All posts by Steve Gale
Below are all of Steve Gale's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Richard Cooper: hi Richard sorry 4 not responding sooner, life gets in my way. My beef was indeed, no coverage upon the map when tapping the icon but - either The Briantist (all hail for this wonderful site ) has rectified it or my machine has. I guess the orange relates to quality indoor reception on yer average fm receiver sat on the kitchen worktop. With my only serious portable set - a Tecsun bcl3000, i receive a decent signal on the 2nd floor at home ( 100ft above sea level ) from mendip on 95.5 but in the cars its good once going inland and up to 200 ft. At the top of our 'hill ' or slope is the top end of Bransgore & Thorney Hill - on visiting a workmate in analogue days, was struck to find them watching bbcwest news. Due to the terrain between there & Rowridge vs their favourable westerly aspect, the ariel engineer gave them no choice. Being bored with meridian sunday afternoon winter fayre vs htv showing football highlughts of city rovers and swindon, i deceided to go &have a bash (armed with the IBA 1978 yearbook)
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Richard Cooper: hello again Richard -my ariel adventure was back in the early nineties but have just looked on Google Street at the place where my mate lived (BH23 8AJ) and the mast is still there with booster and the neighbours aren't on Rowridge either (could be winterbourne stickland or stockland ) as they'd be pointing to the back of tnem properties! Anyway, i bought an 18element log periodic with the correct coloured tip and fixed it about six foot above our chimney ( didn't move it sideways just where it was practical ) . The picture at lowest frequency (c4) was perfect, bbc1 not bad at all, htv bit speccly and bbc2 pretty unwatchable! It was prone to atmospheric changes but worth the effort just for sam mason and the regional news of places sometimes only 30 miles away in the west as opposed to stuff in sussex and berkshire which are miles away from here. I took it down after neighbour blamed it on a lightning strike which fried ours and her vcrs and serveral tvs' ! She's gone now and meridian report on oxford etc so........
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Hello Briantist - do you happen to have the Fawley C5 transmission coverage for the above bouncing icon ? We in this area were dismayed with the official explanation re coverage not upsetting our cross channel cousins 65 miles away. The local " New Milton Advertisers'" editor grumbled at their towns' exclusion and the blurry official map. Hope you can keep this interesting site running . Thankyou.
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As Twinks states above , the Meridian news coverage is skewed to the Thames valley or the south east but for viewers in east Dorset especially, we don't receive coverage of news just 25 or 30 miles to the west - ( west Dorset , east Somerset and east / north wilts )., and its not as if we live a great distance from Fareham where the studios are. For us in the west of the meridian region , it would make sense if the channel 103 relayed the itv west country east news and weather. Living in the new forest / east Dorset it's bad enough being now an outpost of metropolitan London and it would be better to be reminded that we actually still are in Wessex.and that the local world doesn't end at Monkeyworld or Stonehenge ......ps in analogue days a signal from Mendip was ok but that mast has long gone so not sure if sticking a WB 14 on a ten ft pole would be worth all the effort. Great site sir - thankyou.
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Back in the analogue days , although living 54miles distant -and cranbourne chase between , with a contract' 18element Ariel , we could receive good enough ( except bbc2 on ch68 ) picture from Mendip. In the interest of following Yeovil Town and the novelty of local news from beyond east Dorset and Salisbury , with a WB14 quality Ariel on a 10ft pole above my chimney would a Digital Signal be received or is it not worth the bother ? I read somewhen that a digital signal was potentially 5x stronger ( maybe that being as only data being received ) ...with only schoolboy' knowledge of the subject and old anorak Tony no longer being around , can anyone shed light or advise on this ? The YT website is as slow as The Cherries when updated to cover games so the reliable Regional News coverage would be fantastic. Thanks , Steph, SW new forest
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I live sort of half way between the Stubbington am mast and the fern barrow mast in Poole - the reception is hopeless once the ionosphere effect takes place. The national ones ( is it start point and Brookmans in London ) is just the same. The fact that our fm is littered with clone crap commercial stations but no bbc radio 5 used to make me angry. I discovered Spotify - re discovered prog rock and gave up on radio apart from the interesting anorak stuff re transmitter coverages . Best wishes from a new forest pixie.
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PS I meant to say I gave up on fm analogue rather than radio itself - and I truly hope my use of the term anorak offensive or disrespectful - none intended. Steve Wright the presenter should be credited with its first general use sometime in the early 90s. This stuff is a science and like a lot of everyday stuff which everyone would miss , most folks aren't aware or taught about its importance or relevance. Unless it's in the case of poor Rod Hull when attempting to re direct his Ariel during a soccer match which put tv reception on front page of The Sun comic for a day. For me , DAB is brilliant with its ability of choice but seems more Computer than Radio in respect to twiddling or tuning . Great Site , Thankyou Brian.
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It's this exact transmission pattern which got me hooked onto at least being unable to resist going up and down the FM dial whenever I've nothing else or am outside smoking. When I was 13 I could hardly hear Radio Victory on 95.0 due to living approximately 14 miles SW of the IBAs' predicted pattern which stretched as far as Calshot in my direction. Soon I had my Marconiphone Transistor Radio with an extended copper supply reaching up and across my loft space. In those days the FM was broadcast from Fort Widley at 0.2 kw output. I believe on the franchise being transferred to the bland and cheesey Ocean FM, the power was ironically increased to 0.8 kw allowing coverage across the eastern half of the new forest. Which wasn't necessary in my book as hearing I just called to say I love you every two hours didn't satisfy my audio requirements. Thankyou for your interesting work Brian.
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Hello Brian - is it me being incompetent or my machines' capabilities ? I've no radiation pattern upon the above map. Here's hoping your loved ones are in good shape ! Oh - and you were given a mention on the ATV Ariels Site for your efforts in having Radiation Patterns released from the Govt Department concerned with such things. Regards from just beyond the fringe of mighty Mendip.
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Saturday 18 June 2016 8:36PM
Hello Brian - every coverage map works perfectly except the Mendip analogue fm one. I am curious to see the predicted pattern as i regularly listen to bbc somerset where i live in the south west of the new forest - the signal to the west ( north of bournemouth & on the high ground in the new forest ) is as good as any when using the car radio. Have tapped the icon etc but nothing gives me the orange spread signal pattern. Steph the anorak!