Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

BBC R4 FM

Straight answers to factual questions
Forum rules
Direct questions and answers, this room is not for general discussion please
Grumpsimus
2 Lemon pips
Posts: 173
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 11:43 am
Has thanked: 51 times
Been thanked: 108 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#385635

Postby Grumpsimus » February 11th, 2021, 11:54 am

XFool, you seem to persist in thinking that it is the transmitter that is causing the problem. This is highly unlikely. Wrotham is the main FM transmitter for London and the South East serving over 13 million people. I think at least a few of them would have complained by now, if it was a transmitter problem. I have just listened to BBC R4 FM 93.5 and it is fine in south east Essex.

Incidentally, the Crystal Palace transmitter on 93.2 MHz is a low power relay station, that just rebroadcasts the signal from Wrotham. It has been in use for many years and is unlike to cause interference.

The most likely source of the problem is likely to be some local source of interference. as evidenced by the fact that it comes and goes. Unfortunately, it is often very difficult to trace the source of such interference. Your walkout just confirmed it was in your local area. Headphones are more useful outdoors, rather than trying to listen to a speaker in a noisy environment.

Could I suggest that you listen to the other main BBC FM stations, when you hear the noise on R4, to determine if the noise is present on the other stations.

It would also be useful to check with neighbours to see if they are having similar problems.

Finally you could report the problem to the BBC who are responsible for the investigation of complaints about the reception of domestic TV and Radio.

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#392861

Postby XFool » March 5th, 2021, 6:30 pm

This seems recently to be falling/to have fallen(?), by the wayside - fingers crossed! ;)

At least the previously persistent, underlying 'whine, warble'. I still have to occasionally switch between Wrotham and Crystal Palace to avoid other troubles.

None the wiser...

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#406839

Postby XFool » April 25th, 2021, 4:08 pm

I hope I'm not going to regret this but: My problems with R4 FM (whining gas pipe sound) seems to have finally(?) gone. [CROSS FINGERS]

Not only that, but the obvious daily, intermittent interference to other VHF channels has gone too. Stable signal strength through the day on all channels. It feels like some strong, daily, local, intermittent interfering signal has now closed down.

Either that or something to do with the time of year and propagation (Spring, sap rising in the trees, buds opening?)

This did no harm too: viewtopic.php?p=403899#p403899

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407338

Postby XFool » April 27th, 2021, 11:49 am

XFool wrote:I hope I'm not going to regret this...

Yep. Spoke too soon. :(

At least I now know how to deal with the problem when it occurs. Pull coax lead out of aerial socket! Works perfectly for strong stations like BBC R4, not for weaker ones like LBC. Perhaps then the solution is to purchase an internal, set-top 'FM' aerial?

MDW1954
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2358
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 8:46 pm
Has thanked: 526 times
Been thanked: 1011 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407389

Postby MDW1954 » April 27th, 2021, 4:14 pm

Why not listen to R4 over the Internet? And it's also broadcast free-to-air on Sky, I'm fairly sure.

MDW1954

kiloran
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 4093
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 9:24 am
Has thanked: 3234 times
Been thanked: 2827 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407392

Postby kiloran » April 27th, 2021, 4:40 pm

XFool wrote:
XFool wrote:I hope I'm not going to regret this...

Yep. Spoke too soon. :(

At least I now know how to deal with the problem when it occurs. Pull coax lead out of aerial socket! Works perfectly for strong stations like BBC R4, not for weaker ones like LBC. Perhaps then the solution is to purchase an internal, set-top 'FM' aerial?

Would a bandpass filter help? Something like this to attenuate out-of-band signals https://amphenolprocom.com/products/fil ... bpf-4-4-fm

--kiloran

AleisterCrowley
Lemon Half
Posts: 6381
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:35 am
Has thanked: 1880 times
Been thanked: 2026 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407408

Postby AleisterCrowley » April 27th, 2021, 5:55 pm

Amphenol are expensive pro stuff - there was a company that made filters that they sold to radio amateurs to reduce interference problems
AKD rings a bell?
What sort of antenna do you have - and is it pointing in the right direction and correctly polarised?

Lanark
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1321
Joined: March 27th, 2017, 11:41 am
Has thanked: 595 times
Been thanked: 582 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407420

Postby Lanark » April 27th, 2021, 6:26 pm

XFool wrote:Still here. Still there. It doesn't sound like any kind of VHF FM interference I am familiar with or have heard of.

Out of frustration I just took my small portable DAB/FM for a walkabout, while noise on R4 FM, 93.50 MHz - Wrotham TX.

It is possible that the DAB part of your radio is causing interference on the FM part, the DAB circuitry generally doesn't turn off when you switch to FM and those digital circuits can be very noisy at some frequencies.

Do you have an older FM only receiver you can try?

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407428

Postby XFool » April 27th, 2021, 6:40 pm

kiloran wrote:Would a bandpass filter help? Something like this to attenuate out-of-band signals https://amphenolprocom.com/products/fil ... bpf-4-4-fm

--kiloran

Yes, hopefully. I mentioned this but haven't yet seen a suitable one on sale. The one you mention doesn't really seem suitable. It is presumably set up for a receiver on a fixed narrow range of channels:

"The filter can be tuned within the entire 88 - 108 MHz band.

Bandwidth 3 - 4 MHz
"

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407433

Postby XFool » April 27th, 2021, 6:52 pm

Lanark wrote:
XFool wrote:Still here. Still there. It doesn't sound like any kind of VHF FM interference I am familiar with or have heard of.

Out of frustration I just took my small portable DAB/FM for a walkabout, while noise on R4 FM, 93.50 MHz - Wrotham TX.

It is possible that the DAB part of your radio is causing interference on the FM part, the DAB circuitry generally doesn't turn off when you switch to FM and those digital circuits can be very noisy at some frequencies.

Do you have an older FM only receiver you can try?

I am mainly using an old AM/FM tuner. Being used because I need to try and sort out a fault on my DAB tuner, which is out of use.

I now know (following work on the TV aerial) that the current best way of avoiding the interference when present is simply to pull the tuner's aerial cable out of the wall socket! This gives a good clean signal (one or two bars on five bar signal strength indicator) even on stereo, but only on strong signals like the main BBC transmissions.

csearle
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 4764
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 2:24 pm
Has thanked: 4814 times
Been thanked: 2083 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407474

Postby csearle » April 27th, 2021, 8:55 pm

AleisterCrowley wrote:Amphenol are expensive pro stuff - there was a company that made filters that they sold to radio amateurs to reduce interference problems
That they sometimes gifted to neighbours, not because they were transmitting at the wrong frequency or level, but rather because the neighbour's equipment was poorly designed. These acts were done to keep the peace rather than address the underlying problem.

Chris
G8NAU / DD5BI

AleisterCrowley
Lemon Half
Posts: 6381
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:35 am
Has thanked: 1880 times
Been thanked: 2026 times

Re: BBC R4 FM

#407478

Postby AleisterCrowley » April 27th, 2021, 9:11 pm

Yes indeed - I remember there were a few that were for TV use - not sure if they did FM radio ones
Vague memory the RSGB used to sell them in RadCom, along with other bits and bobs?

Regards
Crowley
G1*** so a recent call - 1983 mine I think


Return to “Does anyone know?”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests