The AM Forum

For those of us that were not in the UK in the 60's listening to pirate radio, "Big L" is back at least for a couple of weeks on 1206 kc with a rumored output of 1 watt.  Assuming you don't live next to the transmitter, it's also being live streamed with some of the original on-air staff and the original PAMS jingles.   WABC in New York and others also used PAMS for their jingles so they might sound familiar.

Stream:  https://sonic.magicdragon.nl/cp/widgets/player/single/?p=8002 (https://sonic.magicdragon.nl/cp/widgets/player/single/?p=8002)
Web page: https://www.biglradiolondon.co.uk/ (https://www.biglradiolondon.co.uk/)
Jingles:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlagGjNGkzk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlagGjNGkzk)

(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c122a6_85b68b848c644d628ffb7bc1c3ff0ad4~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1311,h_833,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/GALAXYSHIPweb2A.jpg)

Thanks. For sharing listening now

Yes, what a great sound.  I tuned in to stream, and immediately heard ABBA sending an SOS from the pirate ship anchored offshore!  How apropos!

For those of you that are interested, the broadcast ends after this weekend on August 14th which is the anniversary of their shutdown in 1967 after the Marine Offences Act, became law

The last hour of their August 14, 1967 broadcast including some celebrity well wishers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UcqXg7tI4s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UcqXg7tI4s)

(https://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/radio-london.jpg)

I used to listen to the (newer version of) Big L when they were on 1395 kHz with a transmitter site in Trintelhaven, Netherlands, literally located in the middle of a small sea. You can faintly see the tower near the center of the short peninsula at the inlet:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRjwOpDWkAArA5H.jpg:large)

The transmitter operated at 30kw then and was powered by a generator although this turned out to be too much of a financial burden so it was eventually shut down. The site, which I visited several times, has been cleared of all broadcast equipment and the tower dismantled. All that's left in this tiny manmade harbor is the restaurant Checkpoint Charlie https://roadhousecheckpointcharlie.nl/food/ (https://roadhousecheckpointcharlie.nl/food/).

Despite the lack of mains power, that was one of the most ideal transmitter sites I've seen given the 360° saltwater surroundings which provided a conductivity of over 5000 (The soil in the U.S. ranges from 0.5 to 30). The land there is extremely flat and of high mineral content, so the Big L signal carried quite a distance both by groundwave and skip.

Some interesting trivia: That signal that Big L rented had to sign off for three hours from 1900-2200 to protect some distant co-channel station just long enough for that station to sign off to protect yet another station.

Today, Big L can be heard on their stream at https://www.bigl.co.uk/ (https://www.bigl.co.uk/)

As with several European countries, all of the AM frequencies assigned to The Netherlands have been vacated by their original transmission sites, many had operated with several hundred kW. The frequencies are still in use, however, and are available to hobbiests who can purchase annual licenses for either 100W PEP on all except 1485, which is reserved for 1W PEP stations at a lower cost.

Incredibly, there are a significant number of these hobby stations operating and many offer quite interesting programming!

The attached pics were taken in August 2012 and show the generator and mostly dismantled mast. "Mast" is the common term in Europe for transmission tower, and it's not uncommon for it to be grounded at the base with radiating feedlines running up to insulators at the top. The transmitter shelters had already been removed by then.

100 Watts? seems a bit dubious.