BANDSCAN THREAD

TheBMG

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

I did consider both possibilities. Re 96.0, is it not south inner city?

Unless he’s moved ;-) but I’m 95 percent sure he’s north inner city

Declan A Walsh

TheBMG wrote: »

Unless he’s moved ;-) but I’m 95 percent sure he’s north inner city

I just assumed that Inner City Country which was previously on that frequency was from the south inner city because of where I picked up strongest on my route on that previous occasion! Of course, I was not in the north inner city during my journey!

Dipole Keith

I’m getting Star1057 in Howth at the summit this afternoon got weak as I came down the hill, RDS reads ‘Star Radio- Real Music Variety’ David Bowie Modern Love playing around the time. I wonder is this the Beach

JDxtra

Dipole Keith wrote: »

I’m getting Star1057 in Howth at the summit this afternoon got weak as I came down the hill, RDS reads ‘Star Radio- Real Music Variety’ David Bowie Modern Love playing around the time. I wonder is this the Beach

Similar naming convention and sounds like a similar broadcast area. I can't receive it.

Mr. MooYagi

JDxtra wrote: »

Similar naming convention and sounds like a similar broadcast area. I can't receive it.

Getting it in Clontarf loud and clear!

Declan A Walsh

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Getting it in Clontarf loud and clear!

I suspect it might be coming from the south-east of Dublin and that the parts of the northside of Dublin close to Dublin Bay, i.e. the north-east, are in a good position to pick it up.

Infoanon

Receiving Star1057 in the same areas I would expect to have found the Beach though audio processing sounds different, possibly to suit the 'easier' beat of the music - similar to Smooth Radio.

ABC relay on 96.0 continues - probably same station from inner city Dublin

Picked up an Unid on 87.6 - possibly Chill.

Bandscan SE Dublin

91.0 Hot
92.0 Retro 92
93.2 Extreme
94.1/94.3 both clear this afternoon
96.0 ABC relay
99.5 Energy AM relay
105.2 nothing receivable in SE or City Centre
105.7 Star1057
107.1 Club FM

1395 AM Energy AM with live programming

KildareP

Spirit Radio still broadcasting (in Dublin anyway) with no audio processing.


East Coast FM were completely off air on 96.2 Friday morning while 99.9 was broadcasting looping music without processing. Fairly lousy weather the previous night so probably related.


FM104 have been working on their processing - extremely loud, brick wall of sound. Lot of songs sounding very odd and unnatural because of the extreme compression and EQ. Very unpleasant to listen to but they're probably the loudest in Dublin again after 98FM did some recent work on theirs. 98FM at least sounds great even when you turn the volume up loud whereas FM104 you nearly want to turn the volume right the way down.

Infoanon

KildareP wrote: »

Spirit Radio still broadcasting (in Dublin anyway) with no audio processing.


East Coast FM were completely off air on 96.2 Friday morning while 99.9 was broadcasting looping music without processing. Fairly lousy weather the previous night

East Coasts 99.9 has a fibre optic sourced feed so it should not be affected by 96.2 being off - it also has an audio loop failsafe though it's a short loop !

Spirit - I very much doubt Spirit have more than one FM optimod and I can confirm 90.1 and 92.2 are the same quality as 89.9 at the moment

JDxtra

KildareP wrote: »

Spirit Radio still broadcasting (in Dublin anyway) with no audio processing.


East Coast FM were completely off air on 96.2 Friday morning while 99.9 was broadcasting looping music without processing. Fairly lousy weather the previous night so probably related.


FM104 have been working on their processing - extremely loud, brick wall of sound. Lot of songs sounding very odd and unnatural because of the extreme compression and EQ. Very unpleasant to listen to but they're probably the loudest in Dublin again after 98FM did some recent work on theirs. 98FM at least sounds great even when you turn the volume up loud whereas FM104 you nearly want to turn the volume right the way down.

To compare, I recorded 10 minutes of the demodulated FM audio of Spirit, 98FM and FM104 using an SDR (good signal received).

I then selected one minute of pop music to pull out the loudness readings. FM104 is certainly the loudest overall and has the smallest loudness range. To me (at least on headphones) it is the least pleasant to listen to, but I understand this is subjective.


89.9 - SPIRIT




98.1 - 98FM




104.4 - FM104




Side by side (in Adobe Audition)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-FS3aI1sTbA

end of the road

i listened to the 104 and 98 recordings, didn't give spirit's one a listen as it was the 104 and 98 comparison i was interested in doing.
thoughts are, 104's fm audio is aweful.
describing it as flat as a pancake wouldn't be the best description as it does have mid base but there is no punch to it what so ever.
the stream on the other hand which i listened to myself as i have it here is decent enough in my view.
98 does seem to be at the same audio level but the highs are a little less and it does seem to be decent enough.
that's my thoughts anyway, i'm no expert but i do find this sort of thing interesting.

KildareP

JDxtra wrote: »

To compare, I recorded 10 minutes of the demodulated FM audio of Spirit, 98FM and FM104 using an SDR (good signal received).

I then selected one minute of pop music to pull out the loudness readings. FM104 is certainly the loudest overall and has the smallest loudness range. To me (at least on headphones) it is the least pleasant to listen to, but I understand this is subjective.

Side by side (in Adobe Audition)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-FS3aI1sTbA

FM104's waveform looks as horrible as it sounds!!

KildareP

Infoanon wrote: »

East Coasts 99.9 has a fibre optic sourced feed so it should not be affected by 96.2 being off - it also has an audio loop failsafe though it's a short loop !

Spirit - I very much doubt Spirit have more than one FM optimod and I can confirm 90.1 and 92.2 are the same quality as 89.9 at the moment

Must have been the Optimod that went pop.


They have (had?) an Optimod FM at base feeding the FM network via satellite and an Optimod AM at the MW transmitter site.



At times their program audio is completely lost in background FM noise.



Can't see how they can keep that up much longer without shedding listeners.

Losty Dublin

KildareP wrote: »

Can't see how they can keep that up much longer without shedding listeners.

Fixed your post

tiswasfan

All 80s on 94.3 sounding strong in Blackrock (no signal strength indicator in the car but totally quieting).

Dipole Keith

Anyone know what RDS Sunshine & 4FM are using? I was in a new Mercedes today and there the only stations that the song information came up on the screen.

TheBMG

JDxtra wrote: »

To compare, I recorded 10 minutes of the demodulated FM audio of Spirit, 98FM and FM104 using an SDR (good signal received).

I then selected one minute of pop music to pull out the loudness readings. FM104 is certainly the loudest overall and has the smallest loudness range. To me (at least on headphones) it is the least pleasant to listen to, but I understand this is subjective.


89.9 - SPIRIT




98.1 - 98FM




104.4 - FM104




Side by side (in Adobe Audition)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-FS3aI1sTbA

Very interesting JD! Any chance u could do a comparison with iRadio too? I find their audio very tough to listen to because of their processing

Mr. MooYagi

FM 104 sounds ****e. Just leave that there

marno21

Dipole Keith wrote: »

Anyone know what RDS Sunshine & 4FM are using? I was in a new Mercedes today and there the only stations that the song information came up on the screen.

RadioText Plus.

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreview/trev_307-radiotext.pdf

RedFM in Cork use it too.

JDxtra

Nothing on 94.3 this morning, possibly aiming for an evening only / weekend only service?

Blank carriers (with RDS/stereo) for Hot FM 91.0 and Extreme FM (93.2) this morning.

Losty Dublin

marno21 wrote: »

RadioText Plus.

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreview/trev_307-radiotext.pdf

RedFM in Cork use it too.

I was under the impression that the BAI frown on the use of scrolling/changing text on radio displays, notably for song titling. Am I mistaken here?

Infoanon

Losty Dublin wrote: »

I was under the impression that the BAI frown on the use of scrolling/changing text on radio displays, notably for song titling. Am I mistaken here?

Fixed text only allowed no scrolling on the station ID field.

However data is allowed and always has been it's just that older car radios only displayed the station name (fixed text only allowed) but newer car radios have both the station name and display the data.

Iirc a few Pirates got phone calls when they were using scrolling text on the station ID field and East Coast used it for a very short while.

kazoo106

FM 104 used scrolling PS "Superstars of the 70s 80s and 90s on Dublins FM104" around 1997 if my memory serves me right

JDxtra

TheBMG wrote: »

Very interesting JD! Any chance u could do a comparison with iRadio too? I find their audio very tough to listen to because of their processing

No problem, here's iRadio and a few more from this afternoon, same conditions...


RTE 2fm (91.3)




Classic Hits (94.9)




Today FM (101.8)




Q102 (102.2)




SPIN (103.8)




iRadio (104.7)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-wHRIXOmYey

TheBMG

JDxtra wrote: »

No problem, here's iRadio and a few more from this afternoon, same conditions...


RTE 2fm (91.3)




Classic Hits (94.9)




Today FM (101.8)




Q102 (102.2)




SPIN (103.8)




iRadio (104.7)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-wHRIXOmYey

That’s very interesting! I’ve always thought Spin has a great thump off it and if I’m reading this correctly it’s got (a tiny bit) more dynamic range than some of its rivals. Maybe some of the others should dial down the brickwall limiting and composite clipping.

Also, could’ve sworn iradio was more heavily processed than some of the Dublin stations but I’m wrong! Perhaps it’s an EQ thing they’re doing.

Thanks a million for posting all of this JD

JDxtra

marno21 wrote: »

RadioText Plus.

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreview/trev_307-radiotext.pdf

RedFM in Cork use it too.

Example of Today FM using RadioText Plus to display station name and phone number...

mikeecho

turbocab wrote: »

It all depends on the power you are running the transmitter at.the transmitter they are using is a 25kilowatt, General consenses is they are running it at around 5kilowatts.With at 20cent per killowatt price thats 1euro per hour if there was no losses .So accounting for losses of 20 per cent that would be roughly 1euro 20 cent per hour ,Not a significant amount by any means

€1.20 X 24hrs = €28.80 per day
That's €200 PW , or €10,400pa .

That's significant in my maths book.

One More Toy

mikeecho wrote: »

€1.20 X 24hrs = €28.80 per day
That's €200 PW , or €10,400pa .

That's significant in my maths book.

Lowest rate on the market currently is 14c which is significantly less than 20c

Infoanon

mikeecho wrote: »

€1.20 X 24hrs = €28.80 per day
That's €200 PW , or €10,400pa .

That's significant in my maths book.

Pittens for a commercial radio station in truth.

Remember that Spirit were awarded the licence on the basis of providing a nationwide AM services not a low powered AM with multi city FM relays

castle2012

JDxtra wrote: »

Example of Today FM using RadioText Plus to display station name and phone number...

Radio text with info on many stations. In this day and age all the legals should have. I think its embarrassing for high profile radio stations that don't provide the info. If pirates can do it why can't legals?.
Also on a separate not, what's going on with FM104 repeated info on the RDS, Really unnecessary.