A group of DJs who served on
the Mi Amigo in the 1970's are reuniting for one last
broadcast on Radio Caroline this summer, live from the
studios on board Ross Revenge.
The theme of the broadcast
on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 July is
‘The Sensational Seventies’.
Here’s the line-up: Nigel
Harris (Stuart Russell), Martin Fisher, Bob Lawrence
(Richard Thompson) Tom Anderson, Mike Stevens, Cliff
Osbourne, James Ross, Mark Lawrence, Marc Jacobs, Brian
Martin, and Roger Mathews
Radio Caroline North, May weekend
Another Radio Caroline
North broadcast has now sadly finished. It took place
over the
weekend of 7th & 8th of May on the historic radio ship
the Ross Revenge which is anchored on the River Blackwater.
The broadcast as
always was live online and 648 AM also 1368 AM courtesy of
Manx Radio.
Presenters onboard were
Dave Foster, Ray Clark, Paul Brown, Terry Hughes,
and Steve Bishop
The maintenance crew were out
on board the Ross Revenge 23rd - 24th April and the fine
weather allowed us to do some painting out on deck as well
as continuing work on the new shower room, work on the floor
area continues next time. Testing of the electrical appliances
also took place.
"It
is with great sadness that I have recently learned
of the passing of our shipmate Tommy Gerrard. He
was a friend to everyone and always ready to share
a story from his years on the Ross Revenge. I first
met him when I joined the restoration team when
the ship first moved to Tilbury and he always made
me feel welcome.
He also travelled down
from Manchester on several occasions to join us
at the Southampton support group meetings at Netley,
he will be sadly missed."
Sincere condolences
to his wife Rita and families
R.I.P Tommy from your
many friends in the Radio Caroline world.
Radio Caroline Southampton Support Group Meeting
The April meeting of the Radio
Caroline Southampton Support Group took place on Wednesday
6th April at The Hamble Club, Beaulieu Road, Hamble-Le-Rice,
near Southampton. Presenters who visited included Martin
Fisher,Steve Bishop, Phil Meek an Dave Foster.
Brian Bailey reports
The meeting was reasonably supported,
given that since the last meeting the cost of living cost
of fuel may have had an impact and put off people travelling,
also Covid is still circulating.
The two main events of the evening
was a talk by Alan Beech on the Orfordnest site, and the
sourcing of the Harris AM transmitter from Holland and the
transportation of the transmitter from Holland to the UK
and the complications Brexit caused and customs documentation
and costs importing the transmitter into the UK.
A power increase up to 4kw has
now taken place for Radio Caroline's 648 service. This extends
its coverage area from Suffolk and Essex to include Kent
and East Sussex.
The station is broadcasting
under a community radio licence and was using a power
of 1kW on 648 AM since 2018.
Ofcom says a power increase
was agreed to combat man made noise and interference in
the existing coverage area, and to extend coverage to adjoining
areas.
The licensee also serves a ‘community
of interest’ as opposed to a defined geographic community
meaning the service is positioned to be accessible to the
community of interest in the proposed extended areas.
Furthermore, the studio location
means that the station attracts and engages volunteers from
both the existing and extended coverage areas. The power
increase up to 4kw will therefore improve signal in the
extended coverage area, where some of the station’s volunteers
live and work.
Rob Ashard set up a link with
him from the Suffolk Coast so that he could tell us about
the work that was taking place to set up the new transmitter
Our Meetings are now back on
the first Tuesday in each month. So please turn up and have
a good time.
The venue is at the Farsley
Working Men,s Club.
Farsley WMC, Back Lane, Farsley,
Pudsey, West Yorkshire.
LS28 5EU
Any problems ring Colin
Liversidge 07814773197, Thanks.
The group have raised money
for the up keep of the Restoration work on the Ross Revenge.
Sometimes we have former personalities from offshore radio
visit, DVD nights, but mostly it's a get together of Radio
Caroline Supporters for a social evening of chat and news
of the restoration of the Ross Revenge. All are welcome
at the meetings which are on the first Tuesday of every
month.
Carolines Rob Ashard is a busy
man
Why is Rob Ashard managing 19
mix-minus feeds while taping a British TV show? When COVID
keeps the audience out of the studio, Rob and his colleagues
must go to them - in their homes and flats.
Rob Ashard is the lead audio
mixer for The Graham Norton Show and Ant & Dec’s Saturday
Night Takeaway. Audience interaction is critical, and these
shows have found a way to make it happen. We’ll also discuss
bringing a 60 year old portable tape deck back to life,
plus learn about DE-RIG mixing kits.
40
years ago, Radio Caroline broadcast from the Mi Amigo for
the last time when a storm sank the pirate radio vessel.
Alan Watts was an avid listener
and was so moved by the bravery of the RNLI Sheerness lifeboat
crew who rescued his DJ heroes he became a lifelong supporter.
He has since included the RNLI
in his Will to support our lifesaving work – find out more
about leaving a legacy here:
https://rnli.org/support-us
Radio Caroline's successful
oil rig lifeboat conversion
aptly named the "Ronan O'Rahilly"
Thanks to the generosity of
helper Roland Beaney and his wife Viv from Romsey in Hampshire,
Caroline now have their own lifeboat. They purchased an
enclosed oil rig lifeboat, which was then brought by road
from Aberdeen to Essex and taken to a work shed. Various
helpers stripped out the boat and Steve Anthony and Peter
Moore removed the top. Assisted in the later stages by Pete
Crisp and Howard Beer, and rewired by George Johnson and
David Noakes. The boat was then rebuilt as shown below.
In view of the sad passing this
year of their founder and figurehead Ronan, the craft was
appropriately named Ronan O'Rahilly.
She has now been launched.
Caroline Community Radio
Caroline Community Radio is
on 94.7 FM with a power of 200W, and the presenters include
Ray Clark, Peter Phillips, Johnny Lewis and Graham Bannerman
among others. Radio Caroline owns all the broadcast and
other equipment previously owned by Saint FM. This was such
an extensive inventory that Pete Crisp and Peter Moore were
able to build the studio with plenty of items left over.
Caroline Community Radio serves
Maldon and the surrounding towns and villages with a daily
mix of music and community programming. Music programmes
presented by experienced national and local radio broadcasters
who also broadcast on Radio Caroline
Since this is not a 100% Caroline
project it seemed unreasonable that Radio Caroline should
fund all costs. The start-up costs were covered personally
by Ray Clark, Peter Phillips, Peter Moore and a range of
local firms and individuals. Surplus equipment will be used
on the Ross and elsewhere or sold to recoup Caroline's expenditure.
The station self funds from
grants and commercial advertising. Radio Caroline's advertisers
are carried at no charge on the station.
Ofcom sets out licensing plans
for small-scale DAB
Local radio listeners will soon
be able to tune into new stations following measures announced
by Ofcom
Ofcom is setting out how we
will license ‘small-scale DAB’, an innovative technology
which will provide a low-cost route for local commercial,
community and specialist music stations to take to the digital
airwaves.
Small-scale DAB will expand
local digital radio coverage and ensure that listeners will
be able to tune into a diverse range of radio services across
the UK, on the Digital Audio Broadcasting platform which
now accounts for 40% of the UK’s radio listening.
They will advertise license's
for small-scale DAB in batches, starting with 25 local areas
across the UK, including five where trials are already underway.
The second round will be for north west England and northeast
Wales.
The
first round of applications for DAB plus stations is now
out and Caroline is on the applications for Winchester,
Salisbury and Basingstoke.
Caroline Archive Hour
Message from Radio Caroline
Flashback
Ray
Robinson started making and collecting recordings of the
offshore stations in 1970. That was when he was first able
to buy a tape recorder with money saved from a summer holiday
job while in high school. Since then, he has amassed an
archive of many thousands of hours of broadcasts from all
the offshore stations, and of course, Radio Caroline in
particular.
A number of these recordings,
often from momentous occasions, have been very skillfully
edited by Alan Sheead to restore their music quality to
modern day standards, while retaining all the original presenter
links, jingles, commercials and promos.
Through these ‘Caroline Archive
Hour’ shows, we will be bringing you the best of these restored
recordings, focusing mainly on those from the 1960’s and
1970’s. More recent recordings will also be played from
time to time, when their content includes music from these
two decades, in line with the format of this channel. By
listening to shows as they were originally presented all
those years ago, you will not only hear tracks that never
made the charts (and which you may well remember!), but
you will also be able to re-connect with former Caroline
DJ’s who became ‘friends’.
Enjoy exploring the archive
with us, every Saturday and Sunday evening at 8pm UK time.
....to
register and shop with over 2000 well known
retailers like Amazon, Argos, M&S, eBay
and many more. Whenever I buy something, the
retailer makes a donation to Radio Caroline.
No extra cost to you. It really does work.
£16,127.39
raised so far (10-04-2022)
Woodley Net presents the Anorak
Jukebox..
You can listen to all your favourite
anorak songs and jingles on Woodley Nets Anorak Jukebox.
Songs include Caroline - The
Fortunes, Man of Action, Because They're Young (Johnnie
Walker theme), Peace - Peter. Also Caroline and Mi-Amigo
jingles. Just added is a recording of the Caroline DJ's
Xmas song from 1944 featuring Tony Allan.
Also features the 1972 Radio
Luxemburg broadcast of an Elvis Presley special. It was
called "The Elvis Presley Gramarathon". It was
presented by Tony Prince and Mark Wesley and includes a
rare interview with Elvis and also quite a few words with
a young Todd Slaughter.
Radio
Caroline can be heard on DAB+ throughout the London area.
This is great for suitably equipped London car users who
cannot hear the 648AM signal with clarity and don't want
to mess with mobile device/bluetooth solutions. If you are
located within the M25, the nearer to central London the
better, simply give your DAB+ radio a full scan and then
you should find it. If you're technically minded the frequency
is 'Block 9A - centre Frequency 202.928MHz'.
Caroline is also broadcasting
to the following areas on DAB/
Brighton and Hove on
DAB+. The area is home to 275,000 people, not counting
the outskirts where the signal may also carry.
Aldershot. Previously
the Aldershot area was covered by a transmitter in Woking
but reception was patchy so another transmitter has been
opened in Aldershot in addition to the transmitter in
Woking which is still on air. Reception reports have
been received from Fleet and Farnborough and further down
the M3
Birmingham area. Try
doing a search on your DAB Radio and save it on one of the
buttons. Please let me know the results of your search
on the contact button below .
Glasgow, fourth largest
City in the UK with 1.2 million residents and home to over
40% of the Scottish population.
Portsmouth area in DAB
+. Some radios that do not support DAB+ will be unable to
find this new service. According to Solent Radio who are
operating this new service the DAB digital radio transmitter
was relocated to Fort Widley on Portsdown Hill and Ofcom
have also kindly allowed a change to the transmission antenna
which will result in an effective doubling of power. This
means that coverage should be improved in the Southsea,
Gosport, Hayling Island and Waterlooville areas.
Caroline
and Caroline Flashback are both available on Norwich
DAB+.
Caroline and Caroline Flashback
are both available onCambridge DAB+.
Listen to Radio Caroline
on Google Home Mini Device
Caroline
are on Google Home and Mini devices, via tune-in.
To listen simply say: "OK Google, play Radio
Caroline" or "OK Google, play
Radio Caroline Flashback" or even "OK
Google, play Manx Radio" for Manx Radio weekends
A powerful little helper.
Google Home Mini keeps you informed and up to date
with instant news, weather and commute updates without
lifting a finger. Master the kitchen: Google Home
Mini helps with timers, step-by-step recipes, and
conversions and substitutes. By using your
voice, ask for things like translations, calculations,
nutrition information and unit conversions, or other
information.
All the Mini needs is
a mains supply and a Wi-Fi connection. It
is a brilliant Internet Radio, just start by saying, "Ok
Google, Play (name of station)" No setting
up presets. Just say what you want and its there.
Control volume with your voice also. This also works
with Alexa devices
How to build a AM Frame / Loop Aerial
The
picture shows a design for an aerial that
was very popular in Radio Caroline's
AM days when they were broadcasting from
the North Sea and it pulled in a good signal
over a wide area. Might be useful once more
now Radio Caroline are on 648KHz AM
How to build a Frame / Loop Aerial /Medium
Wave Aerial
This aerial replaces the long wire and is
very compact and and can conveniently sit
next to the radio and as long as the radio
has its own built in ferrite rod aerial,
no connections to the set are needed. It
is directional and after tuning in the aerial,
it can moved in different directions to
cancel out interference.
Materials needed
6 ft of 1 and a quarter inch timber 100
ft of single plastic coated wire 1 x 400pf
variable tuning capacitor 8 large rubber
door stops screws, wire clips and solder
Assembly
Cut timber into two lengths of 25 inches
and four lengths of 5 inches and assemble
the frame as per the drawing. Where the
wire goes round the corners cut 16 evenly
spaced grooves (17 on the corner where the
wire starts and finishes) the wire must
start and finish on the same corner.
Tack the start of the wire onto the frame
and start winding it on, keeping each turn
nice and tight. When you have 16 turns of
wire on the frame bring the wire back down
the same leg you started on and make secure
with tacks.
Solder the two ends of wire onto the two
terminals of the tuning capacitor, it does
not matter which one goes where just as
long as they are well soldered.
The capacitor should be fixed with araldite
or similar in the corner.
Fix the rubber feet as on the diagram.
The aerial is now ready for use. Try different
positions for the frame as all sets have
their ferrite rods aerials in different
places.
Good luck with this, we would appreciate
any comments on the construction.
Tony Prince and Mark Wesley Podcast
In 1942 Radio Luxemburg broadcast
an Elvis Presley special. It was called "The Elvis
Presley Gramarathon". It was presented by Tony Prince
and Mark Wesley and includes a rare interview with Elvis
and also quite a few words with a young Todd Slaughter.
I put my Akai reel to reel tape on at the time and left
it recording the show and went down the pub for an hour.
Luckily Luxemburg reception was pretty good that night and
I got a fairly good recording. Its been on Podomatic for
quite a few years now, so I thought I'd give it a bit of
a plug. Here's the
Podomatic Link Or listen on the Woodley Net,
Anorak Jukebox
Surrey Anoraks
Society
JJust
to let you know that the Surrey Anorak's Society
(formerly the Caroline Movement East Surrey Branch)
still meets on the first Tuesday of every month.
The sasradiogroup are now back at the
Home Cottage, Redhill, Surrey .
Venue on Google
Ken
James ran this branch from 84-90. They meet at the
Home Cottage pub near Redhill railway station. Regular
attendees included Graham Foy, Geoff Rogers, Ray
Adams, Sue Buckle, Richard Buckle (Jackson), Gabe
(Steve) Conway, Benny James and Dennis Jason. Happy
days! Any queries, get in touch with Ken. email:-
khtj62@gmail.com
The
meetings have been held every month since January
1985. A chance to have a drink, meet old friends
or new and talk about radio. Meet old land based
pirate DJs, and a few of the crew of Susy Radio
- Reigate and Redhill community radio).
They
produce their own newsletter SAS Interference (formerly
the SAS Home Pages.
The
SAS now has its own website
sasradiogroup.org Info from
Graham Foy and Ken James
ioLight pocket
professional digital microscopes
Portable microscope 1mm field
of view
- 1 micron resolution
images shared to your phone
- High magnification,
views animal and plant cells clearly
- Highly portable: Used
in The Amazon, The Antarctic, Kazakhstan and on
Mount Everest
Portable microscope with XY stage,
- 1mm field of view
1mm field of view microscope as above with XY stage
- Suitable for methodically
scanning slides
- Ideal for counting
cells and other small objects
- Robust and easy to
clean
Portable microscope 2mm field
of view
- Designed for counting
applications, compatible with most counting chambers
- Perfect for vets and
parasitologists counting worm eggs in the field
- Wider field of view
and longer working distance
- Also works well with
opaque samples
Portable microscope with XY stage,
- 2mm field of view
2mm field of view microscope as above with XY stage
- Suitable for methodically
scanning counting chambers and slides
One of Caroline’s
faithful listeners, Ron Hubbert commonly
called Narrowowboat Ron, is the proud owner
of a narrowboat called "Caroline"
complete with bell.
Tommy
Gerrard (R.I.P) also had his own boat on
a canal in Cheshire. Tommy is seen doing
a bit of "rust bashing" on his
boat which has the same name as Caroline's
old ship Mi Amigo. But it looks like there
is a bit of piratical activity going on
as he finds another canal boat with the
same name as our famous station and it also
has its own mast proudly reaching for the
sky. He was looking forward to meeting the
owner of this other vessel.
Message from Tony Lake (doughnut)
Hi
There, Some of your
group maybe aware of the Tug Boat Challenge
that is now in Southampton? There is a big link
to offshore Radio of the 1960s, in that she
helped to tow all of the Sea Forts into place
in WW2. She is the Tug in the picture of the
Twin Legged Mansell Fort, I have been part of
a team who have spent their
Saturdays in Shoreham helping to put
it back to sea. She
is now next to the Shieldhall in Southampton
Docks. Back in 1990 I was lucky or unlucky
to spend 5 weeks on the Ross Revenge on the
North Sea. and then worked on her in Dover and
then Blackwater,
Regards Tony Lake
(doughnut)
Click thumbnail for larger photo
from the
Sunday Times By Jonathan Leake and Jack
Grimston 15 August 2010
From pirates to poltergeists. A ghost
called Harry has apparently been haunting
a ship that once housed Radio Caroline
at sea and still does in more recent
years in the River Blackwater. The spirit
is said to have been seen flitting upstairs
and has been blamed for pranks such
as tapping crew members on the shoulder
and stealing their tea.
The
antics have been reported by enthusiasts
restoring the MV Ross Revenge, from
where Radio Caroline made its final
offshore broadcast in 1990. The ghost
stories have been logged by Kimberley
Peters, a researcher at Royal Holloway,
London University, who will present
her findings next month to the Royal
Geographical Society.
One crew member told Peters: "I've
had several encounters with Harry. My
first one goes back to 2004. Having
finished work, we were sitting in the
studio having a beer when we heard footsteps.
"I
looked up just in time to see someone
coming round the landing and going round
the next set of stairs to the bridge.
When we went to investigate, no one
was there and downstairs the doors were
still bolted."
Peters believes the hauntings could
be a psychological reaction driven by
the nostalgia of the restorers for the
ship's history. "I cannot say
whether such ghostly experiences were
real, but they were real enough for
the crew members who experienced them,"
said Peters. "Underlying it is
a very real sense of seeing apparitions,
conveying something else, like lost
heritage."
With
Johnny Walker
Listen Here
"It
is with great sadness that I have recently learned
of the passing of our shipmate Tommy Gerrard. He
was a friend to everyone and always ready to share
a story from his years on the Ross Revenge. I first
met him when I joined the restoration team when
the ship first moved to Tilbury and he always made
me feel welcome. 
Radio Caroline Southampton Support Group Meeting
40
years ago, Radio Caroline broadcast from the Mi Amigo for
the last time when a storm sank the pirate radio vessel.
Listen
Here
The
first round of applications for DAB plus stations is now
out and Caroline is on the applications for Winchester,
Salisbury and Basingstoke. 
Ray
Robinson started making and collecting recordings of the
offshore stations in 1970. That was when he was first able
to buy a tape recorder with money saved from a summer holiday
job while in high school. Since then, he has amassed an
archive of many thousands of hours of broadcasts from all
the offshore stations, and of course, Radio Caroline in
particular. 
Radio
Caroline can be heard on DAB+ throughout the London area.
This is great for suitably equipped London car users who
cannot hear the 648AM signal with clarity and don't want
to mess with mobile device/bluetooth solutions. If you are
located within the M25, the nearer to central London the
better, simply give your DAB+ radio a full scan and then
you should find it. If you're technically minded the frequency
is 'Block 9A - centre Frequency 202.928MHz'. 
Caroline
are on Google Home and Mini devices, via tune-in.
To listen simply say: "OK Google, play Radio
Caroline" or "OK Google, play
Radio Caroline Flashback" or even "OK
Google, play Manx Radio" for Manx Radio weekends
The
picture shows a design for an aerial that
was very popular in Radio Caroline's
AM days when they were broadcasting from
the North Sea and it pulled in a good signal
over a wide area. Might be useful once more
now Radio Caroline are on 648KHz AM
The
antics have been reported by enthusiasts
restoring the MV Ross Revenge, from
where Radio Caroline made its final
offshore broadcast in 1990. The ghost
stories have been logged by Kimberley
Peters, a researcher at Royal Holloway,
London University, who will present
her findings next month to the Royal
Geographical Society. 