<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Celtic Music Radio broadcast for 5 years on 1530AM, before moving to FM in 2014.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The tx site for us was a challenge. Where do you find somewhere big enough, and secure enough, near Glasgow city centre, where you can put up a mast without too much planning hassle, and with an affordable rent?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The solution, for us, was Shieldhall wharf. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Shieldhall treatment works is a large sewage treatment plant, a couple of miles downriver from Glasgow city centre. These days, of course, it’s all treated in an environmentally friendly way, but back in the old days the solution was much simpler - you store the stuff in a tank until the tank is full, then pump it into a ship, sail it down the river and out into the open sea. Then you dump it over the side! </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">(The SS Shieldhall and SS Garroch Head, the Glasgow “sludge boats” apparently used to also take passengers - taking parties of pensioners for a “sail down the river” while dumping untreated sewage!)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Shieldhall wharf, where the boats were loaded with their precious cargo, is now largely unused. It’s not exactly a prime development site for residential use - lovely riverside views, of course, but it’s surrounded on 3 sides by a sewage farm!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Conveniently for us, there is a 22m navigation beacon on the waterside. And as well as a conventional ground mat, we could bond onto the network of underground pipes that formed the sewage farm, and the metal structure of the dock wall. That in itself was interesting - we could see the antenna efficiency changing with the level of the tide!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Antenna was a top loaded monopole - basically a big “arrowhead” pointing skywards, with the radials (about 15m each if I remember correctly) guyed outwards with nylon rope. Looked a bit heath-robinson, but worked well.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Sonically, our transmission chain demonstrated that AM can be surprisingly good. We were quite pleased with the sound we achieved - nowhere near as good as FM of course, but to our biased ears, it was much better quality than the “big” am stations in the area.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We’ve still got all of the kit - the transmitter (initially a Redifon BT500, latterly a BT1002), antenna tuning unit, optimod etc. Might be able to persuade Alex to sell - but tuning it away from 1530 would be a challenge.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Bruce.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 17 Sep 2015, at 18:44, Ian Hickling <<a href="mailto:transplanfm@hotmail.com" class="">transplanfm@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">If only it were as simple as that!<br class="">I must admit that I hadn't looked at it like that - <span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">531 to 1,611 kHz gives a quarter wave range of of 141 metres to 46 metres - yes - three to one!</span><div class=""><font face="sans-serif" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" class="">But do you fancy buying/siting/building even a 46m guyed vertical radiator - 152 feet high?<br class=""></span></font>Apparently there are only 9 AM frequencies that Ofcom feels able to allocate to LP operation - I'll see if I can find out what they are.<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font size="3" class=""><b class="">Ian Hickling</b><br class=""></font></div><font size="3" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12pt;" class=""><font style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Partner</font></font><br class=""><br class=""><a href="http://www.transplanuk.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><img alt="" src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/2SkDsnIzSZgRbNnNKBSiwxiFhFQWRGV55mTjVL23fulnJpstZmYxeKrrYefY4qxiSgkMrAETld64XINLXCsujE_zI5gAsQyWeCWvHixcrNYtar3Sij4YlVBgN2NSQ-n2DsgZvrnpWZlfwCQ=s0-d-e1-ft#http://www.transplanuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/transplan_UK_weblogo_190x60.png" class=""></a><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><i class=""><font size="3" class="">Office: 01635 578435 (7am-11pm UK time)</font></i></div><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><i class=""><font size="3" class="">Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)</font></i></div><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><i class=""><font size="3" class="">6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS</font></i></div></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><hr id="stopSpelling" class="">Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 21:28:28 +0100<br class="">From:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:tlr@gairloch.co.uk" class="">tlr@gairloch.co.uk</a><br class="">To:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk" class="">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a><br class="">Subject: Re: [cma-l] AM community radio<br class=""><br class="">Given that the MF AM band covers a 3:1 frequency range, is Ofcom at least able to allocate a frequency at the high end of the band, making any given given aerial design a third the size it would be at the LF end of the band? Just wonderin'!<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">Alex<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote class="">On 16 September 2015 at 20:20 Ian Hickling <<a href="mailto:transplanfm@hotmail.com" class="">transplanfm@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">All perfectly acc<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="">eptable - but as an experienced propagation engineer my concern is that any departure from a vertical end-corrected quarter wave radiator operating on a groundplane of at least .55 wavelength diameter, the energy propagation pattern is uncertain and effectively impossible to either determine or plot.</span><div class="">In order to take his order - and his money - I have to give the Client an assurance that he will be able to cover his audience effectively - and that simply isn't possible with a cut-down compensated radiator on a much smaller earth mat.<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><strong class="">Ian Hickling</strong><br class=""></span></div><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Partner</span></span></div></div></div></blockquote><br class="">_______________________________________________ Reply -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk" class="">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" class="">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Twitter:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/community_media" class="">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" class="">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Canstream Internet Radio & Video:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" class="">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>_______________________________________________ Mailing list guidelines:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/" class="">http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</a>_______________________________________________ To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l" class="">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a></div></div></div><span style="font-family: Calibri; 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