High Peak 106.4 (Buxton/Glossop)undermodulated

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timb
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High Peak 106.4 (Buxton/Glossop)undermodulated

Post by timb »

if you're out of range normally and own a cheap scanner with NFM, tune to 106.4 and give it a try before they fix it!
best contact on PMR (0.5watts only): 21.5 miles (Congleton to Junction of A54/A556 near Kelsall 06/03/2011)
Best Contact on LPD (10mW only) 14.2 Miles (Congleton to The Roaches 18/04/2011)
Gear: Intek MT-5050 Unmodified
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MrWeetabix
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Re: High Peak 106.4 (Buxton/Glossop)undermodulated

Post by MrWeetabix »

timb wrote:if you're out of range normally and own a cheap scanner with NFM, tune to 106.4 and give it a try before they fix it!
Care to elaborate on this? :roll: :mrgreen:
26TM175. OP: Craig. QTH: Gateshead IO94EW. Also 163TM175 when mobile in Wales 8)

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timb
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Re: High Peak 106.4 (Buxton/Glossop)undermodulated

Post by timb »

can i have the award for latest response ever? :D

you know when you've listened to fm broadcasts in NFM mode on a scanner they're so distorted you can't really identify much apart from BBC Radio 3 & 4?
well, when i posted High Peak Radio were so undermodulated they were quite listenable with a 15khz nfm filter on a cheap scanner

when you get out of range of High Peak R it gets swamped by 106.3 or 106.5
if you lived in say Oswestry right next to the 106.5 transmitter then not even the hottest up to date DSP tuner is going to let you get in on 106.4
but in this case i posted you could use a scanner in NFM mode- normally this would be no use as High Peak would be a distorted mess that couldn't be id'ed but in this case they were accidentally transmitting a narrow signal

better than that- even if you were in range of Kiss or Galaxy on 106.4 you could still hear high peak using this method

since Galaxy/Kiss are loud heavily compressed dance stations and for most of the time most of the radiated power is pushed out at or near the edge of their permitted transmisson bandwidth and outside the bandwidth of a scanners nfm filter.

so if wait til Galaxy fades up on a strong peak producing a strong listenable signal in WFM mode then switch to a 15khz narrow filter Galaxy will vanish and High Peak will return

2 examples from where i live:
if i park up at a local high spot i'll hear Juice 107.6 (Liverpool) & Pulse 107.8 (Stockport)with solid un-nullable signals but if i switch to NFM mode i'll lose the pop stations and instead i'll hear the undermodulated Muslim community stations in Derby on 107.8 and Nottingham on 107.6

an example that happens at home a lot is 100.7 I have Heart in Birmingham and the other heart in the North East as dominant stations (loud pop stations)
but if i wait til Classic FM are playing a quiet song, beam west and switch to NFM mode i can hear Classic FM from Arfon (west wales) on 100.7

its a useful trick and High Peak are still frequently undermodulated so if anyone needs to nail that one its not too late.

BBC Radio Cymru is another quiet station (not as bad as high peak), wherever you are in England (I can't speak for Scotland) even if you have local stations on 96.9/96.7 tune your handheld scanner to 96.8 select NFM mode, wait a few minutes and you'll hear BBC R Cymrus Wenvoe transmitter flutter up via Jet Scatter
i've done this whilst walking along the bottom of a valley in North Yorkshire and it used to work in the east midlands until 96.8 was used to community Radio

France Musique from Lille on 88.7 is suitable for this trick too as they play really quiet classical music while Co-channel BBC Radio 2 mostly plays loud pops

LBC 97.3 is speech so thats a good candiate too , have a tune around in nfm on your handy or other scanner, you'll be surprised what stations were hidden by side splatter that you can now detect

anyone in North West England and Shropshire or Staffordshire who checks 102.7 in NFM mode will likely hear Radio Na Gael in Ireland
best contact on PMR (0.5watts only): 21.5 miles (Congleton to Junction of A54/A556 near Kelsall 06/03/2011)
Best Contact on LPD (10mW only) 14.2 Miles (Congleton to The Roaches 18/04/2011)
Gear: Intek MT-5050 Unmodified
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MrWeetabix
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Re: High Peak 106.4 (Buxton/Glossop)undermodulated

Post by MrWeetabix »

Not quite the latest response ever, but a lengthy one I'll grant you that! haha

well worth the wait though :-)
26TM175. OP: Craig. QTH: Gateshead IO94EW. Also 163TM175 when mobile in Wales 8)

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