[crusher19860138]

Hello,growing up in the 1970's/80's i have fond memories of an active pirate radio scene in the west midlands,in particular around dudley,stourbridge,halesowen areas,i listened to pirate stations well into the 90's,are there any good pirates still on air today?i would love to know.

[tokingmenace]

Yes...

See if you can get any of these:

87.5 Distinct FM
89.6 Deep FM.
90.2 Fusion FM weekends
92 Hot 92
94.2 Skyline FM
95.1 Kriss FM
97.5 Sting FM
106.3 Frontline FM

[Matt00011]

Fusion and Deep are my current favourites. The Pirate Archive is a superb site with audio mp3 from past stations including Freedom Radio, Exile, Dimension FM and Groove FM.

http://www.thepiratearchive.net/

[Dan Sette]

You see the problem is, they are pirates, operating on illegal frequencies.

I have no problem with them when they choose their frequencies carefully, but get a bit miffed when stations I want to hear are obliterated by some poorly set up TX unit that drifts all over the place.

[Newsbuff]

Are these good pirate stations or just pirates?
In my experience in the West Mids many pirated just pump out drum and bass or dance music and offer very little else.

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by Dan Sette

You see the problem is, they are pirates, operating on illegal frequencies.

I have no problem with them when they choose their frequencies carefully, but get a bit miffed when stations I want to hear are obliterated by some poorly set up TX unit that drifts all over the place.

I agree totally... it's bloody annoying when pirates come over legals which people enjoy. 106.3 (Frontline) is coming straight over Sunshine on 106.2!

What a stupid frequency to use...

[jack846]

double post.

[jack846]

I remember a couple of pirates using stupid frequencies. Stingdem use to broadcast on 107.5 - I believe near Wolverhampton. This of course was a stupid frequency as The Wolf was only 2mhz away. I remember Telford FM was completely battered by them in Redhill.

I also remember Midlands Rush on 92.2 in the early part of 2010. It broadacst scrolling RDS. I think it came from Telford.

Kriss FM, I belive still broadcasting, used to broadcast scrolling RDS and had quite a big signal across the West Midlands. It seems to be low power recently.

Most of the pirates in the West Midlands nowadays seem to play Drum and Bass or dance music.

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by jack846

I remember a couple of pirates using stupid frequencies. Stingdem use to broadcast on 107.5 - I believe near Wolverhampton. This of course was a stupid frequency as The Wolf was only 2mhz away. I remember Telford FM was completely battered by them in Redhill.

I also remember Midlands Rush on 92.2 in the early part of 2010. It broadacst scrolling RDS. I think it came from Telford.

Kriss FM, I belive still broadcasting, used to broadcast scrolling RDS and had quite a big signal across the West Midlands. It seems to be low power recently.

Most of the pirates in the West Midlands nowadays seem to play Drum and Bass or dance music.

Yes...they do unfortunately....there are very very few pirates that play classic chart music etc...

I remember Kriss FM using 95.3 for a few years and that frequency was too near BBC WM which got battered quite a lot. After years of raids for their interference they eventually moved to 95.1.

[crusher19860138]

I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2,i used to go out with one of frontline's female presenters in the 90's,and she told me of the time she was on air,and the door to the room she was in got kicked in by the police!!

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by crusher19860138

I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2,i used to go out with one of frontline's female presenters in the 90's,and she told me of the time she was on air,and the door to the room she was in got kicked in by the police!!

Frontline also causes interference to 'The Severn' from Shrewsbury which broadcase on 106.5 - especially in the fringe areas.

I have nothing personal against pirate radio as I suppose they provide something different...but it does pee me off when they have no knowledge of other stations broadcasting in and/or around their chosen frequency. Their alleged frequency may be clear in the flat they are broadcasting from using a midi system radio with a bit of wire attatched to the back....but in reality most operators have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever concerning legal radio stations of which their 'pirate' signal will overlap. It has always been the same with the Midlands stations. I remember a few years ago when 'Silk City' operated on 101.5 and was causing interference to 'Touch 101.6' and also the radio control system of Birmingham airport!

[Sesay2000]

Didn't there used to be a pirate station in the West Midlands during the late 90s/early 00s that notoriously drifted carrier? I remember listening to one on a visit that kept drifting frequency between 105 and 108!

[smorris]

Originally Posted by crusher19860138

I agree,frontline radio 106.3 causes interference as far south as stourbridge to sunshine on 106.2

Sunshine 106.2 is meant to cover south and mid Herefordshire. It doesn't even officially cover North Herefordshire or any part of Worcestershire, let alone Stourbridge. Neither is The Severn meant to cover eastern Shropshire. It's possible to receive them in these places on a better-than-average radio, of course, but that doesn't mean they get protection from interference. If BRMB didn't exist I'm sure you could receive Touch FM on 96.2 in large parts of the Black Country - that doesn't mean BRMB's on a bad channel!

I expect OFCOM would quite happily licence a station on 106.3 in the West Midlands if it weren't for the 10.7MHz relationship to Radio WM (a precaution ignored totally in many European cities - and Bradford, for some reason - with apparently no ill effects).

That's not to say pirates don't/can't cause interference - Silk City on 101.5 absolutely decimated Touch 101.6 well inside their official coverage area. There are numerous similar problems in London.

[smorris]

Originally Posted by Sesay2000

Didn't there used to be a pirate station in the West Midlands during the late 90s/early 00s that notoriously drifted carrier? I remember listening to one on a visit that kept drifting frequency between 105 and 108!

That would be Silk City. For years they were usually on 106.8 but had frequent technical disasters.

PCRL also never used PLL locking - they were so consistently off-channel that I ended up setting my preset for them to 103.45...

[bodderz]

I guess if/when the radio digital switchover happens, the cost of FM licences will come down, so we'll see a fair few pirates snapping up community licences?

[Crapital Fart]

Originally Posted by smorris

That would be Silk City. For years they were usually on 106.8 but had frequent technical disasters.

PCRL also never used PLL locking - they were so consistently off-channel that I ended up setting my preset for them to 103.45...

SILK CITY WERE ACTUALLY ON 107.3FM AROUND 2000-2004, WHEN THEY COULD BE PICKED UP ON FM CONTINOUSLY ON ALL GAPS BETWEEN STATIONS BETWEEN 93MHz AND 107.3MHz!!!

[slipstream42]

They should come put on some stations here in Kent we have none! there are ones that are supposed to be heard but here in Thanet we can't even pick up Rise Nation.

When on a trip to see friends in Cannock they always had Kriss FM on as well as some ragga pirate that kept going off now and then. Both quality stations and theres actually a lot to choose from, unlike down here.

[BMR]

Originally Posted by bodderz

I guess if/when the radio digital switchover happens, the cost of FM licences will come down, so we'll see a fair few pirates snapping up community licences?

That is what I would like to happen. With pretty much all new and existing radios having FM (even the DAB ones are mostly dual band) there are still going to be loads of FM radios around when radio switchover finally comes.

[slipstream42]

Originally Posted by BMR

That is what I would like to happen. With pretty much all new and existing radios having FM (even the DAB ones are mostly dual band) there are still going to be loads of FM radios around when radio switchover finally comes.

Are the FM band actually going to be shut off? or is this speculation. I reckon it should be for pirates. The DAB and digital TV channels have the commercial station on there and FM has pirates so that it balances things out for all people.

[Gary Brenton]

Originally Posted by slipstream42

Are the FM band actually going to be shut off? or is this speculation. I reckon it should be for pirates. The DAB and digital TV channels have the commercial station on there and FM has pirates so that it balances things out for all people.

It is impossible to 'shut off' the FM band as it is in constant recieving mode on every FM radio... and as for using it for pirates is a bad idea because there would be no regulation and the whole Fm band would then be a complete mess with pirates causing mass interference to each other and also emergency services due to badly aligned transmitters.

[bodderz]

It would without regulation, but if Ofcom allocate FM licences at a reduced cost post switchover, and give them the old frequencies of the commercials/BBC who had moved to DAB, the FM band may be a haven of choice.. of course though, you'd have to still contend with the pirates who don't want to pay PRS costs!

[belleville1]

Originally Posted by tokingmenace

Yes...

See if you can get any of these:

87.5 Distinct FM
89.6 Deep FM.
90.2 Fusion FM weekends
92 Hot 92
94.2 Skyline FM
95.1 Kriss FM
97.5 Sting FM
106.3 Frontline FM

87.5 and 90.2 are steaming into Cheshire, in the middle of the Wednesday afternoon school run. Not exactly prime pirate territory! I assume they're both Midlands; 90.2 is presenterless playing garage while 87.5 has an MC playing drum'n'bass and giving out plugs for a club night in, er, Brierley Hill.

I've never heard either before (although I'm not a big pirate listener), so I assume there's some sort of atmospherics at work.

[dpb]

I can regularly get 87.5 on a car radio in various places in Derby although it's weak but not normal weak signal - the only way I can describe it is it's like someone's using a low powered personal transmitter in the next street.

I've only tried getting it in Birmingham once (on a set this time) but couldn't get it but it might have been off.

[James Martin 2]

Originally Posted by Crapital Fart

SILK CITY WERE ACTUALLY ON 107.3FM AROUND 2000-2004, WHEN THEY COULD BE PICKED UP ON FM CONTINOUSLY ON ALL GAPS BETWEEN STATIONS BETWEEN 93MHz AND 107.3MHz!!!

Silk City were on 107.2 I think. Rutland Radio used to come through on that frequency from Oakham on the other side of Leicestershire when they weren't broadcasting!

[JELLIES0]

Originally Posted by Gary Brenton

I agree totally... it's bloody annoying when pirates come over legals which people enjoy. 106.3 (Frontline) is coming straight over Sunshine on 106.2!

What a stupid frequency to use...

Didn't Sunshine start its life as a pirate station ?