Not strictly speaking pirate radio, but it may have an impact on the pirate scene. Croydon FM have just announced their new frequency to be transmitted from the Croydon FM mast: 97.8. Seems awfully close to Radio 1 Guildford on 97.7, but I suppose Ofcom know what they're doing?

OFCOM changed the field strength rules to allow crappy frequency allocations like this. RSLs now get really stupid frequencies, and have no recourse to complaint when they can't be heard 200 yards from their site! It's a complete joke.

Apparently, OFCOM have sub-contracted a lot of their planning and enforcement to other companies, and (as usual) they went for the cheapest option rather than the option with competence.

Like Gateway FM in Essex does R1 ever interfere with it much? 97.9 gets into Essex to.

97.7 from Guildford (@2kW in Vertical) comes in strong around most of Sutton and parts of Croydon, I'm sure they could've done better and chose something a bit more sensible for the coverage area.

.....I know they was using it before as an RSL frequency too, I remember there being three for Wimbledon Tennis FM (...does it really f*cking need three?!!), anyway one of them was on 87.7, the other 96.5 and another one on 97.8.

Croydon FM's coverage area must be quite small, 3-mile radius of the town probably.

Here's the coverage map for R1 Guildford
http://a-bc.co.uk/MCA/BBC000001-SU97474861.html

teckniqs wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 2:17 pmI remember there being three for Wimbledon Tennis FM (...does it really need three?!!), anyway one of them was on 87.7, the other 96.5 and another one on 97.8.

Given that the Wimbledon TXs are just for commentary in/around the All England Club, being 100 kHz away from Guildford is not a problem, and conversely won't cause any interference in the Guildford coverage area. But 97.8 from Croydon sounds nuts. I know you can listen to Capital Xtra on 96.9 from Croydon in some parts of Surrey, so the potential for interference both ways is high.

Totally nuts

Rev

reverend wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:06 am

teckniqs wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 2:17 pmI remember there being three for Wimbledon Tennis FM (...does it really need three?!!), anyway one of them was on 87.7, the other 96.5 and another one on 97.8.

Given that the Wimbledon TXs are just for commentary in/around the All England Club, being 100 kHz away from Guildford is not a problem, and conversely won't cause any interference in the Guildford coverage area. But 97.8 from Croydon sounds nuts. I know you can listen to Capital Xtra on 96.9 from Croydon in some parts of Surrey, so the potential for interference both ways is high.

Totally nuts

Rev

What has 96.9 got to do with the subject of 97.8?

96.9 is low power from Croydon!

96.9 can still be heard across most of London and it's Crystal Palace not Croydon

Fair do's. Croydon is about 3 miles further south than Crystal Palace. I was just trying to point out that coverage from that part of London to Surrey is not that difficult.

And the biggest difference isn't the distance it'show high Crystal Palace is that is how such a weak signal like 96.9 can get so far it's under 50 watts

Yes, but the Guildford transmitter is pretty high itself!

and 4Kw

As I said before - frequency planning is not within OFCOM's competencies any more.

mpx wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 2:37 pm Croydon FM's coverage area must be quite small, 3-mile radius of the town probably.

Here's the coverage map for R1 Guildford
http://a-bc.co.uk/MCA/BBC000001-SU97474861.html

And is there a pattern null in the direction of Guilford from 'Croydon FM' ?

Also does it transmit stereo? Might be best to just be mono if high level incoming signal(s) just 0.1 away

Looks pretty 'omni' to me...

I find that in Croydon itself, Xtra 107.1 from Ally Pally is stronger than 96.9 from CP which is supposed to be nulled.

Croydon FM 97.8 now has a go live date of September 2021 on its Twitter account.

From the Croydon FM Twitter account:

The wait is finally over!!

Join us as Croydon 97.8 FM hits the airwaves for the first time.

Be apart of history and lock in to our official FM launch 10am (GMT) Saturday 11/09/21

Listen live 97.8 FM (London)
https://t.co/SMYblotaYH (Worldwide)

Full line up coming soon https://t.co/dLCyY4nW2h

No point putting on my tx today unless to just broadcast to a few roads it will just be wiped out by foreign stations