Radio Caroline goes legal

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
A terminating resistor was used to balance out the load if your transmitting on the long wire, really not needed for reception.

Coils are used were space is limited, the coils will shorten the length of the long wire, the more winding's the shorter the antenna has to be, however fopr the antenna to work as good as it can the coils need to be setup for different bands to help with proper reception in those bands.

Coils can be used for 160, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meter HAM bands to load down and shorten up a long wire antenna, also if your looking at VLF frequency's (630 and 2200 meters) it would be best to use a coil to shorten up the antenna, as a single long wire may stretch out of town in those bands.

For AM radio bands and international short wave bands you can use a simple inverted "V" setup for ham bands and it will work fine.

Just remember that the "Band" number equals the length of the wire, so one set for the 160 meter band would have two parts set at 160 meter long, this for a full wave length antenna, (that wold work the best) however you can shorten the antenna by one half or one quarter for 160 meters, (1/2 wave, 1/4 wave) this would also make the antenna work for 80 and 40 meters.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
So for an antenna to be used on 643 KHz (466.5 meters) you can shorten it by three quarters, winding a coil that has 353.25 meters of wire in the winding, and two stubs of 1/8 wave length ( 58.875 each) for one going in the other going out, (mid span coil loading) this would be a 1/4 wave stub, with a 3/4 wave coil, thus shortening the total antenna's required length quite a bit.

Electrically it is still a full wave length antenna.
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
So for an antenna to be used on 643 KHz (466.5 meters) you can shorten it by three quarters, winding a coil that has 353.25 meters of wire in the winding, and two stubs of 1/8 wave length ( 58.875 each) for one going in the other going out, (mid span coil loading) this would be a 1/4 wave stub, with a 3/4 wave coil, thus shortening the total antenna's required length quite a bit.

Electrically it is still a full wave length antenna.


You are Count Zeppelin and I claim my 20 Deutschmarks
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
I can give you 54,674,345 Qadlues instead of the 20 Deutschmarks, (sorry I don't have anything of Earth value here ) but there may be an inter Galactic transfer fee of ten one hundredth of a Venusian mud wringer.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
And you can just order up a G5RV antenna from any ham store, mine works good out to 550 KHz on the AM radio side.(Receiving)
 

s-band

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
1,186
Reaction score
1,843
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
1.5m IRTE PF, Octagon OSLO external Ref., TBS6983,
Various L, S, C, X & Ka bits. 1.2m S/X/Ku/Ka Prodelin on Az-El (being refurbished)
My Location
Essex
It would take more than the 30 mins I spent to do it properly but here's a guess at the probability of being able to receive Caroline, during the day, in the east of England. The ITU graph used (attached) is based on a 1kW ERP TX, which is convenient. However, the antenna is electrically short. I've assumed medium, dry, ground and noise levels as shown by the horizontal lines on the graph. The noise levels (red lines) are based on approximate data from here Quick Determination of Medium Wave Coverage – Application Note 15|Resources

The map shows predicted coverage circles for city, rural and quiet rural (summer) noise levels. It sort of ties in with the coverage area given in the application for which the locations mentioned are shown as red spots. The coverage area prediction would change dramatically if I have the soil type wrong.

Caroline.jpg

648kHz was used by BBC World Service so is fairly clear if other stations. MWLIST quick and easy: Europe, Africa and Middle East There are a couple of lowish power ones in Europe and a 2MW one in Saudi. I think that there's a good chance of receiving Caroline over a large area at night, providing that you are in a low noise location. @hvdh, I suppose if you take a trip to the coast you might hear it as it would be a sea path;-)

ITU.jpg
 
Last edited:

hvdh

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
2,357
Reaction score
3,336
Points
113
Age
59
Website
gso-satellites.nl
My Satellite Setup
Dr.HD F16, TBS 5927, T-55, Laminas 120 cm
My Location
Oss, NL (5.5°E 51.8°N)
Yes s-band, 648 kHz is a clear frequency at the WebSDR in Enschede: Wide-band WebSDR in Enschede, the Netherlands
Here at home with an active antenna stuck out at the balcony, reception proved to be always worse, so my JRC receiver must wait for better times (if ever).

Yesterday evening the WebSDR had a rather strong carrier on 648 kHz, maybe that was Caroline testing.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
I'd try for it but I have a local AM station at 650 KHz running at 22 KW during the day, and WSM in Nashville Tennessee takes the band at night with 50 KW on 650 KHz, so this one may be a bit of luck to try for.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
TX site Google Maps from this application form


Not surprising, it's a bit short for 648kHz but at 1kW ERP the TX must be >1kW Good frequency, though.

Coverage area, from application:
By using an AM frequency, a proposed area bounded by Ipswich in the South, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket in the West, Saxmundham to the East and Diss to the North


648khz is the old BBC World Service frequency from Orfordness isnt it?
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
I'll have ago for them once the sun sets on the off chance.
 

s-band

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
1,186
Reaction score
1,843
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
1.5m IRTE PF, Octagon OSLO external Ref., TBS6983,
Various L, S, C, X & Ka bits. 1.2m S/X/Ku/Ka Prodelin on Az-El (being refurbished)
My Location
Essex
I'd try for it but I have a local AM station at 650 KHz running at 22 KW during the day, and WSM in Nashville Tennessee takes the band at night with 50 KW on 650 KHz, so this one may be a bit of luck to try for.

If your RX doesn't overload you might hear the carrier, at least. An SDR with <1Hz bandwidth? The problem will be knowing which TX you are hearing unless you can see several. From observation, most AM/MW stations are at least a few Hz of their stated frequency. Time to get the Beverage strung out (or use a fence);)

I had a listen on 648 using an active rod antenna and a modified RTL-SDR. In the early evening I could hear one station playing rap and top 40 with Eastern European voice. The modulation was only just intelligible at ~6dB SNR in 6kHz. It peaked to the SE and Caroline will be NE from here.


I found this in the archive:

1296_09-15_2-12-05.jpg

From 2005 when BBCWS were using 1296 for DRM. It was pointed towards the Continent and I was on the back of the beam so it wasn't very strong.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Caroline have indeed been granted 1kW on 648kHz. The tx has been obtained and they hope to be properly on air very soon
 

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,023
Reaction score
4,046
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
When I emailed them a couple of weeks ago they had done some tests into a dummy load but no test transmissions. I don't know what power they had the TX cranked up to either,
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Blimey the MW band is quiet these days. A quick jump up and down it on the car radio - there isnt much to be heard even though its dusk here when the band should be picking up.

Nothing noted on 648kHz at all even very faintly in the far distance.
 

s-band

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
1,186
Reaction score
1,843
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
1.5m IRTE PF, Octagon OSLO external Ref., TBS6983,
Various L, S, C, X & Ka bits. 1.2m S/X/Ku/Ka Prodelin on Az-El (being refurbished)
My Location
Essex
It looks like they have been testing on 648KHz since 11th Nov.
MediumWave.Info - News
It's on at the moment about 30-60 sec in advance of the net stream. Decent signal in west Essex but needs a directional antenna to null co-channel interference.
They appear to be ~4Hz low of 648 whereas the other stations are within 1Hz of the channel.
 
Last edited:

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
A surprisingly easy catch here (5 miles west of Kelso) - and on the car radio too so just using the twig on the roof. Slow fading down to barely audible though
 

william-1

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Messages
12,180
Reaction score
12,266
Points
113
Location
Epping Forest
My Satellite Setup
OP Gibertini 100 XP+ Inverto Black Ultra Lnb
Superior Dark Motor (160° max)
(50 east to 45 west)
Octagon SX88+Optima (A/B switch) Edision primo IP S2

Raven 88cm Mesh Dish + IBU Twin output
Stab100 H to H (120° max)
(53 east to 45 west)
Octagon SX88+ Ultra HD (A/B switch) Golden Interstar Alpha_X
My Location
Epping Forest Essex
Good signal here in West Essex with my Roberts R809 slight fading of Radio Caroline North,
Slightly better reception aiming the internal directional aerial East/West,
Now playing

 
Top