Pirate Radio Stations

Here in Spain, it appears that pirate radio is running wild! The authorities do very little about it because (it has been said by very good sources), that they no longer know who is pirate and who isn't. When the Spanish Authorities tendered the last radio licences for bidders back in 2006, they had thousands of applicants for many frequencies throughout Spain. But because the authorities take so long to agree and issue licences to the lucky bidders, it has created a loophole or grey area in the law.

Everyone who applied, sent their applications along with their application fees to Madrid. Officially, no one should transmit until they receive official notification from Madrid that they have gained the licence, but everyone has ignored this and started to transmit on the frequencies they applied for. When the police approach the stations, they are a little like piggy in the middle. This is because the stations' have officially applied for the licence and can provide proof of this. So the police chose to 'overlook' them because they could be legal.

It is a sticky situation that the local police find themselves in. If they take them off air, they could be taking a legal station off. However, the stations that are now operating, could be turned down in Madrid, lose their application fees, and would be official 'pirates' . They could then be forced off the airwaves. But until the people in Madrid make it official, nothing can be done and effectively, their are many pirates operating because of this loophole.

You might ask yourself "How do I know so much about Pirate Radio?" Well some of you with good intuition have hit the nail on the head... that's because I used to own one! Back in the 1990's the radio scene in my home town of Nottingham in the UK was fairly dire. There was a definite need for an alternative radio station which provided something different to the norm.

That's why I decided to create a new radio station called Horizon Radio with the emphasis on FUN! I wanted to involve the community and give them a chance to talk to the presenters' and take part in the many competitions' that we would be running daily. Many of my friends' were top club and pub DJ's and to be honest, were very professional guys that really deserved a break into radio. So I approached the best in Nottingham and we all came together to provide Nottingham with some quality entertainment.

Because of the fact that we can't just 'magic' a radio licence out of the blue... my only option at that time was to become a pirate station. I tried to ensure that we used only the best equipment so that the interference to other services was at a minimum, and we did actually survive for quite a while before they took us off air for the first time. But I returned in different premises, in a different area of Nottingham as soon as possible.

To minimise the risk of losing the actual main studio, which used Technics SL1200 Turntables that I really didn't want to 'lose' when we got busted, I decided to always use a link transmitter from the main studio 'pointing' to the main transmitter site some miles away. This would give the DTI more problems as they would think they were hitting the main studio, whereas in reality, they were just tracking a solitary transmitter sitting on top of the council's Hi-Rise building on top of the main water tank in the roof space! Of course, there was always a means of electricity in the water tank room so that council workers could use if necessary!

So the studio stayed in one piece for quite a while. However, I knew that they would not put up with this for long and a studio 'hit' was always on the cards. Because of this fear of getting the studio raided, I decided to make it even more difficult for the DTI to track the main studio - I ran 2 link frequencies before going to the main transmitter.

So the main studio went out on a low-powered microwave frequency, which was line-of-sight to another low powered microwave receiver/transmitter approximately 4 miles away. This then converted the microwave frequency to a different one and sent it out to the main transmitter site another 4 or 5 miles away! The transmitter received the low-powered signal, converted it to 97.5 FM, and amplified the power to 200 watts, once again sitting on a different high-rise block of flats. So, the DTI now thinks that they will leave the main transmitter site and try to get the main studio, so they track the signal that goes directly to the main high-powered transmitter only to find yet another lone receiver/transmitter sitting on top of another council high-rise! Studio safe!! Phew! Confused?

To cut a very long story short, I did actually stop pirating and started to apply for Restricted Service Licences (RSL), which were legal but restricted on the power and length of time you could operate. So 18 watts was our maximum for 30 days... the cost: around £6,000 for the 30 days. Plus, we could not apply for another RSL in the same area for at least 6 months after. This was to stop people making masses of continuous money and simply keep doing these RSL's. We made around £13,000 on our first RSL and made this via advertising and sponsorships.

I never managed to gain a full-time radio licence for Nottingham. All I wanted was a community licence, but they eventually advertised a 'regional licence' which was far too big for lonesome me and covered the whole of the Midlands area of the UK. Of course, with a licence that large, all the big boys put in their bids!

Since I moved to Spain, I am amazed that the Government body that deal with handing out the licences, decided in their infinite wisdom that they are not going to issue any more full-time commercial licences for the whole of Spain. Their theory is that they want to move all the radio stations presently transmitting on the FM band, onto the new Digital Audio Band (DAB). What the authorities do not seem to realise is that Spain is not flat! It has numerous mountainous ranges and DAB is almost line-of-sight radio. If you can't see the aerial, or a small mountain, or even a villa on the hill gets in the way of the transmissions, the signal from the DAB radio station will break-down.!

DAB digital radio is less prone to reception problems that FM/AM radio has, such as the same kind of hissing, fading, crackling or station overlap. However, you may sometimes get 'bubbly' or 'underwater' noises, or the sound may break up or cut out altogether. These are usually caused by a weak signal.

They have launched this in the UK some years' ago and it was a bit of a disappointment. People tried it, but couldn't get a decent signal depending on their location. So now you can buy a DAB radio for peanuts because no one wants one!

To receive the signal, you need a DAB digital radio - you can't listen on a traditional FM/AM set.

Some of the advantages of DAB are:
* no hissing or fading, and far fewer problems with interference
* more stations, some of them digital-only
* once-only autoscan to find all the stations available and easy tuning to the station you want
* a display screen with information about what you're listening to

Coverage
Currently, around 85% of the UK can receive DAB digital radio. However, although the government figures may say that you are within the coverage area of DAB, you must note that it doesn't allow for factors that may affect reception, such as whether you live in a built-up area or in a basement flat. You may find you need an external aerial with the possibility of a pre-amplifier to suck in the signal!

If you can't receive DAB in your area, there are other ways to listen to digital radio:
* via digital TV - terrestrial (Freeview), satellite, cable or broadband
* on the internet - stations are available everywhere, including all local radio stations

Personally, you can keep DAB - Give me FM any day!