Tag Archives: Radio Caroline

Amateur Radio Special Event Station on Radio Caroline

Many readers will remember with fond memories from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the famous offshore radio station Radio Caroline and the last ship they used to broadcast from, the MV Ross Revenge.

From today, a group of amateurs from the Martello Tower Group are operating special event station GB5RC from the Ross Revenge, moored in the Blackwater Estuary near West Mersea and Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex to celebrate five decades of offshore radio broadcasting.

Over the last few weeks, the group have set up quarter wave verticals for 40m, 20m and 15m along with a 5/8 wave for 10m and dipoles for 80m and 40m at various locations on the ship in preparation for the special event station. They also hope to be able to operate VHF and UHF for local contacts and with some D-STAR and DMR thrown in for good measure.

GB5RC will be on the air from today, the 5th August until Monday 8th August with two stations operating simultaneously running full UK legal output power. Let’s hope HF conditions are decent.

The Ross Revenge has been the home of Radio Caroline since August 1983 and although broadcasts directly from the ship ended in 1991, the station continues via the internet and once a month, live programmes are broadcast from the Ross Revenge with the help of the Manx AM transmitters on 1368kHz.

For more information see either https://www.qrz.com/db/GB5RC
or the Martello Tower Group website
http://www.martellotowergroup.com/gb5rc.html

Direct QSLs to G6NHU, bureau via GB5RC

Spread the radio love

Radio Caroline: A video diary of the weekend aboard the MV Ross Revenge

1 Reply

Many thanks to Mike Terry who shared the following note and video via Facebook:

The great old days when the signal was mellow and radio waves were not blocked by buildings and hills and propagated beyond the horizon especially at night, it all added to the excitement. We would never have heard many of the great records of the 60s and later without this station! So many international stars made their name on the offshore stations around our coast 50 years or so ago. UK radio was changed for ever.

[Note: This video may only be viewable via Facebook or the SWLing Post site.]

Spread the radio love

Radio Caroline and a crystal radio: “The making of a rebel”

2 Replies

Radio Caroline circa 1960’s.

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader Mike, who shares a link to this story from the blog
République No.6:

Growing up in Piennes Lorraine, Radio Caroline the making of a rebel

[A]t night with my younger brother we would listen to a “pirate radio station” on a boat that would put real good music on, crusing the international waters between England and France. He burst in laughter and told me: That’s Radio Caroline“. That was it. My brother and I would listen to that station nearly every night on an old “galena radio receiver” with a huge antenna hidden in the attic built with copper wire we stole at the mine. I mean we didn’t really steal it, it was everywhere. It was the wires used by miners to connect detonators to batteries when blowing new tunnels and locals were using it for all sorts of things, like holding parts in chicken coop to tie tomato or green bean plants to stakes and could be found everywhere.

Actually at first we set the antenna in our bedroom but somehow it wasn’t long enough not to mention mom who saw it and tore it down giving her an other excuse to punish us. So we decide it to place it in the attic where no one ever went.

The most difficult part was going to the attic, there wasn’t any stairs. We had to bring a ladder to the trap leading to it. Mom was watching us like a hawk, looking for any excuses to punish us.[…]

Read the full story at République No.6.

Spread the radio love

WBCQ celebrates Radio Caroline this weekend

Radio Caroline shortwave special Friday/Saturday via IRRS

1 Reply

(Source: RadioCaroline.co.uk)

Many thanks to Andrea Borgnino (@aborgnino) for this tip via IW0HK:

This is the schedule of 16 Gwendoline Street and its special sixty minute program on Radio Caroline’s on the air on March 28-29, 2014 on IRRS-Shortwave and Medium Wave frequencies:

Fri March 28, 2014:
19:00 UTC / 20:00 UTC on 7120 Shortwave & 1368 kHz Medium Wave 22:00 UTC / 23:00 CET on 1368 kHz Medium Wave

Saturday 29 March, 2014:
00:30 CET (23:30 UTC on previous day) on 1368 kHz Medium Wave 06:30 CET / 05:30 UTC on 1368 kHz Medium Wave 10:00 CET / 09:00 UTC on 9510 kHz Shortwave & 1368 kHz Medium Wave 22:30 CET / 21:30 UTC on 1368 kHz Medium Wave

Audio will be also available on streaming at:

http://mp3.nexus.org:8000/irn.mp3.m3u

or at:

http://mp3.nexus.org (IRRS / EGR audio link)

Click here to read our previous post regarding Radio Caroline’s 50th anniversary.

Spread the radio love

Happy 50th, Radio Caroline!

1 Reply

The MV Mi Amigo, c. 1974, which had been used as the home of Radio Caroline South from 1964-1967 (Photo: Albertoke from NL)

I wish my schedule and travel funds would have allowed me to attend Offshore Radio Day 2014, held in the Netherlands last week. Fortunately for those of us who couldn’t attend, Jonathan Marks posted an excellent set of photos and commentary from the event.

Of course, Radio Caroline dominated the show–after all, she turned 50 this year. Yesterday morning, I noticed an article from ITV, whose first paragraph sums up the impact of the offshore radio movement created by Radio Caroline:

“Precisely 50 years ago this Friday, test transmissions began for a radio station that would help to change the face of broadcasting across the UK. It would shape the laws of our land, and make superstars of the people on air. That radio station was Caroline – an unlicensed, “pirate” broadcaster, transmitting from a ship anchored just outside British waters.”

Read the full article here.

If you’ve been an SWLing Post reader for long, you’ll know how much I dig pirate radio. Not only are pirate stations great fun to hunt down and listen to on the radio, but these stations are still movers, shakers, and innovators in a world where large media conglomerates buy up and attempt to control local radio markets. Pirates prevent the homogenization of our radio landscape, with offerings of genuine musical diversity. Indeed, I’d wager that I’ve purchased over a dozen highly varied songs and/or albums on iTunes and Amazon, truly unique music, all brought to my attention by shortwave pirates.

So raise your glass to Radio Caroline this week! Long may she sail. If you’d like to learn a little more about RC‘s history, check out some of these links: