Merseyside

For discussion of all stations in the UK that are outside of London.
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g33ky
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Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sat May 23, 2020 5:13 pm

Merseyside is busy this bank holiday weekend, got regular MAR on 87.5 and another station on 87.7, no ID just music.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sat May 23, 2020 6:35 pm

Also got some decent Sproadic E action. http://www.g33kys.world/87.6.mp4
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Legacy » Sun May 24, 2020 3:26 pm

g33ky wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 5:13 pm Merseyside is busy this bank holiday weekend, got regular MAR on 87.5 and another station on 87.7, no ID just music.
Ive been getting Mar crisp in Northwich..... that 87.7 is a ramadan station i think.

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Re: Merseyside

Post by Legacy » Sun May 24, 2020 3:28 pm

g33ky wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 5:13 pm Merseyside is busy this bank holiday weekend, got regular MAR on 87.5 and another station on 87.7, no ID just music.
Youre not far away are you im around northwich. let me know if you want a QSL at anypoint.

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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sun May 24, 2020 5:19 pm

Legacy wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 3:26 pm
g33ky wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 5:13 pm Merseyside is busy this bank holiday weekend, got regular MAR on 87.5 and another station on 87.7, no ID just music.
Ive been getting Mar crisp in Northwich..... that 87.7 is a ramadan station i think.
Nah it's not the Ramadan one. 87.7 is normally empty plus this was country and western music. And yeah I'm near Bebington, I don't generally do QSLs and the like but if I get off my lazy ass and stick something up eventually you might hear it :tup.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Albert H » Sun May 31, 2020 1:33 am

Hey g33ky - I lived in Bebington for a short while about 55 years ago! I remember hearing the tests and the opening of Caroline North.....
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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sun May 31, 2020 10:21 am

Albert H wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 1:33 am Hey g33ky - I lived in Bebington for a short while about 55 years ago! I remember hearing the tests and the opening of Caroline North.....
Still a lovely place to live, shame it can't be said for much of the rest of the UK... Speaking of Caroline I haven't seen any relays of it up here as of late (other than the legal Manx Radio), maybe I'll have to check in Liverpool-proper sometime.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sat Jun 20, 2020 8:59 am

New station I haven't seen before - "F.R.L" on 102.2. Can't get it at my home, got it on an SDR in Wallasey/West Kirby area. Will take a venture out later to see if I can get it in person.
FRL.PNG
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Matt » Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:10 pm

I thought that this thread might be worth an update. It's been a bit quiet recently in these parts, although a couple of things - including something a bit strange on 108.

87.7 has been very quiet recently. They tend to transmit in the late afternoon/early evening and I haven't heard them for weeks, which is probably the longest gap since I first picked them up last August. They could, of course, be transmitting at a totally different time of the day and I wouldn't know. They're on for less than three hours at a time when they do come on, so they'd be easy to miss.

I've never picked up Carousel radio - does this still come on? There's a thread about it, but nothing recently. Also 102.2 FRL - presumably that's Free Radio Liverpool? Again, I've never picked this up but it's mentioned above.

Also, 100.8 was uncharacteristically quiet on the August Bank Holiday - Central Radio usually put in an appearance (operated by Concept Radio now, I think)

Finally... What's that on 108?! Driving through Halewood/Hunts Cross around 6.30 a couple of days last week, I picked up some speech radio. The first day, it was so distorted, it was impossible to tell what it was. The second day, it was pretty bad again, but I could make out that it was Talk Sport. I'm guessing that this is someone transmitting it around their house and getting a bit further than they bargained for!

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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sun Sep 13, 2020 11:04 pm

Matt wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:10 pm I thought that this thread might be worth an update. It's been a bit quiet recently in these parts, although a couple of things - including something a bit strange on 108.

87.7 has been very quiet recently. They tend to transmit in the late afternoon/early evening and I haven't heard them for weeks, which is probably the longest gap since I first picked them up last August. They could, of course, be transmitting at a totally different time of the day and I wouldn't know. They're on for less than three hours at a time when they do come on, so they'd be easy to miss.

I've never picked up Carousel radio - does this still come on? There's a thread about it, but nothing recently. Also 102.2 FRL - presumably that's Free Radio Liverpool? Again, I've never picked this up but it's mentioned above.

Also, 100.8 was uncharacteristically quiet on the August Bank Holiday - Central Radio usually put in an appearance (operated by Concept Radio now, I think)

Finally... What's that on 108?! Driving through Halewood/Hunts Cross around 6.30 a couple of days last week, I picked up some speech radio. The first day, it was so distorted, it was impossible to tell what it was. The second day, it was pretty bad again, but I could make out that it was Talk Sport. I'm guessing that this is someone transmitting it around their house and getting a bit further than they bargained for!
Haven't seen anything on 87.7 for a while too, though with no schedule it's hard to know when to look :roll:. I also haven't heard Carousel but I think thats more Cheshire way from me so it's not surprising.

102.2 is indeed Free Radio Liverpool coming from Woodchurch, Birkenhead (they claim that themselves I haven't been stalking :lol:). Used to be The Scene but changed to FRL at some point. Transmissions are very sporadic, only seen them once this year.

I'm guessing 108 is a similar situation to my 108 post from a few months back. I don't think it's the same guy however as I always tune to 108 on the way past Eastham junction on the M53 to check if I can hear it, which I never do. Plus he wasn't relaying regular radio, just his music collection.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Matt » Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:48 pm

If I remember correctly, the guy who ran The Scene died a few years ago. He went through a spell of going on most evenings for a while in something like 2003-2004 and got a "visit". Following that, he was on occasionally - bank holidays mainly. It may very well be the same gear being used by someone else.

I picked 108 up again today, this time in Speke. It was the same audio as the first time I picked it up last week - it wasn't Talk Radio or, by the sounds of it, any other radio station. It was recorded speech of some sort, but completely impossible to tell what it was as it was so distorted. Whoever is transmitting this clearly isn't listening to it themselves. Very strange!

Which SDR do you use, by the way?

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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:43 pm

Matt wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:48 pm If I remember correctly, the guy who ran The Scene died a few years ago. He went through a spell of going on most evenings for a while in something like 2003-2004 and got a "visit". Following that, he was on occasionally - bank holidays mainly. It may very well be the same gear being used by someone else.

I picked 108 up again today, this time in Speke. It was the same audio as the first time I picked it up last week - it wasn't Talk Radio or, by the sounds of it, any other radio station. It was recorded speech of some sort, but completely impossible to tell what it was as it was so distorted. Whoever is transmitting this clearly isn't listening to it themselves. Very strange!

Which SDR do you use, by the way?
According to Andy on Skywaves DX the PI code is the same (http://skywavesdx.org/viewtopic.php?p=34537#p34537), so I'm guessing they're somehow connected. Plus if you visit The Scene's website (http://thescene.c1.biz/) the top link is FRL, so if it's not the same station they at least know eachother.

I'll take a drive to Speke sometime this weekend see if I can find what you're getting.

The SDR I did use was I believe an official MAR monitor as it was defaulted to and locked to 87.5 when MAR was on with a booming signal. It appeared on the Spyservers map once so I took the IP and used it from time to time when it wasn't locked to MAR. It hasn't been accessible for about a month now. It might still be up somewhere but it's not a big issue since I can just drive to Wallasey/Birkenhead to see for myself.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Matt » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:07 pm

108 has been on pretty much every weekday evening for the past couple of weeks, around half 6. Maybe weekends as well, but I'm never over that way on Saturday or Sunday.

It's bizarre. It's always speech and sometimes sounds like an audio book and a couple of times has sounded like a TV drama - loads of sound effects and not quite enough dialogue for it to be just an audio drama. Today was maybe a podcast - it seemed to be a political thing about the USA.

What's really strange is how distorted it is. A few weeks ago it was entirely unlistenable - it was just constantly in the red. Over the past couple of weeks they've turned it down a bit and you can actually catch some of the speech now, but it's still distorted to the point that you can't really follow what's happening or what's being said. So, whoever's broadcasting it isn't doing it for themselves - they're not just trying to get it around their house. They'd have figured out by now that it's unlistenable. But it's no use to anyone else either for the same reason!

88.7 on the other hand has stayed silent for at least a month now. Nothing there for ages, having been really active, on once or twice a week, for the last year or so.

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Re: Merseyside

Post by LeeCavanagh » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:37 pm

I heard Jasper carrot comedy being played on 87.5 on the m6, on Sunday about 7pm, picked it up at Manchester airport as well. I keep tuning into 108 but don’t hear anything, must be very weak otherwise I’d expect to get it
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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:49 am

87.5 was probably MAR, they put on comedy shows sometimes when there's no one presenting. Apparently they have multiple TXs on 87.5. This is assuming you're in the northern bit of the M6.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by LeeCavanagh » Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:14 pm

g33ky wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:49 am 87.5 was probably MAR, they put on comedy shows sometimes when there's no one presenting. Apparently they have multiple TXs on 87.5. This is assuming you're in the northern bit of the M6.
Fair enough, I was travelling down the m56 away from Manchester airport until the junction with the m6 at Lymm , I knew it wasn’t one of those in car transmitters which often pop up on that freq, and disappear as quickly as they show up.
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Matt » Wed Sep 23, 2020 8:34 pm

108 was up to its usual tricks again this evening/late afternoon and 87.7 put in a rare appearance as well with, amongst other things, a Billy Connelly song.

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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sat Oct 03, 2020 7:09 pm

I took a video a while back of 87.7 and completely forgot about it. It must just be someone playing music from a PC, there's no jingles/IDs. http://188.240.210.50/87.7.mp4
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Re: Merseyside

Post by g33ky » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:24 pm

87.7 is on again. Weak on my SDR better on an actual radio facing across the river. Didnt hear any IDs. http://188.240.210.50/877.mp4
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Re: Merseyside

Post by Matt » Sun Oct 25, 2020 7:41 pm

I heard 87.7 again last night as well. It was on Friday last week as well (just over a week ago), playing a Sash album. I love this station - you could be just as likely to listen to George Formby as Misty in Roots or Sash. An actual station ID would be nice, but it's been like this for well over a year now (and possibly longer than this...) so I think that this is all we're getting!

108 has been on pretty much every day. I usually catch it around 6.30pm but I've been up that way around lunchtime a few times recently and it's been there. Over the last week or two, there's been the usual audiobook/drama stuff as well as some American content that's critical of the approach to covid and some stuff about diabetes. When I first caught it, it was pretty much sticking to the top of the red and completely unlistenable. You can pretty much tell what's being said most of the time now, but they could still do with turning it down a couple of notches.

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