# Radio Seagull



## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

Whilst browsing the net for some information on the Jenni Baynton I came across an interesting site related to old lightships which might prove of interest to someone on SN. There’s a wealth of information on there with many links:

http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/startgb.htm#back

Incidentally the Jenni Baynton is the old Trinity House LV 8:-

http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIFFE/ENGLAND/LV08/LV08.htm

which is now the home of Radio Seagull, broadcasting from Harlingen Harbour in the Netherlands:-

http://radioseagull.com/index.html

_“Broadcasting from our ship the ‘Jenni Baynton’ moored in Harlingen Harbour in the Netherlands, Radio Seagull can be heard on 1602 KHz AM in the Netherlands, across the North Sea and along the East Coast of England. At night the signal has been received as far away as Finland, Germany and Switzerland”_

Radio Seagull operates between 7pm and 7am on 1602. Radio Vitoria in Spain which used to run a fair bit of power and previously used 1602 has recently stopped using the frequency making reception of Seagull easier. They can be heard early evening on Anglesey but not very strong and with some interference from other stations. There’s a Punjabi station on 1602 – I thought I’d got some real DX until I realised it was Desi Radio in Southall! 

My WRTH lists about 20 users for 1602 but it’s about 10 years old – must remind the wife that Christmas is coming!

Radio Seagull also streams over the ‘net.

I'm listening on an old Racal RA1772 and a 40 foot vertical wire antenna.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

John

I have had a listen this morning to Radio Seagull on 1602khz on my 'recovered' Lowe HF235 receiver and longwire aerial. It was about QSA2-3 with no QRM. I am on the East Coast in Lincolnshire.

David
+


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

david.hopcroft said:


> John
> 
> I have had a listen this morning to Radio Seagull on 1602khz on my 'recovered' Lowe HF235 receiver and longwire aerial. It was about QSA2-3 with no QRM. I am on the East Coast in Lincolnshire.
> 
> ...


Thanks John.

Listening this evening Seagull's signals are pretty poor. There's also a strong Spanish station on the frequency.

There are often a few Dutch pirates between 1.6 and 1.7 mc/s, Radio Baroness being one. They've been around for ages, usually on at the weekends and no one seems to bother!

Have you ever listened to remote receivers over the 'net? I often listen to an SDR receiver at the University of Twente in Holland. Listening this evening Seagull is very weak there as well.

http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

73's


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

I'll try and remeber to give them a try later when I'm in my van.


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

I tried to pick it up this evening in the van on the way back from Beaumaris. Nothing in Beaumaris, nothing again on the top by the Llanfair P.G. junction onto the A55 and nothing again at the top of the hill by Llangefni on the A55.


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

R651400 said:


> If this SDR located in the Netherlands can't pick up Radio Seagull then what's the point behind it?
> try 1602 AM for Radio Seagull and then 198 AM for BBC LW and note the difference.
> 
> http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/


Not too sure what you mean...

I initially posted about Radio Seagull as he was ship based and I thought someone out there might be interested. I can pick up Seagull on 1602 tho' rather poorly so I listened to the Dutch SDR assuming he'd get a much better copy but apparently that's not the case. I'm listening on a Racal RA1772 with a 40 foot vertical antenna so presumably my receiving set up is better than the SDR receiver using a mini-whip... His antenna may also be shielded in the direction of Harlinen Harbour where Seagull is based as he does receive some other Dutch pirates very strongly as I do.

>>> try 1602 AM for Radio Seagull and then 198 AM for BBC LW and note the difference. <<<

There's obviously a big difference which amongst other things would be accounted for by the fact that the BBC on 198 transmit 500 killowatts into a big antenna whilst poor Seagull runs a thousand watts into a much smaller antenna. Also the BBC has a clear frequency since the Algerian 2000 killowatt power house on 198 went off...

Coastie - Around 6:30 in the evening seems to be the best time to hear Seagull, unfortunately we're on the wrong side of the UK, David Hopcroft posted earlier that he's a good signal on the East Coast. If you can't hear Seagull you've always got Radio Star on 981... A mate of mine up in Garreglwyd Park gets a good signal from Southern Ireland.

73


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

johnvvc said:


> Not too sure what you mean...
> 
> I initially posted about Radio Seagull as he was ship based and I thought someone out there might be interested. I can pick up Seagull on 1602 tho' rather poorly so I listened to the Dutch SDR assuming he'd get a much better copy but apparently that's not the case. I'm listening on a Racal RA1772 with a 40 foot vertical antenna so presumably my receiving set up is better than the SDR receiver using a mini-whip... His antenna may also be shielded in the direction of Harlinen Harbour where Seagull is based as he does receive some other Dutch pirates very strongly as I do.
> 
> ...


Normally, in the van I listen to Radio Nova (remember them from Eire in the 80's? They's back.) on 100.3FM and I can listen to them all along the A55 but it falls out as I descend from 4 Crosses to Menai Bridge then goes completely as I travel to Beaumaris.


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

R651400 said:


> That Seagull is a pirate station similar to Caroline and others of old gaining it's revenue from advertising and would put out an adequate signal to justify this.
> If that's not the case then I obviously misunderstood it's raison d'etre.
> 1kw is not a lot of power but I would have thought it would have been adequate for reasonable reception in the Netherlands if nowhere else.


Radio Seagull is not a pirate. To quote from an email I recently received from them:-

“Radio Seagull is a licensed station. We own the license for 1602 AM and we have 3 licenses for DAB+.”

They have invested a lot of money in the project, purchasing the ship and fitting it out and to operate it illegally when tied up alongside would I suggest be rather foolhardy.

As for their “raison d'etre”. In the lingo of followers of shipborne pirate radio - it’s to “keep the dream alive”, their words not mine… Seagull airs commercials, they also sell merchandise and take ads for their web pages. Whether or not it pays I don’t know, realistically I can’t see how.

I think I'm right in saying that all users of 1602 are confined to 1Kw but the Spaniards don't appear to take much notice as there are four on there, all apparently using 5Kw and not helping the qrm situation. 

Ironically when I worked at AngleseyRadio/GLV part of my job was recording all of Radio Caroline North’s transmission. This was to be used as evidence when she was eventually taken to court. In the event she shut down and we were left with an office full of tapes which mysteriously disappeared. Nowadays these would be worth a couple of quid.


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

> No luxury Ferrograph just log entries but a pleasant change from normal watch-keeping.


Can you remember what sort of information you had to log?

Thanks


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Okay, I had visions of something like :-

08:09 Please Please Me - The Beatles.
08:12 That one by Dusty Springfield.
08:15 Silence Period Observed.

= Adrian +


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

johnvvc said:


> can’t see how.
> 
> Ironically when I worked at AngleseyRadio/GLV part of my job was recording all of Radio Caroline North’s transmission. This was to be used as evidence when she was eventually taken to court. In the event she shut down and we were left with an office full of tapes which mysteriously disappeared. Nowadays these would be worth a couple of quid.


Speaking of Radio Caroline North, they are back again next weekend courtesy of Manx Radio's 1368kc/s TX's. Last months BX was from the Ross Revenge on the River Blackwater via tinternet to Manx Radio then broadcast live on A.M. I THINK, this is the same: Back again on Sat 31st and Sun 1st: Back to the Island

Caroline will appear again on 1368am courtesy of Manx Radio on October 31st and November 1st.

Programmes commence at 8.30am with Chris Williams' Carnaby Street.

As before there will be a stand alone stream for listening online, giving three Caroline programme options for the weekend. Tiptree, Preserves Of Distinction are our sponsors as before and we will have a splendid gift or gifts of a range of their produce to offer as prizes.

Last month we were sent examples of reception as far away as Belgium, Suffolk and of course on the Irish and UK coast, also Wales and Scotland. So, dust off your AM radio sets and tell us what you hear.

Please send your music choices and memories to [email protected] and we will mention as many as we can on air.


Radio Caroline North on AM from the Isle of Man is sponsored by Tiptree, Preserves Of Distinction

The above copied from the Radio Caroline Webpage www.radiocaroline.co.uk


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