I don't know if it was just last night, but on the drive to Hathersage, I couldn't bear Phoneboy on Hallam, so scanned around for alternatives. BBC Radio Cymru was the first, but my Welsh isn't too good, and the music was bad, so I tried again. Crystal clear BRMB from Birmingham. A non-stop ad break came on, so I tried one more time - and got Radio de Boer from Eindhoven - on FM! And that was down in the Valley, not on the hills. And even though it was in Double Dutch, it made more sense than Phoneboy ever did!
Anyone else received any faraway beats?

I noticed that last night, I think the weather conditions must have been right for it (its called something techy like Skip or something)

I had Radio Sheff on and some German kept drowning it out.

Can some Radio am techy explain all this please.

Phan?

Mw Lw and Sw all use amplitude modulation(AM), which is a simpler method of transmission than FM which has a better sound quality. FM you can recieve if your radio can see the FM transmitter in a straight line. (just about)

One way that AM gets from the transmitter to your radio by bouncing of the ionosphere. Therefore at certain times of year when the ionosphere is higher, you can pick up stations from much further away. In the summer it is usually lower so that you can only get local stations.

Last night was a clear cloudless and cold night. This would have greatly helped the Am radio reception.

Try again on the next clear night :)

Putting my radio amateur hat on....

It's called tropospheric skip - almost certainly this at this time of year. It often happens when you get cold, still weather over teh country, or on the decaying edge of a high pressure system.

'Tropo' is often good around dawn and dusk as the atmosphere changes it's ability to refract radio waves as the temperature changes.

If you get what's called a temperature inversion, where the air close to the ground is warmer than the air above it, then the boundary between teh two can act as a mirror for VHF radio signals. If this phenomena stretches between two locations, then a 'duct' is said to be present and it acts like a pipe for the radio signals to go down.

One of the characteristics of tropo is that teh signals are quite long lived and can be very strong. Some tropo events last for days if the weather system stays stable enough.

Hope this helps!

Joe, G0RNC

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Mw LW and SW all use amplitude modulation(AM), which is a simpler method of transmission than FM which has a better sound quality. FM you can recieve if your radio can see the FM transmitter in a straight line. (just about)

One way that AM gets from the transmitter to your radio by bouncing of the ionosphere. Therefore at certain times of year when the ionosphere is higher, you can pick up stations from much further away. In the summer it is usually lower so that you can only get local stations.

Spot on as far as it goes, but ionospheric propagation only usually works up to about 50MHz unless conditions are exceptional (solar storms, nuclear explosions, stuff like that that really ionises the ionospher).

Above 60 or 70 MHz most long range propagation is either by trop ducting, 'Sporadic E' which is highly ionised clouds scudding around the ionospheric E layer, or meteor scatter, which is little pings off meteor trails.

But in this case - 99% certain it was tropo.

Joe

I think it's quite cool how It is possible to listen to Radio 1 when in Normandy (Caen area). If you're driving a long the coast you can enjoy the not-so-cool-radio-but-still-better-than-what-France-comes-up-with. ;)

It was very bad on FM yesterday. I had to chase for "better" frequencies on several of my pre-sets.
I also noted that BBC2 terrestrial had interference in the early evening as did Channel 4.

Radio seems a lot better this morning (Friday)

Joe, I bow to your superior knowlege. I was just quoting what I remembered from college 18 years ago.

Originally posted by cgksheff
It was very bad on FM yesterday. I had to chase for "better" frequencies on several of my pre-sets.
I also noted that BBC2 terrestrial had interference in the early evening as did Channel 4.

Radio seems a lot better this morning (Friday)
Maybe Santa was on your roof checking out landing sites for Christmas and accidentally knocked your aerials??

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Joe, I bow to your superior knowlege. I was just quoting what I remembered from college 18 years ago.

Nah...like I said...spot on as far as it went!

I did research for a book on this a couple of years ago and it's still rattling around the old noggin!

Joe :)

I grew up in pitsmoor which is in a kind of a valley anf fm reception isnt great in terms of DX-ing...however if you use a decent radio and an amplified MW antenna (i got a sony one 14 years ago for 50 quid!) you can pick up North American MW channels, such as one in St Johns, NF and New York!

I suggest if people are interested in dx-ing they should get the shortwave magazine, I havent got it for 10 years now but it used to have a full list of channels on mw/sw that people could receive from far and away!!

as for the atmospheric conditions there are lots of people on this site who seem to know their stuff so and i cant elaborate!!

I couldn't get freeview via my old ITV Digital box last night; in atmospheric conditions I can pick up Anglia - there again I'm opposite Essex (and not "that" far from their Tx).

Alex

Well the A1 was in a 'blind spot' for all this activity. I couldn't get any of the usual stations I progress through on my journey :mad:

Originally posted by JoePritchard
If you get what's called a temperature inversion, where the air close to the ground is warmer than the air above it, then the boundary between teh two can act as a mirror for VHF radio signals. If this phenomena stretches between two locations, then a 'duct' is said to be present and it acts like a pipe for the radio signals to go down.
A couple of months ago, travelling from Cambridge to Corby, I could get no English stations at all. The airwaves had been compeltely hijacked by Dutch stations. They seem to be able to broadcast what they like as a display on your radio, so the messages kept changing on my display (telling me how wonderful the station is, in English), although the station didn't change!

I had a scroll round, and found myself a nice Rock station to accompany me to work! :D

I was disappointed when things got back to normal :(

Originally posted by Strix
The airwaves had been completely hijacked by Dutch stations. They seem to be able to broadcast what they like as a display on your radio, so the messages kept changing on my display (telling me how wonderful the station is, in English), although the station didn't change!:(

I had the same thing. I don't have one of those changing displays, but last night it did. It changed between Nu Bij, Shell De, Menno, Radio de Boer, Radio538, Kadotip and Flitzer!
Anyone understand Dutch???
I'm gonna see if it's the same tonight - it was around 102 FM and crystal clear in Hope Valley.

Nu Bij = Now, Radio De Boer = Farmer's Radio

Originally posted by Tony_BLiar
<snip>

I suggest if people are interested in dx-ing they should get the shortwave magazine, I havent got it for 10 years now but it used to have a full list of channels on mw/sw that people could receive from far and away!!

<snip>



SWM is still available, though in recent years they've carried a lot more stuff about digital modes, scanning and stuff.

There's also a book published every year called the World radio and TV Handbook (WRTH) which lists all the broadcast stations in the world that are known to be currently broadcasting - LW, MW, SW, VHF and TV.

Joe

Originally posted by JoePritchard
SWM is still available, though in recent years they've carried a lot more stuff about digital modes, scanning and stuff.

There's also a book published every year called the World radio and TV Handbook (WRTH) which lists all the broadcast stations in the world that are known to be currently broadcasting - LW, MW, SW, VHF and TV.

Joe

Due, youre bringing me back to my past!! WRTH was the bible for dxers, however I found that some of the frequencies they displayed for stations were sometime outdated. I think with the introdcution of the internet and other communications means that radio dxing has died a death. I may rekindle the old magic of listening to Radio Ghana Accra, HCJB Quito one day though....

ALSO!!!!

If anyone wants to get FM stations from far and wide I would recommened using a strand of copper wire rather than a usual aerial!

Originally posted by Tony_BLiar
ALSO!!!!

If anyone wants to get FM stations from far and wide I would recommened using a strand of copper wire rather than a usual aerial! Or just listen on the net, as my Belgian colleagues did in work

i only listen to peak fm as this is the best radio station in the area and yo can hear it all over derbyshire and some parts of sheffield on 107.4 and 102fm in the peak district

Peak disappears at the bottom of our street :(
Lincs Fm only gets this far occasionally (weather permitting)
Hallam is my first choice, so long as Nicolarse or Phoneboy are not on

Is there anywhere in the city where you can't get digital? We have been told that a freeview set top box for the telly won't work where we live and we can't get Channel 5. Any ideas?

I only know that around Calver/Curbar out in the peak you can't get digital radio/tv. Gets very annoying when every other ad on the tv/radio is for digital!!!

The signal has improved since the beeb took over, so info may have changed since set top boxes first came out. We don't get any break-up anymore

This is a pretty cool site :

http://www.dxtuners.com

They have arange of radio receivers situated throughout teh world which you can tune and listen to via the Net. Utterly weird! I listened to the California Highway Patrol a few weeks back - very interesting!

You can't access all the receivers without paying, but the guest facility is pretty neat.

Joe

Jess,
I am a big fan and user of digital radio. I have a Dab tuner at home in woodseats, close to the abbey pub. And also I have another where I work at heeley bottom. Both recieve the same amount of stations, and that's lots. (just check for you 36 channels tonight.)
I would love to have one in the car as well, but don't want to muck my reasonable car about, by having a horrible aftermarket blue and silver halfords special. The rock stations are fab, radio 6 is superb, and I usually tune into the comedy on radio 7 at least once a day. :cool:

Many thanks. I might risk it and take it back if it doesn't work.

I live in Osgodby, a small village between Scarborough and Cayton Bay, with a four element ariel in the loft( and it's only a bungalow) I can recieve radio Sheffield most of the time, also, for those of you who are unable to get freeview reception, we are suposed to be in a no-no area, but I bought one of the cheap (£12 49) ariel boosters from Wilkinsons, and now get freeview without any problems.

Hi Malc,

The only thing I'd say to folks about aerial boosters is that if there's not too much intereference AND they're not too close to a high power transmitter (either VHF radio or TV) then they'll often work well.

If there are strong signals in the vicinity, then you can get less than good results due to a techie problem called 'cross modulation' where the strong signal overloads the amplifier and shows up on every signal you try to receive...:(

But nice one! Obviously well worth the money!

Joe

Originally posted by Tony_BLiar
Due, youre bringing me back to my past!! WRTH was the bible for dxers, however I found that some of the frequencies they displayed for stations were sometime outdated. I think with the introdcution of the internet and other communications means that radio dxing has died a death. I may rekindle the old magic of listening to Radio Ghana Accra, HCJB Quito one day though....

Africa no. 1 - now there was a radio station!

StarSparkle :thumbsup:

Cripes, I can bearly get Radio Sheffield with my Hi-Fi, let alone BBC Cymru!

Any tips on how I can get a better signal bar the copper wire thing?