BANDSCAN THREAD

JDxtra

end of the road wrote: »

the r&b and indie station seem to be spotify playlists rather then actual stations.

Seems to using the Radio.co system - a cloud based playout system. I've seen a few stations use this. There is no option to add stream audio processing so they never sound great. Also expensive for what it is in my opinion, DIY is a lot cheaper and can sound better if done right.

DopeTech

102.5 in Dublin now has RDS "1025KISS"

Maybe it's just me but KISS1025 would be better or just KISS.

JDxtra

Sir Dosser wrote: »

102.5 in Dublin now has RDS "1025KISS"

Maybe it's just me but KISS1025 would be better or just KISS.

I thought the same, but putting the 1025 at the front means it will be at the top of the list for cars which sort stations by name. Enjoyed listening today, nice selection of tunes on it. A few more liners needed, and play them slightly less frequently (after every 2nd or 3rd song is fine). Other than that, nice effort for a station that only appeared a few days ago and minimal fuss beforehand! Well done.

Maurice Yeltsin

Can someone explain why radio licensing is such a closed shop? Everywhere I go I do hear Now FM and Retro Classics on air. Passing cars, radios on sites I'm on, people's back gardens during the good weather, my own car obviously. I'd hazard a guess that they are easily getting more listeners than plenty of the established stations, yet at some stage in the following weeks and months they'll be found, shut down, and come back in a few months and be rediscovered when we do a bi annual recalabrating of our car radio pre sets.

The fact is a great deal of people don't want to hear the same 11 songs every single hour by the same four artists (Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Araiana Grande, Jess Glynn), with crap ads and inane banter from Darragh Quilty and the likes for good measure. This is literally all 2FM, FM104 and 98FM play, all day, every day, bar the odd specialist programme. Even Classic Hits is a shadow of what it should be- there are thousands of classic rock and pop songs/ power ballads from the 60's to the 90's, and they simply recycle the same 250 odd songs all day every day.

Why can't the licensing people be done with it and cater for both, rather than shutting down stations that go against the grain? Some of those religious stations like Spirit FM or whatever surely must have listeners in the dozens if that.

radioguru02

It’s too late for reform imo, keep the pirates coming for another 5-10 years and by then we’ll all be using our aux cables for music

dxhound2005

Maurice Yeltsin wrote: »

Can someone explain why radio licensing is such a closed shop? Everywhere I go I do hear Now FM and Retro Classics on air. Passing cars, radios on sites I'm on, people's back gardens during the good weather, my own car obviously. I'd hazard a guess that they are easily getting more listeners than plenty of the established stations, yet at some stage in the following weeks and months they'll be found, shut down, and come back in a few months and be rediscovered when we do a bi annual recalabrating of our car radio pre sets.

The fact is a great deal of people don't want to hear the same 11 songs every single hour by the same four artists (Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Araiana Grande, Jess Glynn), with crap ads and inane banter from Darragh Quilty and the likes for good measure. This is literally all 2FM, FM104 and 98FM play, all day, every day, bar the odd specialist programme. Even Classic Hits is a shadow of what it should be- there are thousands of classic rock and pop songs/ power ballads from the 60's to the 90's, and they simply recycle the same 250 odd songs all day every day.

Why can't the licensing people be done with it and cater for both, rather than shutting down stations that go against the grain? Some of those religious stations like Spirit FM or whatever surely must have listeners in the dozens if that.

Impressive research, but I wonder if it is true?

Maurice Yeltsin

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Impressive research, but I wonder if it is true?

I'm not prepared to listen to verify :pac:

But yes, I think it would be nigh on impossible to go 15 minutes listening to a mainstream station without one of those artists being played. If you picked 15 songs I'd wager you'd hear 6 of them within the hour.

Maurice Yeltsin

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

I had been told before that Retronow originated in Co. Meath. Maybe they moved.

From what I heard tonight, Phever were coming in very well in a south-easterly direction and no sign of Connect, bar a couple of RDS displays. The opposite was the case the previous evening around Ballinteer/ Marlay: Connect FM was in the ascendant!

I thought some temps did use 88.1 in Dublin in the past. In any case, it has been an issue for multi-location temps such as Christmas FM, where one of the frequencies aimed for outside Dublin, could still be picked up in Dublin.

I find Retro, Fresh and Now FM all disappear driving south of Stillorgan on the M50, yet I was able to get them as far west as Kinnegad a few weeks ago. Are they broadcast from the same place?

Declan A Walsh

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

I had been told before that Retronow originated in Co. Meath. Maybe they moved.

From what I heard tonight, Phever were coming in very well in a south-easterly direction and no sign of Connect, bar a couple of RDS displays. The opposite was the case the previous evening around Ballinteer/ Marlay: Connect FM was in the ascendant!

I thought some temps did use 88.1 in Dublin in the past. In any case, it has been an issue for multi-location temps such as Christmas FM, where one of the frequencies aimed for outside Dublin, could still be picked up in Dublin.

Maurice Yeltsin wrote: »

I find Retro, Fresh and Now FM all disappear driving south of Stillorgan on the M50, yet I was able to get them as far west as Kinnegad a few weeks ago. Are they broadcast from the same place?

As you have quoted me, do you mean RetroNow on 107.1 which I alluded to. Retro on 91.9 is a very different kettle of fish, playing oldies, i.e. old pop music. RetroNow, however, is a dance station!

Incidentally, I have been picking up RetroNow quite a bit around the Dundrum / Ballinteer areas of late. It must have increased its power or reach. Retro, the oldies station, is hit and miss as regards coverage.

While on the subject of oldies, I noticed something a little bit unexpected on the airwaves this afternoon around Dublin 16 and Marlay Park area. Energy Power 1395 AM (or 215 metres Medium Wave as mentioned on air) was being relayed on 99.2 FM. Paul Murray was on air, as a matter of interest. The fact that he never referred to the FM frequency suggests to me that somebody was relaying it off their own bat, rather than one of those joint efforts. Does anybody know who or what was behind it? I think it is a long time since a pirate broadcast in south Dublin on 99.2 FM.

radioguru02

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

As you have quoted me, do you mean RetroNow on 107.1 which I alluded to. Retro on 91.9 is a very different kettle of fish, playing oldies, i.e. old pop music. RetroNow, however, is a dance station!

Incidentally, I have been picking up RetroNow quite a bit around the Dundrum / Ballinteer areas of late. It must have increased its power or reach. Retro, the oldies station, is hit and miss as regards coverage.

While on the subject of oldies, I noticed something a little bit unexpected on the airwaves this afternoon around Dublin 16 and Marlay Park area. Energy Power 1395 AM (or 215 metres Medium Wave as mentioned on air) was being relayed on 99.2 FM. Paul Murray was on air, as a matter of interest. The fact that he never referred to the FM frequency suggests to me that somebody was relaying it off their own bat, rather than one of those joint efforts. Does anybody know who or what was behind it? I think it is a long time since a pirate broadcast in south Dublin on 99.2 FM.

Was it in FM quality?

Declan A Walsh

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Was it in FM quality?

That's a good question. Bear in mind that I am not good at the technical side of things. That said, to the untrained ear, the broadcast on 99.2 did not sound like FM quality, even though I could pick it up clearly. It sounded like the medium wave broadcast of Energy, except that it was on FM.

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Was it in FM quality?

That's a good question. Bear in mind that I am not good at the technical side of things. That said, to the untrained ear, the broadcast on 99.2 did not sound like FM quality, even though I could pick it up clearly. It sounded like the medium wave broadcast of Energy, except that it was on FM.

99.2 was a relay of the audio stream afaik - the same relay that was on 101.2 on Saturday.
Connect 94.3 has stopped transmission afaik and the Phever relay on 91.6 is also off air.
As am aside 99.2 is 10.7 from 88.5....

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Was it in FM quality?

That's a good question. Bear in mind that I am not good at the technical side of things. That said, to the untrained ear, the broadcast on 99.2 did not sound like FM quality, even though I could pick it up clearly. It sounded like the medium wave broadcast of Energy, except that it was on FM.

99.2 was a relay of the audio stream afaik - the same relay that was on 101.2 on Saturday.
Connect 94.3 has stopped transmission afaik and the Phever relay on 91.6 is also off air.
As am aside 99.2 is 10.7 from 88.5....

radioguru02

And something on 101.2 as well?
And as for 99.2..bottom line is, we’ve got too many stations using too many bad freqs

Declan A Walsh

Infoanon wrote: »

99.2 was a relay of the audio stream afaik - the same relay that was on 101.2 on Saturday.
Connect 94.3 has stopped transmission afaik and the Phever relay on 91.6 is also off air.
As am aside 99.2 is 10.7 from 88.5....

I heard what I assume is Phever on 94.3 over this weekend, using the RDS Test. The signal is very strong around Ballinrteer / Dundrum.

castle2012

1025kiss sounding excellent in drogheda. Best I have heard in a pirate up this direction. They must be on a great site

ODTR

What transmission upgrades did Now fm do when they were off for a large part of last week? Sounds like a load of rubbish to me because its just as bad as before. Half the time I go to listen its off air.

I know we will have people saying we should be grateful they exist and glass half full and all that, but seriously the number of outages that station has had is ridiculous.

Hot fm doing better in terms of keeping things consistent. Now will suffer once listeners find the 1025kiss fm not to mention all the other dance station choices at the moment.

Dipole Keith

I’m just in the door from Belfast, The best pirate traveling north was RetroNow on 107.1, I lost it between Newry & Banbridge, All the others were gone I was getting RTE on 88.1, 2FM on 91.0, BBC Ulster on 94.3 & Ocean FM on 102.5, Just means 107.1 is a clearer frequency to be on, Same when I was out West last week, RetroNow was the first station to start coming in around Mullingar.

JDxtra

Dipole Keith wrote: »

I’m just in the door from Belfast, The best pirate traveling north was RetroNow on 107.1, I lost it between Newry & Banbridge, All the others were gone I was getting RTE on 88.1, 2FM on 91.0, BBC Ulster on 94.3 & Ocean FM on 102.5, Just means 107.1 is a clearer frequency to be on, Same when I was out West last week, RetroNow was the first station to start coming in around Mullingar.

Same on the M6 heading towards Dublin yesterday. First one I could get was Retronow on 107.1, then shortly afterwards Kiss on 102.5, then Now on 88.1. 107.1 had some cut over in parts from Newstalk on 107.2 from Mount Leinster. RnaG on 93.2 and 2FM on 91.0 both strong until I got closer to Dublin where the locals took over.

Infoanon

Band Scan Thursday June 6th 2019,Lucan:

87.6 Chill
88.1 Now
91.0 Hot
91.9 Retro
93.2 Easy
94.3 Phever
98.9 All 80s
99.5 Fresh
101.2 The Cube
102.5 102 Kiss
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.7 No.1 (weak)
107.1 RetroNow

JDxtra

Infoanon wrote: »

Band Scan Thursday June 6th 2019,Lucan:

87.6 Chill
88.1 Now
91.0 Hot
91.9 Retro
93.2 Easy
94.3 Phever
98.9 All 80s
99.5 Fresh
101.2 The Cube
102.5 102 Kiss
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.7 No.1 (weak)
107.1 RetroNow

Some selection!

Declan A Walsh

Infoanon wrote: »

Band Scan Thursday June 6th 2019,Lucan:

87.6 Chill
88.1 Now
91.0 Hot
91.9 Retro
93.2 Easy
94.3 Phever
98.9 All 80s
99.5 Fresh
101.2 The Cube
102.5 102 Kiss
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.7 No.1 (weak)
107.1 RetroNow

I know Storm NE is a station that broadcasts from Dundalk, Co. Louth. What about Energy on 103.0? If it is a Dublin pirate, it is very close to Dublin City FM on 103.2.

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Infoanon wrote: »

Band Scan Thursday June 6th 2019,Lucan:

87.6 Chill
88.1 Now
91.0 Hot
91.9 Retro
93.2 Easy
94.3 Phever
98.9 All 80s
99.5 Fresh
101.2 The Cube
102.5 102 Kiss
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.7 No.1 (weak)
107.1 RetroNow

I know Storm NE is a station that broadcasts from Dundalk, Co. Louth. What about Energy on 103.0? If it is a Dublin pirate, it is very close to Dublin City FM on 103.2.

Ratoath.

Should also add 105.7 The Beach heard in Rathfarnham and surrounding areas

Dipole Keith

That No.1 on 105.7 is strong around Liffey Valley but fades quickly after, its a relay of the Turkish music station from Istanbul, That was some going getting Energy103 in Lucan, They must have increased power.

Infoanon

Dipole Keith wrote: »

That No.1 on 105.7 is strong around Liffey Valley but fades quickly after, its a relay of the Turkish music station from Istanbul, That was some going getting Energy103 in Lucan, They must have increased power.

Possibly conditions - all the BBC stations were crystal clear .

Have found Energy to be directional so that's also a possible explanation

Dublins anorak

Blank carrier on 101.6 as far as Longford anybody have any info on this

Declan A Walsh

Earlier this evening, I was travelling in the Kilmacud and Stillorgan areas of south Dublin and picked up the following pirates when I did a scan on the car radio.
88.1 - Now FM
91.0 - Hot FM
94.3 - Phever
99.5 - Fresh FM
102.5 - 1025 Kiss FM
105.7 - The Beach
107.1 - RetroNow

Seven pirates on a normal Tuesday evening has to be a record for this decade... and they were all playing music. I suspect it may be a first, too, since the big clampdown on pirates in 2003.

There has been a noticeable increase in pirate activity over the last year or two, between dance pirates and oldies-oriented pirates. The latest development is the increase in pirates who are on seven days a week, and not just weekends, and, indeed, a few brave ones are on during the day.

Strange things are happening on the Dublin airwaves these days!

DopeTech

Another station testing on 91.6 in Dublin. RDS is K TST TX.

JDxtra

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Earlier this evening, I was travelling in the Kilmacud and Stillorgan areas of south Dublin and picked up the following pirates when I did a scan on the car radio.
88.1 - Now FM
91.0 - Hot FM
94.3 - Phever
99.5 - Fresh FM
102.5 - 1025 Kiss FM
105.7 - The Beach
107.1 - RetroNow

Seven pirates on a normal Tuesday evening has to be a record for this decade... and they were all playing music. I suspect it may be a first, too, since the big clampdown on pirates in 2003.

Is The Beach full time? I still have not heard it. Plus we have the part time stations: 87.6 Chill FM, 91.9 Retro FM, 93.2 Easy & 101.2 The Cube. Some selection!

Declan A Walsh

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Earlier this evening, I was travelling in the Kilmacud and Stillorgan areas of south Dublin and picked up the following pirates when I did a scan on the car radio.
88.1 - Now FM
91.0 - Hot FM
94.3 - Phever
99.5 - Fresh FM
102.5 - 1025 Kiss FM
105.7 - The Beach
107.1 - RetroNow

Seven pirates on a normal Tuesday evening has to be a record for this decade... and they were all playing music. I suspect it may be a first, too, since the big clampdown on pirates in 2003.

There has been a noticeable increase in pirate activity over the last year or two, between dance pirates and oldies-oriented pirates. The latest development is the increase in pirates who are on seven days a week, and not just weekends, and, indeed, a few brave ones are on during the day.

Strange things are happening on the Dublin airwaves these days!

I was a bit quick off the mark. I forgot about this post!!

Infoanon wrote: »

Band Scan Thursday June 6th 2019,Lucan:

87.6 Chill
88.1 Now
91.0 Hot
91.9 Retro
93.2 Easy
94.3 Phever
98.9 All 80s
99.5 Fresh
101.2 The Cube
102.5 102 Kiss
103.0 Energy
104.2 Storm NE
105.7 No.1 (weak)
107.1 RetroNow

Not all of them were from Dublin, but that was 14 picked up in that area, including 12 Dublin pirates, on that occasion. However, there tends to be more activity in Thursday evenings than earlier weekdays.