R.I.P Lee John Tech

[teckniqs]

Back in late 1995 Don FM was using 107.9 and one night after they switched off I found another station on 107.7 a little weaker and heard Lee John saying "anyone out there picking us up give us a call 0374 760 969" and constantly saying it desperately trying to get someone to call in and give him a signal report.

.....So I crept downstairs without waking my dad up, picked up the housephone and gave him a call, this must've been about 1AM.
I was living in Byfleet in Surrey at the time and he was asking me for signal strength reports, he then went on to explain that he built the Transmitter and that it's only about the size of a 20 B&H cigarette packet. Straight away I asked him if he could build me a Transmitter like it and he said no problem and gave me a few prices for a few small Transmitters.
....So we agreed on a 10 watt Transmitter with additional 13.8v Power Supply and pre-cut Dipole with Coax for £150 and I started saving up my school dinner money and cut down on my spending until my 16th birthday when my dad gave me some birthday money and I let Lee know I've got all the £150 now and he came driving down from Burnham in Slough with my new Transmitter.

We used to talk a lot and I used to go up to his mum's house where he was living at the time in Wavell Gardens in Britwell estate in Slough, he used to smoke a lot of Cannabis oil and after I smoked a couple of joints with him I was too stoned to get home and fell asleep there on the chair haha.

We were in regular contact and quickly became friends, he used to take me down to a station called Radio Active around the Camberley area and around a year later he took me down to Plymouth to do some Jungle shows on another station he was running down there which later moved to the Bournemouth area. He used to say "You're going on a mission with Lee the Technician" haha
We had some good laughs.

He was no angel back in the day as many might agree, but who of us were?? .....One thing I will say is though he was always such a character.
Many of you will have heard how he used to get hold of his big BBC legal station Transmitters which I won't go into details about on here but he hadn't done this any longer for many many years up until his sudden and tragic death.
He had turned his life around and was an absolutely great dad to his children and a very loving grandfather and will be missed by many!
I was at his wedding at the end of last summer 2021 and it was a great day, at least 200 people came to his wedding and he made sure it was going to be a special day for everyone at a nice hotel venue in the Berkshire countryside. It was a real shock to hear about his death and still hasn't properly sank in, I was meaning to give him a call and catch up and I'm truly gutted I will never get the chance to now!

.....So there is my little bit of history and memories of a true character, great family man and good old friend.

I will now list in order some of the stations I remember him setting up from when I first heard him on air until the last time....

Snappin' FM 107.7 and 107.0 (Slough, Plymouth & Bournemouth)
Camelot FM 87.8 (Bourne End)
Angel FM 107.0 (Plymouth)
Bomb FM (High Wycombe)
Rinse FM 87.9 (Langley)
Trilogy FM 87.5 (Langley, High Wycombe & Christmas Common)
Space FM 101.7 (Iver)
London's Finest 87.5 (Langley)
UK's Finest 87.5 (Christmas Common & Stokenchurch)
SubZero FM 87.5 (Christmas Common & Stokenchurch)
Raw Radio 87.5 (West London & Bucks)
Raw Innocence 87.5 (West London & Bucks)

I'm sure there are plenty of others I've probably missed and some of the above stations may have came from other areas as well, but that's what I can remember for now and apologies for the long post.

Lee John may no longer be with us in person but the memories will never leave us.
Gone but never forgotten.

R.I.P Lee John - 22nd June 1973 to 14th April 2022.

[freddie]

Great post teckniqs, it's lovely to hear folks like you reminiscing about the good times spent with Lee and all the things he did.

You've also reminded me about some other stations I completely forgot about, like Space FM, Snappin' FM, Camelot FM... I remember listening to those!

Still can't believe he's gone so soon.

[djmysterykanefm]

R.I.P indeed. I remember him well from being the Tec on Radioactive (Camberley) .

48 is no age

[freddie]

There's a Go Fund Me page set up if anyone wishes to donate to Lee's family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tq9me-donate ... hn-ibrahim

[Mr Mac]

Just catching up here...

I had known Lee for years, we had been Friends & Foe over the years especially during our pirate days fighting tower blocks and stupid stuff like that lol We grew to be very good friends. I'm really gutted and shocked about this he was doing so well with his newly married life RIP Lee x

[WEBB-TECH]

Is he the guy that was found up a phone mast by the old bill and he told them he was up there enjoying the view... Or was that someone else? Think I read it on Y2KPirates

[teckniqs]

Is he the guy that was found up a phone mast by the old bill and he told them he was up there enjoying the view... Or was that someone else? Think I read it on Y2KPirates

No that was Brimstone, he passed away a few years back...

[freddie]

That excuse did make my chuckle!

From: http://www.laughingpoliceman.com/court_pirates.htm

31 January 2003
Two pirate operators were convicted at Camberwell Magistrates Court on 27th January 2003 for offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.

Jason Fisher of Priestwood House, Drummond Road, Rotherhithe, London, SE16 and Michael Pruce of Philip Walk, Peckham, London, SE15, both 23, were each given 18 months conditional discharges and ordered to pay £150 costs after being found guilty of participating in the running of a pirate radio station calling itself Essence FM.

On 28 September last, the two defendants were caught at the top of a 180ft-cell phone aerial with tools and radio transmitting apparatus. When questioned they stated they were enjoying the aerial views. However, they subsequently admitted the offences when interviewed. The court ordered the seized equipment be forfeited.

[freddie]

As far as I know, Baseline FM 101.2 was the only one that got fully raided by DTI - everything was being run from a house on the Britwell Estate (Greenside I think?)

Lee used to refer to the DTI as 'the boys in the green coats' - I haven't heard of any full on raids since then for stations he was involved with.

[livendirect]

haven't been on the forum lately just came across this thread rip lee aka tech top lad also hooked me up with a good engineer