BANDSCAN THREAD

Mr. MooYagi

JDxtra wrote: »

Newstalk on 107.2 maybe? Once you get out past Lucan heading west Newstalk can be heard nipping away at whatever does be on 107.1. I remember hearing it when Tonik radio was on air some years ago.

Could have been Newstalk maybe. Couldn't be sure who it was. Also got test tone on 88.1 in Dublin city c.1.45pm this afternoon. Seems to be fair strength signal. It was on again later on c. 3.00pm for c. 30 mins.

Interestingly while scanning the band, I noticed some very poor sounding stations, mostly local such as Phoenix, DSLR amongst others. This seems to be a given for these operators. You would think the BAI would pay attention to this as they are responsible for these operators. Says it all really....thgoughts anybody...?

JDxtra

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Interestingly while scanning the band, I noticed some very poor sounding stations, mostly local such as Phoenix, DSLR amongst others. This seems to be a given for these operators. You would think the BAI would pay attention to this as they are responsible for these operators. Says it all really....thgoughts anybody...?

Yes, fully agree there. My local station, Liffey Sound FM on 96.4, is similar and can have very poor audio output. They are run on a shoestring budget and as long as something can be heard on air, that's all they care about. Quality not really a consideration.

Infoanon

JDxtra wrote: »

Yes, fully agree there. My local station, Liffey Sound FM on 96.4, is similar and can have very poor audio output. They are run on a shoestring budget and as long as something can be heard on air, that's all they care about. Quality not really a consideration.

BAI & Comreg only concerned with programming (ticking all the right boxes) and standard of transmission equipment.

Audio processing is not within the remit - and as JD said they are run on a shoe string.

As an aside the exception is Dublin City which even in its Anna LIvia days seemed well funded - optimod in their audio chain from the get go

EDIT: and R na Life

TheBMG

Was sitting in Fethard on Sea in Wexford earlier this afternoon and QRadio on 100.5 was blasting in as was LMFM on 95.8.

Oddly enough not as many UK stations as normal audible at the same location.

Losty Dublin

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Interestingly while scanning the band, I noticed some very poor sounding stations, mostly local such as Phoenix, DSLR amongst others. This seems to be a given for these operators. You would think the BAI would pay attention to this as they are responsible for these operators. Says it all really....thgoughts anybody...?

I was only thinking about this recently. While most of the smaller entities aren't going to be using heavy ass processors or Orbans they should still have something, even if it's just a basic compressor and signal limiter. I would like to specifically single out Phoenix here, who easily have the worst audio set up going of any station on air in the last 20 years, pirate or licenced. At times I suspect that Eamon Cooke did their TX and audio and, in his inimitable style, he had it all put in a hole and covered up in concrete when they were building the Blanchardstown centre.

KildareP

Losty Dublin wrote: »

I would like to specifically single out Phoenix here, who easily have the worst audio set up going of any station on air in the last 20 years, pirate or licenced. At times I suspect that Eamon Cooke did their TX and audio and, in his inimitable style, he had it all put in a hole and covered up in concrete when they were building the Blanchardstown centre.

Maybe that's why it sounds like they're feeding their transmitter audio over a phoneline, they haven't been able to get at the transmitter to upgrade the audio link since it went in :p:p

marno21

Antenna wrote: »

All 6 national FM stations from Mullaghanish currently off air, so affecting much of the south and south-west of the country.

PS: came back on after 4PM

All off again. Radio Kerry unaffected.

Infoanon

Another Wednesday afternoon appearance for the over modulated UNID on 94.1 in South West Dublin

Declan A Walsh

Infoanon wrote: »

Another Wednesday afternoon appearance for the over modulated UNID on 94.1 in South West Dublin

Does this sound like the same station that started some time last year on 87.5 and was suspected to be on 94.3 at one stage? Not to be confused with a more recent UNID playing dance music on 94.3!

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Does this sound like the same station that started some time last year on 87.5 and was suspected to be on 94.3 at one stage? Not to be confused with a more recent UNID playing dance music on 94.3!

It is indeed the same station that started in 87 5 afaik - still over modulated !

SATNAV

Have to say over the years some stations both Legit or Non Legit audio has been very mixed bag ,
When you look at some stations on the east coast with more than one transmission site the audio doesn't match, pirates some I wonder if they even use processing at all, ( god be with the days when some stations used a tape deck to control the audio output ) !!!! I remember Southside Radio at one stage had a tape deck and then upgraded to a Audio compressor , very posh in the early 80s.
On AM Spirit audio is mostly ok , little low , and I see Energy AM have upgraded their optimond recently and are nearly catching up with Manx .
I assume most fm stations now are using stereo tool of some other software processing rather than hardware. Lets hope everyone keeps investing in audio processing and we can continue to enjoy real radio . B

radioguru02

Have to post this before I forgwet!
On WLR FM's death notices (the local licensed station for Waterford) a death was announced along with the outlets on which you could watch the funeral mass...as well as the fact that you could tune in on "the parish radio on (105.2, I think) FM."
So WLR were indirectly, technically, promoting a pirate radio station! I found it amusing that three minutes later, they suffered a technical hitch which caused them to go silent for a few seconds - real pirate-type stuff! They did apologise in fairness.

JDxtra

Some ongoing issues with Hot FM on 91.0 in Dublin. Most mornings they are operating on a carrier with audio returning randomly later. There are other areas for improvement, but in general the station seems to have lost the momentum it had. This is also reflected in the limited number of live shows when compared to before.

JDxtra

Infoanon wrote: »

Another Wednesday afternoon appearance for the over modulated UNID on 94.1 in South West Dublin

Is this a Wednesday thing only? I can't receive it where I am so wondering if there is any consistency to the broadcasts.

Infoanon

JDxtra wrote: »

Is this a Wednesday thing only? I can't receive it where I am so wondering if there is any consistency to the broadcasts.

A Wednesday thing as of late - it was on 24/7 earlier in the year. Signal does not get out to eg City Centre / Dublin SE

Declan A Walsh

Infoanon wrote: »

A Wednesday thing as of late - it was on 24/7 earlier in the year. Signal does not get out to eg City Centre / Dublin SE

It must hold the record for the longest lasting unidentified station!

Sunnyboy11

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

It must hold the record for the longest lasting unidentified station!

Only rubbish coming from 94.1FM

Dublindj2020

Dance & rap music playing on 102.5 yesterday evening around julianstown area all the way through balbriggan towards balrothery. I'm nearly sure I heard a "pulse Fm" jingle at one stage Its now on a blank carrier. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Dublindj2020

JDxtra wrote: »

Pulse 103 FM from Ratoath maybe?

I think it was a pulse 103 station I'D I heard yeah.

JDxtra

Dublindj2020 wrote: »

I think it was a pulse 103 station I'D I heard yeah.

Yes, I don't know much about it or what exact frequency they use. I suspect power is low/modest which is why we don't see it mentioned here too often.

Dublindj2020

JDxtra wrote: »

Yes, I don't know much about it or what exact frequency they use. I suspect power is low/modest which is why we don't see it mentioned here too often.

Yeah, seems to be low enough power. Music was good though nice change not many stations play rap anymore.
Music quality wasnt great though.

Declan A Walsh

Based on previous posts, there appears to be at least three stations emanating from around the Rathoath area, which is kind of curious: Energy 103 (oldies station), Pulse 103 and RetroNow. The latter is currently using 105.2 FM and seems to have the most reach into Dublin.

Dublindj2020

I would have thought the station on 102.5 would have been based in the balbriggan area as it was at its strongest while driving through the town itself and on into the balrothery area just guessing but could be from anywhere.

Dublindj2020

Club sounding great today any word on pirate fm lately?

JDxtra

Ahh, maybe I was getting confused with Energy 103 - which they say on their Facebook page has been "playing oldies to Ratoath for 10 years".

So, sorry - no idea what appeared on 102.5 playing dance.

JDxtra

This evening...

87.6 - blank carrier (Chill FM?)
88.1 - Phever
91.0 - Hot FM
93.2 - Extreme
94.3 - All 80s
105.2 - RetroNow
107.1 - Club FM

Mr. MooYagi

Any scannerooneys about?

castle2012

While driving through Dublin today had a flick around all the pirates. Club Fm are streets ahead of the rest. The guys clearly know what there doing.
Audio excellent, RDS has the name of each tune. Even the few ads sounding great.
It must be tough on the pirates due to covid, No gigs (which I'm sure covered some of the running costs)

JDxtra

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Any scannerooneys about?

Differences from yesterday are that Energy AM is on 99.5 FM, no Phever on 88.1 (Friday evenings only recently) and no Chill on 87.6.

JDxtra

castle2012 wrote: »

While driving through Dublin today had a flick around all the pirates. Club Fm are streets ahead of the rest. The guys clearly know what there doing.
Audio excellent, RDS has the name of each tune. Even the few ads sounding great.
It must be tough on the pirates due to covid, No gigs (which I'm sure covered some of the running costs)

It's hard to fault - great signal, tight automation, processing, online stream, smart speaker integration, nice mix of tunes, plenty of imaging etc.

Also deserving of respect is the current online stream from former pirates Freedom 92 FM and also Non-Stop 90s.

These are the standards that stations should be aiming for.