Is it just me or do they sound worse than any pirate at the moment. So far I've noticed a RDS carrier with no stereo. Is this not a breach of their licence ? Also over deviation. Constantly around -/+ 83khz. The Ofcom code says never to deviate over 80khz at any given time. Anyone else notice this

The transmitter is almost 30 years old maybe needs a service?

Yes! - I noticed their RDS disappeared a few weeks back (I could always get it OK in the car before) wherever I check it now I do not get any RDS at all ... at the same time I too noticed their audio has taken a bit of a dive and sounds a bit naff.... I would think the 2 are linked and they have 'some issue' and are working to GMT to get it resolved back to normal.... (Greek Maybe Time!!!)

It's only mono now also but remember rinse went off for almost 3 months earlier this year

How do you know they are still using the same transmitter as 30 years ago? Surely being a legal station the equipment gets changed over a certain amount of time.

I don't think so do you remember Albert H was saying how old X FM 104.9 is and BBC radio London 94.9 also (transmitter ) are?

The 103.3 LGR rig was an SBS effort to start with. That lasted for about 8 or 9 years, until the BGY33 output module finally died in a thunderstorm. The next rig that was installed was a nasty Italian sprog box - Siel brand. They were licenced for 25 Watts and the Siel box went all dirty when the power was turned below about 35 Watts. It was OK at 40+ Watts, so there was a horrible resistive pad lashed into the aerial feeder before the cavity filter! It was wasting about 20 Watts of RF as heat! That mess was used until about three or four years ago. I don't know what replaced it, but it was entirely clean.

You have to remember that there's almost nobody in the UK who's properly qualified to maintain gear like this these days. There are a bunch of happy amateurs in the game, but all the professional (BBC-trained!) transmitter engineers have retired, and many have moved abroad. Most of the companies who're trying to maintain the broadcast sites are pretty useless, and the last contract I had with a British broadcast company expired two years ago, so we're not in that business any longer - we only work outside the UK. There are a couple of other companies who are reasonably competent, but they don't get the work because they're "too expensive".

You can expect ever more trouble with broadcast rigs in the UK as the gear ages and isn't maintained properly.

I've never encountered any problems with 103.3 LGR reception. It's always spot on when I tune in. Perhaps back in the day they use low quality equipment but these days they sounds fine to me.

LGR went through a period a few months ago when their signal was abysmal. Rumour has it that they hired a very competent engineer (an ex-BBC guy) who sorted it out.

Have LGR recently had a power increase (like Jackie did)? Was over Essex way at the weekend and their signal was far stronger than I remember it from the past. I've checked Ofcom's transmitter database and it shows as 100 Watts.

reverend wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 7:49 am Have LGR recently had a power increase (like Jackie did)? Was over Essex way at the weekend and their signal was far stronger than I remember it from the past. I've checked Ofcom's transmitter database and it shows as 100 Watts.

Yes they have and have moved from Aly Paly to a block in Highgate.

That explains it then!

Now listed as 200W. Tidy looking block

woow the bubbles are still on and everyone else gets rinsed...

LGR is legal

Is it a Jpole I use a Jpole and defo better than my older dipole about 5db to 10db more in places.

fmuser877 wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 11:02 am Is it a Jpole I use a Jpole and defo better than my older dipole about 5db to 10db more in places.

It looks like a Jaybeam Amphenol 7034 endfed dipole, so 200w vertical.

....Below is just the STL Band 1 receive dipole.

mpx wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 10:56 amLGR is legal

And has been since about 1989.

October 1989 and the first 4 and a half years was on a time share with WNK radio anyone remember them and they were the very first legal station since capital in 1973