 and Today FM on 105.5 were similar strengths but both clear on my Eton E5. I also had BBC R Manchester on 95.1 and RTE Radio 1 on 95.2 both receivable with the BBC station the stronger of the two.
Usually in Manchester under flat conditions you can barely even hear 87.8. 89.6 and 101.4 but tonight they are coming over very strong.
I also noticed I am receiving 91.7, 93.9 and 100.9. I have never picked these up from my central Manchester location before.
Some of those Dublin stations get out so well under normal conditions they they potentially reach out far enough going east over the water to be able to potentially cover the whole of Ireland. Obviously this wouldnt be possible due to the terrain etc but the flat coverage of some of those stations is incredible.
They come from Three Rock Mountain:
http://v3.cache5.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4300781.jpg?redirect_counter=1
There not broadcasted in the north of England. Thev stations are broadcasted from 3 mountains outside Dublin, signal carries to the Harbour at Holyhead and along the coast of North West Wales. When we are in a high pressure, the signal travel further. It also happens with UHF Tv Signals
Talking of Magic, I once heard the pre-cursor to Magic 1152 here (Piccadilly 1152) on probably the very same 276LW many years ago, I telephoned the station and spoke to their engineer, he had no clue about it and suggested my radio was broken. It was clearly on there though!
Regards.
It's all to do with the mixing process within the receiver.
Mixing is done to convert the desired signals to a common "intermediate frequency" , usually 455khz in order to make the design of the later stages of the receiver more straightforward and less troublesome. The design of fixed frequency amplifiers is simpler than that of tuneable ones.
http://www.davidbridgen.com/mixers.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodyne
Basically if you were to tune the radio to 242khz Long Wave, the radio's internal Local Oscillator (using the smaller set of plates or "gang" on the tuning capacitor) would be tuned to 697khz and mixing of these two frequencies would give (amongst other unwanted products) a signal on 455khz (697 -242).
It is standard practice for the later stages to consist of fixed radio frequency ampilfiers set at 455 khz.
Now if you had a very strong signal on 1152khz entering the radio which was strong enough to bypass the filtering effect of the circuit tuned to 242khz then that would also mix with the Local Oscillator at 697khz producing a signal at 1152 - 697 = = 455 khz.
In other words the "phantom signal" is due to the filtering and the tuned circuit at the front end - immediately after the aerial not being strong enough to reject the unwanted signal on 1152. Whether it can be considered to be a fault in the radio depends on how close you are to the 1152khz transmitter. It would take a good piece of equipment to work properly right under the transmitter mast. 10 miles away it is a different story.
I hope I have explained in fairly clearly (and correctly)
I tried looking for a good explanation on the net without too much success.
It's called "second channel interference" and it is on the unwanted signal's frequency minus 2 X 455khz.
I can get Today FM on 101.4 here in Telford under normal atmospheric conditions, sometimes with RDS and in stereo when conditions allow it.
A few yards down the road from my house and it can't be received at all!
I got that one here too, think it's either 100.9 or 101.4 but it sounded more like a local station in terms of quality, with RDS. I've lived here for years but never had this outside my house before. Weird weather indeed.
Thank you for the explanation!
Kind regards.
Interesting to see how far out into the Northern Atlantic that high pressure system spread, and what would be needed to hear the faint sounds of Eastern Canada or the States on FM?
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_nat.html
wasn't Sky Radio Holland by any chance was it? I think they are on 101.3 or something from memory.
They have a number of transmitters, all between 100 and 102.
101.2 & 101.9 are the best ones to hear Sky Radio on. I believe 101.2 is the most powerful FM transmitter in The Netherlands!
I quite often hear Sky Radio on 101.1 and/or 101.2 and/or 101.9 on our car radio though - heard it again today in fact! Several other Dutch and Belgian stations come in via 'troposcatter'.