Radiofax

Radiofax Programme M1: Subliminal tapes - Adaptive FM car radios - Channel Tunnel power and radio problems - Chris Cary loses in court - Daventry to close

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Ruth Phillips
* Introduction
* Music: Big Time by Peter Gabriel
* Subliminal Tapes - abandon yourself - wild passion - wrong male - self-help - hidden voices - spectral analysis - self esteem - weight loss - Doug Stewart, New Scientist
* Music: What Is Love? by Deee-Lite
* Car radios - HUC Electronik - Dynas System - increases sensitivity - FM crammed - IF bandwidth - dynamic adjustment - Electronics World News
* Music: Gimme All Your Lovin' by ZZ Top
* Channel Tunnel - electromagnetic hell - radiate interference - TML - I2C - traction catenary - both ends - middle neutral - 1000 transmitters - 500 Watt CB - rabies trap - 6.8kV - EMC - Lucia Costanzo, Electronics Times
* Music: Satisfy My Soul by Bob Marley
* HiTech loses decoder appeal - House of Lords - BBC - sold outside UK - Chris Cary - move outside UK - Radio Nova - Electronics Times
* Music: Edie (Ciao Baby) by The Cult
* NASA - money voted - preserves Space Station - Europe alone - superconducting supercollider - Freedom - CRAF Cassini - New Scientist
* Sparks theme
* Music: Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd
* 5 inch CDI - CD ROM - rival multimedia - magneto optical
* Music: Broken English by Marianne Faithfull
* Music: Nothing by Frazier Chorus
* Science for boys not girls - Engineering Council - NAS - Manchester University - social recipe of parents - large classes - Electronics Weekly
* Music: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
* Station ID and address
* Music: Message in a Bottle by The Police
* Digital TV Spotlight - MAC - superseded - data compression - HDTV - 16:9 - fully digital - Zenith - satellite - enforced - Karl Schneider, Electronics Weekly
* Music: Prime Mover by Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction
* BBC closing Daventry - World Service to Woofferton - VoA reduction - 1943 - 30/40 job losses - Bert Gallon - BBC history - first regional 1927 - Fultograph pictures 1928 - Empire 1932 - Radio 3 MW - 1988 TXs to Woofferton - 1963 TXs abroad - Ascension Island - Far Eastern Relay - BBC Engineering Press
* Music: Thorn In My Side by Eurythmics

Duration: 1h33m24, Originally broadcast: 1st July 1991

MP3 file size: 53.4 MB

Radiofax Programme M2: The infamous Radio Caroline scrap metal business story - Kill people with sound - Radio and TV in Ireland - Cancelling noise

Presented by Andy Burnham, Andy Bradgate and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Bamboléo by Gipsy Kings
* Microwaves Take to the Road - GEC Plessey - congestion - up spectrum - microwave - EEC Dedicated DRIVE - Automatic Vehicle Identification AVI - transponder - road surface - 900MHz - roadside reader - CMOS ASIC - scam - hire car - swap engine - car alarm - false alarms - ultrasonic - infra red - doppler radar - active cruise control - Chris Evan Pugh, Components in Electronics
* Music: Ruby Tuesday by Melanie
* Microwaves Take to the Road continued - time speed interval to next car - collision avoidance - car to car - 60GHz
* Music: The Meaning of Love by Depeche Mode
* Radiofax started tests on 19 April 1991 - contacted by Radio Caroline - 16 hours airtime daily
* Caroline - the End of an Era? - tabloids - spirit of 60s - launch pad - Simon Dee - Kenny Everett [actually Radio London] - Tony Blackburn - forcing radio shakeup - Radio 1 - local and incremental - direct descendants - emotional not final capitulation - Ross Revenge - semi derelict - rusting hulk - drama - Broadcasting Act - sapping spirit - satellite - romantics - sea - many owe Caroline - serious disagreements - Chris Cary - Astra satellite - 8 hours daytime - religion - contravene laws - Cary: 'Do you want to be in the broadcast business or the scrap metal business?' - romance doesn't pay the mortgage - Now Radio
* Music: Good Morning Judge by 10cc
* Blow people up by sound - vibrating - air conditioning - resonate - infrasound - pea whistle - 6 feet long - 7Hz - internal organs mashed - concrete bunker - windows at half mile - low frequency - 5 miles - Lyall Watson, Supernature
* Music: Smash It Up by The Damned
* Changing fashions in liquid crystals - Royal Society of Chemistry 150th anniversary - colour - body temperature - Electronics and Wireless World
* Music: Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Diana Ross
* Station ID
* Music: Rudy Got Soul by Desmond Decker
* Stalemate in the Air - RTE - left wing - competition - TV 3rd Channel - MVDS - radio commercial & community - IRTC - Century - no track record - Capital - Windmill Lane Studios - terrestrial - - Dr Colum Kenny, barrister , Dublin City University
* Music: The Saxophone Song by Kate Bush
* Electronic Anti-Noise - legislation - quiet products - wave cancellation - inverse - heat - accurately - DSP - Active Noise and Vibration Technologies ANVT - Chaplin patents - electronic muffler - synchronisation - Elaine Whitwood, Design Engineering
* Music: Always On My Mind by Pet Shop Boys
* Electronic Anti-Noise part 2 - insufficent computing power - matrix - defaults - engine speeds - learning based - 20MHz - exhaust noise
* Music: Every Beat of the Heart by Railway Children
* Ross Revenge news from Andy Bradgate - new generator - 2 cylinder Petter - 1700 RPM - 450V - front starboard corner - water cooled - own radiator - less thirsty - off air - hand crankable - new exhaust
* Music: New Amsterdam by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
* Station ID
* Music: Walk This Way by Run-DMC
* Over use of the word 'actually' on radio and television
* Music: Happy Hour by The Housemartins
* Too Late for Telepoint? - Mercury - personal communication networks - Ferranti Zonephone - BT Phonepoint - base stations - unreliable - Common Air Interface CAI - history books - Electronics Times
* Music: Queen of Hearts by Dave Edmunds
* Music: The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack by The Nice

Duration: 1h33m11, Originally broadcast: 8th July 1991

MP3 file size: 53.3 MB

Sparks Programme M3: Environmentally friendly car engines - Voices of the dead on tape? - East German broadcasting - Radio Trent invaded during the miners' strike

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook, Ruth Phillips and Andy Bradgate
* Introduction, with request for letters and radio listening reports from Andy
* Music: Now That We've Found Love by Third World
* East German broadcasting - a hard nut to crack - problems following German re-unification - denied opportunities - DFF - PAL - SECAM - camcorders unknown - ancient Soviet trucks - NOR - SFB - RIAS - Andrew von Gamm, International Broadcasting
* Music: The Walk by The Cure
* News that The Cure actually set up their own pirate radio station in a London tower block to promote their latest album. [There were actually two transmissions. I found that the 20th anniversary was celebrated in 2010, with extracts now preserved online.]
* Andy mentions that this programme was recorded in a secret location in London, which was actually a caravan in the yard of Radio Caroline's secret base in North London, which is still used as their mailing address, now redeveloped and unrecognisable, and no longer top-secret.
* Music: Tell Me When the Fever Ended by Electribe 101
* Recording of the London pirate radio reggae station PowerJam 93FM [I recall that this was dropped in live - Andy]
* Ghosts in the Machine - voices of the dead on tape - Thomas Alva Edison - logical - communicate - unsuccessful - summer 1959 - Frederick Jürgenson - Voices from the Universe 1964 - Dr Bender - Frank Smith, Skeptical Inquirer
* Music: And a Bang On the Ear by The Waterboys
* Ghosts in the Machine part 2 - Parapsychology Review - Dr Hans Bender - Dr Raudive - 100,000 tapes - The Inaudible Made Audible/Breakthrough - Vatican - NASA
* Music: I Surrender by Rainbow
* Recording electronic voice phenomena yourself - how to have a go at recording your own voices of the dead on tape - headphones - sunset/sunrise - 2 minutes - radio between freqs - The Unexplained
* There follows an invitation from Andy for listeners to try this and send in their recordings of the dead [we don't recall that anyone ever did...!]
* Station ID
* Music: Big Ship by The Cardiacs - played around the Kingston area [the vinyl of which is now very rare and collectable! - Andy]
* Bill Gates to display artwork on giant screens in his house - high definition displays - 50,000 sq ft home - Seattle - Electronics Times
* Music: Keep Your Eye On Me by Herb Alpert
* Music: Paid In Full by Eric B. & Rakim
* Live extract from London pirate Station FM 101 [playing Inside Life by Incognito] with a different Andy B presenting
* Andy tunes down the London FM band live in the studio to see what's out there - KISS - Radio 1 - Choice - GLR - BBC - 92
* Music: Green Onions by Booker T. & the MG's
* Environmentally friendly motive power for cars - ozone - low emissions diesel and the stratified charge engine - Professor P Waltzer, Volkswagen, Design Engineering
* Music: Dirty Old Town by The Pogues
* Environmentally friendly motive power systems part 2 - emissions - glow plug - methanol - biomass - rapeseed - flywheel - 6kW motor - hydrogen - electrical
* Guest appearance from Andy Bradgate and his smelly socks
* Music: Average by Box of Frogs featuring Ian Dury
* Station ID
* A joke invitation to write in to "Auntie Ruth's" personal problems section [which fortunately no one wrote in to!]
* Music: Jack Le Freak by Chic
* From the book "Radio is my Bomb" - a DIY manual for pirates - Andy Bradgate and Andy Burnham amusingly reenact how Radio Arthur broke across Radio Trent during the 1984 miner's strike, in an attempt to encourage the Nottinghamshire miners to join the strike - transcript
* Music: Rover by Jethro Tull

Length: 1h32m52, Originally broadcast: 15th July 1991

MP3 file size: 53.1 MB

Sparks Programme M4: Pirates in the Netherlands - An electronic nose - Cosmic windsurfing - ITV technical quality

This programme is short because it was recorded on a C-60, I'm not sure why.

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Gypsy by Suzanne Vega
* Screen Tests - independent TV to manage their own technical quality - clear dialogue - quality pictures - Code of Practice - Regional Operation Centre ROC - CCIR grades - Tony Stirling, ITC, Spectrum
* Music: 24 Hours by Betty Boo
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Electronic Nose could Snap Smells - photographs of smells - George Dodd - Warwick & Linköping Universities - medical diagnostics - brewers - Susan Watts, Independent
* Music: Play the Game by Queen
* Netherlands pirates at top end of MW band - near German border - isolated farms - Julius Hermans, Sloten - 1.5kW - complaints - lights dimming - Media Network
* Music: Radio K.A.O.S. - Who Needs Information by Roger Waters
* Letter from Alan Ellis of Baldock in Hertfordshire - more a knob twiddler than a serious short wave listener - fascinating pastime
* Music: The Sun Always Shines On T.V. by A-Ha
* Cosmic Windsurfing - 1992 Solar Sails race - speed/orbit - photons from the sun - free thrust - Halley's Comet - tacking - fragile - unfurl - inflate tubes - micrometeorite - armillary sphere - Steve Temple, Cambridge Consultants Journal
* Music: One O'clock Jump by Duke Ellington

Length: 1h01m58, Originally broadcast: 22nd July 1991

MP3 file size: 35.4 MB

Sparks Programme M5: Digital still photography - SW pirate listings - Showtime Radio - Londonderry pirate raid - Veronica goes commercial - DAB in the UK

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Ruth Phillips
* Introduction, including the first appearance of the deliberately retro - even for 1991 - theme tune: Tender Force by Space
* Music: Why Why by Carly Simon
* Local Radio Shropshire closing medium wave outlets - 756 > 630W south Shropshire - 1584 > Mold - 603 1332 1368 819 738 also to close - BBC
* All about digital still photography - dissatisfaction with paper - Photo CD - £300 player - big picture - slide projector - Electronics Times
* Music: Promise Me by Beverley Craven
* Raid on Irish pirate Riverside 101, who threaten legal action in response - damage - legal - Coleraine - Omagh - Jim Moore, Burnfoot Garda - shouting - Tom Kennington, Dept. Communications - everything in our power - stamped out - newspaper adverts - DTI - IRTC - Charlie Collins, Highland Radio - Minister Seamus Brennan - Sean McLaughlin, Derry Journal
* Bradley Allen of Whitstable in Kent contributes a comprehensive listing of shortwave stations - 6205 Delta - 6210 Geronimo - 6225 BRI - 6235 Zenith - 6240 Merlin - 6275 WNKR - 6282 Starclub/Live Wire - 6285 WMR - 6290 Orion - 6300 WFRL - 6315 PFBS - 6540 Sierra Sierra - 6550 Free Sound - 7440 German
* List of pirates in Manchester from Tom Reid of Macclesfield - 6228 Jolly Roger Radio - 6280 Ozone - Manchester 101 Unity - 104.4 IBC
* Music: Long Time by Arrow
* DC777 shortwave car radio Ad, reduced to £239
* BT seeks clearance for radio links from handsets direct to the phone network (radiophones) in rural areas - Oftel - regulations - Leon Clifford, Electronics Weekly
* Music: Walking Down Madison by Kirsty MacColl
* Showtime Radio wins Independent National Radio franchise with bid of £1.75 million pounds annually - British Rail chair Peter Parker - Bob Kennedy - "We value the licence highly - we wouldn't go into it if we didn't think we could make money" - Chiltern Radio - Colin Mason - make money - Trevor Morse - revenue - problems - Giles Squire, Metro - mountains to climb - format - 7 transmitters - Music and Media [The station subsequently didn't happen due to over bidding, paving the way for Classic FM to take the INR licence]
* Music: Pull Up To The Bumper by Grace Jones
* Station ID
* Letter from Neil Oakey in Whitstable - very pleased - big gap in the spectrum for a programme of this style
* Impact of Digital Audio Broadcasting DAB in the UK - Mark Thomas, Radio Authority - satellite vs terrestrial - 1.5GHz - 2.5GHz - Alan Mornington-West, AES [at the time the technology was still being worked out and the frequency band not yet set]
* Letter from Nils A Holst in Denmark - age 25 - listening on a Kenwood R600 - wanting more music!
* Music: Glamour Boys by Living Color
* "Mobile Phones are menace to society" says Chancellor Norman Lamont - so can be their extortionate multi year contracts - HL Communications, Croydon - £30/month - stolen - cancelled - court - draconian contract - Cellnet - Racal Vodaphone - Sally Deedes, Private Eye
* Music: Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & the Pips
* Station ID
* How gullible are you? - Daniel T Gilbert, University of Texas - Aristotle - cultured and educated - René Descartes - Spinoza - imaginary animal - diverting attention - Skeptical Inquirer
* Music: Ghetto Heaven by The Family Stand
* Letter from Dr H.G.A. Hughes of Afonwen, Mold, in Wales - FRG7700 - Sparks of considerable interest - prefers the speech to the music - best wishes
* Radio Caroline Legend Lives on CD Ad
* Virtual Reality moving from media labs into entertainment - Broadsword's Cyberzone VR game show piloted for Anglia TV - follows on from the earlier show Nightmare - Audio Media
* Music: Breaking Away by Jaki Graham
* Veronica goes commercial in Holland - TROS likely to follow - public system falling apart - 2 terrestrial channels - Hedy D'Ancona - Music and Media

Length: 1h33m25, Originally broadcast: 29th July 1991

MP3 file size: 53.4 MB

Sparks Programme M7: Single chip microprocessors - Huge factories pirating CDs - ITV quality as IBA becomes ITC

Less than half of this programme exists

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Music: Kidney Bingos by Wire
* Single chip microprocessor - Remote Management System RMS - model aircraft controller - RF channel - find it in a cornfield - Electronic Product Design
* Music: Five Get Over Excited by The Housemartins
* Menace of CD Piracy - Stones in the Park was simply TV sound - plants in Korea, Taiwan, E Europe - David Lang, Music Business International
* Station ID
* ITV Never Mind the Quality - ITC franchise quality threshold - prevent biggest bid - imports and quizzes - Emily Bell, Observer
* Sparks theme

Duration: 29m48, Originally broadcast: 12th August 1991

MP3 file size: 17.0 MB

Sparks Programme M8: Electronic smog - Digital SW radios - The life of William Siemens - Analogue recordings on a chip

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Delta Lady by Joe Cocker
* Electronic Smog (otherwise known as EMC) - increasing problem of RF fields - AEA Technology - medical - automotive - aviation - Gulf War - suppression - BBC World Service
* Letter and listening tip from David Ashmore, Leyland, Lancashire - Sony SW7600 - radio near a copper gas pipe - listen every day
* Music: Now That We Found Love (featuring Aaron Hall) by Heavy D & the Boyz [1991 dance re-interpretation - RIP Heavy D, who died in November 2011]
* Biography of Sir William Siemens - founder of the eponymous company - 1842 to England - gold plating - Great Exhibition - telegraph - water meter - Rotherham - submarine cables - IEE news
* Music: Babooshka by Kate Bush
* Life of Sir William Siemens part 2 - near disaster - Sebastian de Ferranti - Godalming street lighting - Portrush tramway - Society of Telegraph Engineers
* Station ID and competition [Don't write in now!]
* A letter from Nicholas MacMillan of Boreham, Chelmsford in Essex praising Andy Bradgate's programme and Sparks - did consider trying to record some electronic voice phenomena but 'chickened out'!
* Music: And A Bang on the Ear by The Waterboys (Radio Caroline favourite - as requested by Nicholas)
* Digital conversion in SSB receivers part 1 [Part 2 in M12] - undersampling simplifies - sample below Nyquist rate - latest techniques in communications receiver design - Electronic Design
* Music: Light My Fire by The Doors
* Court date set for Radio Nova - Claes Nydahl - community station - Vagnharad, Sweden - advertising ban - illegal - constitution - Stuart Ward, Music and Media
* Music: I'll Be Your Mirror by The Velvet Underground and Nico
* Useful tips on long wire short-wave antennas - including a review of RF Systems' magnetic long wire balun - Antenna Surgery, Media Network, Radio Netherlands
* Andy recounts his experience of static shocks from long wire aerials - up a tree - thunderclouds
* Roger Marshall, Burnham on Sea, Somerset - enjoyed most of Jodie's Rock Show - well balanced selection - 6210 French - 6229 JRR - 6240 Merlin - 6275 WNKR - 6280 Ireland - 6290 Orion - Radiofax strongest by far
* Station ID
* Music: Looking in the Future / Virgin of the World by Hawkwind
* Analogue EEPROM stores 16 seconds of audio - non volatile Direct Analog Storage DAS from Information Storage Devices - ISD1016 - $20 - Frank Goodenough, Electronic Design
* Music: 24 Hours by Betty Boo
* Letter from TV technician Jerry R Hatton of Keithley, West Yorkshire - very pleasantly surprised at finding the station - really like the mix - keep up good work - brightened me right up
* New station: Radio Contact - Belgium/Netherlands, not Contact 94 France - Music Business International
* ICP poll shows the dominance of AM radio over FM in Spain - Music Business International
* Two radio technician jobs with DTI Baldock in Electronics Times - get paid to listen to short wave - mobile monitoring - computer data [now Ofcom]
* Amusing anecdote about GEC Plessey Telecoms GPT making company presentations in France (GPT = j'ai pété = I just farted in French) - Electronics Times
* Music: La Folie by The Stranglers - in French, of course
* Letter from John A. Murphy in Armagh city, Northern Ireland - very good clarity and audio
* DC777 shortwave car radio Ad, reduced to £239
* Sparks theme

Length: 1h33m32, Originally broadcast: 19th August 1991

MP3 file size: 53.5 MB

Sparks Programme M9: Caroline's Jodie Scott interviewed - Rebuild house for the HiFi - Roland Space Sound - Novice licences - JICRAR figures - Betacam cameras

This one was a bonus 2 hour long programme. "We want to see full use made of the radio spectrum in the United Kingdom" claims DTI minister John Redwood. Radiofax wanted 9kHz of it.

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Sally Cinnamon by The Stone Roses
* Hifi to the Extreme - When tweaking fails, just rebuild the house! - fanatic - floorboards - 3 foot gap - concrete fill - OOBE - Pete Belt, PWB Engineering, Leeds - trainspotting - esoteric - finite element computer program - sneer at CDs - glsss platter - male preserve - Elizabeth Hughes - Cornflake Shop - £3000 turntable but owned just one record - Adam LeBor, Independent
* Music: I've Got to Use My Imagination by Gladys Knight
* DC777 Ad
* Letter from Christian Sen, age 16, from Obersulm in west Germany - holidaying in Torbay - Sony ICF7600DS
* Music: Make It Mine by The Shamen
* Overview of the year's Radio Festival - Birmingham - Radio 4 news read by a Cockney? - national commercial radio - David Hatch - nothing sacrosanct - shredded nerves - Robert Kennedy, Showtime - Peter Baldwin - Classic FM - Beverley Anderson - not enough women, regional accents - Jenny Abramsky - Francis Line - Paul Donovan, Radio Waves, Times
* Music: Oliver's Army by Elvis Costello
* Overview of the Roland RSS - Space Sound Synthesizer - audio enhancer - Tomorrow's World - Transaural Processor - mono compatibility - Francis Rumsey, AES meeting report
* Music: The Gates of Delirium by Yes
* The new novice licences for UK radio amateurs - young people - DTI RCA - John Redwood: We want to see full use made of the radio spectrum in the UK - radio technology - need good scientists - encouraging enthusiasm - learn morse - Hancock Radio Ham - RSGB - David Evans - find a clear frequency - dying hobby? - Nepal - CQ - 2E0AAA - Hugh McNeil - Megamix, BBC World Service - spectrum usage: Radiofax a good use for 9kHz of it - no frequencies available
* Hello to Stephen Windross of BRT International - voice of the Flemish community in Belgium - Brussels Calling
* Music: All I Ever Want Is You by Gibson Brothers
* JICRAR radio audience figures - ILR 36.4% - Radio 1 24% - Radio 2 13.7% - Radio 3 1.6% - Radio 4 10% - Radio 5 1% - BBC Local 8% - Capital 16% leading London - KCBC Kettering Caroline's Crispian St John/Howard Rose 23% - Mellow 1557 Clacton Laser's Ray Anderson 11% - Music and Media
* Radio Caroline Legend Lives On CD Ad
* Music: Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
* A pirate on 6211kHz- French language - Antwerp, Belgium - 'The Voice of Love'? - Media Network
* Interview with Jodie Scott from Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg - hates Stock Aitken Waterman - Jonathan Marks, Media Network
* Music: Fugazi by Marillion
* The rise of Betacam SP cameras - Newscasters on screen far less - see for ourselves - Electronic News Gathering ENG - Hungarian uprising - Tiananmen Square - spring driven motors - sync pulse - component video - SDI - David Mellor, Audio Media
* Music: I.O.U. by Freeez by Krush
* 1.2 micron process yields 800MHz CMOS op amp - N channel MOSFET - folded cascode - capacitive feed forward -
* Music: Love Me Do by The Beatles
* JICRAR radio audience figures (replay)
* Music: Overkill by Men at Work
* Letter from Brian Cleary, Rosslare in Wexford, Ireland - to all at the fabulous Radiofax - dedicated 6205 listener - well done - format absolutely magnificent - Wexford Diamond Hits pirate rumour
* Optical channels kill off aerials - fibre optic - 10 channels - 1000 home housing estates - demo of GEC Marconi CMC System - Lord Hesketh DTI - nasty aerials - Electronics Weekly
* Music: Ruby Tuesday by Melanie
* Luxembourg Government auctioning its frequencies - 4FM + 40 low power - 1440 and SW unaffected - Media Network
* Media Network reports Radiofax beginning a science and technical programme on Mondays and Tuesdays! - Jonathan Marks
* Music: There She Goes Again by The Velvet Underground
* Japanese AM stations go Stereo with C-QUAM - 50 stations - ISB Kahn - AM-PM Magnavox - CPM Harris - AM/FM Belar - has DAB been oversold? - waiting for magic - Alan Carter, Radio World - new Radio Authority regulations prohibit phase modulation
* Music: Magnetic Fields Part 2 by Jean Michel Jarre
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* 30 years of FM Stereo Broadcasting - 1961 - 6 system trials - KDKA 92.9 - National Stereophonic Radio Committee NSRC - Scott receiver - 14 systems originally - FM left, AM right - bowling ball between two loudspeakers - multiplex adaptors - Zenith GE - EMI steering channel - 15kHz low pass - stereo light - stereo beep - SCA revenue - vertical polarisation - Daniel von Recklinghausen, AES Journal
* Music: Fine Time by New Order

Duration: 2h04m53, Originally broadcast: 26th August 1991

MP3 file size: 71.4 MB

Sparks Programme M10: Cross modulation in the sky - Digital cinema - IC designer Bob Widlar - Loudspeaker cables - Sick buildings - Car wiring - DAB

Another two hour show.

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Sweet Bird Of Truth by The The
* Effects of loudspeaker and cable interactions - little published - monster cables - skin effect - not transmission lines - $619/metre - auto jumpers - Spectra-Strip - Krell - Levinson - AudioQuest - Kimber - Belden - Litz - Fred E. Davis, AES Journal [12 AWG and computer ribbon cable tested very well!]
* Music: Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get Want She Wants) by James Brown
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Letter from Ulf Palmenfelt of Umeå in Sweden - 44 - Kenwood R2000 - 180 metre long wire - teacher and writer on Swedish ethnology [!!!!found him]
* Has multiplexed car wiring finally arrived? - lock & windows close - wiring loom disappears - data shared - diagnostic bus - Bill Mathews, Electronic Product Design [four standards mentioned, which eventually settled on the CAN Bus]
* Music: There's No Other Way by Blur
* Why Satellite TV is Pie in the Sky - policymakers should accept that the multichannel experiment has failed - Waddington experiment - BBC dismemberment - Stephen Barnett, Henley Centre & Goldsmiths [a fascinating listen]
* Music: Anthem by Rush
* Letter from mini radio pirate Wayne Ashcroft, Walsall, age 14, with a Midlands FM pirate rundown 102 Freedom - 88 Sangan & 105.6 Milan (Asian) - 103.9 PCRL reggae - 105.1 Seagull - two 9V batteries
* Current London pirate rundown: 89.9 Chic FM - 92 PowerJam - 98.5 InLeague - 100.5 Green Apple - 101 Station FM reggae - 101.9 Soca Radio - 94.3 Innocence
* Music: All Together Now by The Farm
* Radio Caroline Legend Lives On CD Ad [with impromptu music bed remix]
* Tribute to the late Bob Widlar - age 53 - first IC op amp 709 designer - National Semiconductor - sheep - car drenched - set fire to newspaper - drank a lot of lunch - smash with hammer - beer over shoulder - band gap references - LM109 regulator - taken for ride - led linear IC industry - Bob Pease, Electronic Design [now sadly deceased as well]
* Music: See That Girl by Kirsty MacColl
* Letter from Ian Biggar in Troon, Ayrshire - Riverside 101 Derry Journal feature [M5] really grabbed my attention - Dublin 253m - worked over there, great craic - North off air - caravan studio - North Atlantic - hope Radiofax continues - serving unique purpose - Sparks excellent - well produced and varied
* Dolby digital sound for the Cinema SRD - Eastman Kodak ORC CDS - Dolby stereo - Star Wars - THX - single inventory - 70mm too expensive - Left, Centre, Right, Surround, Sub woofer - upgrade cinema audio - Sound and Communication Systems
* Music: Incommunicado by Marillion
* Cross Modulation in the Ionosphere - between receiver and wanted TX - plasma disturbed - modulation imprinted - David Layzer & Donald Menzel kinetic theory - Anthony Garrett, Electronics and Wireless World [yes it can happen]
* Music: Orinoco Flow by Enya
* Philips DC777 SW car radio Ad
* How to hear Ionospheric Cross Modulation on Long Wave - Algeria 254 - Luxembourg 236 [Allouis, France, (now 162) between Algeria and the UK]
* A letter from Richard R McVicar, Quito in Equador - DX Party Line, HCJB - hears 12,255 (also Peru & Brazil) - listening to low powered European HF stations
* Digital Audio Broadcasting at an advanced stage of development say BBC Engineering - multipath - 5 mile reflected delays 140μs - Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex COFDM - bit rate reduction - masking - quantizing noise - Henry Price, BBC [Starts with an analogy with CD - Oh dear me...]
* Music: Leftover Wine by Melanie
* Digital Audio Broadcasting part 2 - active deflector - screened areas - supplement satellite - hybrid - MASCAM - Crystal Palace 531MHz 140W - Kenley reradiated 3W - Renault Espace - Single Frequency Network SFN - Bands 1 & 3
* Music: LFO (The Leeds Warehouse Mix) by LFO [Hark, is that the bell tolling for DAB?] Refugee
* Kingston Polytechnic builds tiny transformers - 5mm profile - thick film substrate - 2MHz - Peter Barnwell - power supplies - ferrite pole & discs - Don Peddar, ERA Technology - Simon Lowe, Electronic World News
* Letter from Andrew Keddie of North Hykeham in Lincoln - Sparks very interesting - listening on a JRC NRD525
* Music: Lil' Devil by The Cult

Duration: 2h04m47, Originally broadcast: 2nd September 1991

MP3 file size: 71.4 MB

Sparks Programme M11: Letter from the DTI, our reply - Industrial spying - Digital audio in TV - County Sound Cork - Ceramic switches - Intriguing carburetters

"We want to see full use made of the radio spectrum in the United Kingdom" claims DTI minister John Redwood, at 60 minutes.

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Ruth Phillips
* Introduction
* Music: I (Together) by Latin Quarter
* Letter from Martin Price of Shrewsbury - Sparks format all very interesting - south Shropshire - Sunshine Ludlow 1117 - test and development licence - 1 Watt
* Ceramic substitutes for electical contacts - Elmwood Sensors - thermostat - NEI - University Durham - PTC thermistors - knife edge - overheating - Jenny Illingworth - no arcing - electrochromic - coat windows - Electrical Review - sent along by Les Ward, Hucknall, Nottingham - good to hear a decent programme after all that mindless music
* Music: Moths by Jethro Tull
* DC777 Ad
* Fully digital signal chain - digital audio in TV post production - AMS Logic 2 - dubbing - effects library - DVTR - NICAM - sound in sync - many generations - SSL Screensound - timecode - TSW - Sony MXP 900 - Thames - AES-EBU old cables - Francis Rumsey, Pro Sound News
* Music: Me, Myself & I by De La Soul
* Sick Building Syndrome - daily record - analysis - lethargy - dull tension headache - ozone - VDUs - posture - glare - skin rash - carbonless paper - ionisers - cigarettes - privacy - Here Tell
* A letter from Andrew Preece, Inverness in Scotland - answers competition - listens on £7 second hand Philips HiFi - very worthwhile service - previously not available
* Music: Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay by Danny & the Juniors
* Shopping for Secrets - industrial spying and bugs - Conrad Sandler, CCS - door disguised as bookcase - Comet - Woolworths - Dixons - bug - P&O - under £50 - unlicensed - sweep - scramblers - record faxes - call tracer - 40kV briefcase - Richard Baum, Electronics Times
* Music: School's Out by Alice Cooper
* Radio Netherlands Media Network announcement about Sparks news programme
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Andy reads out a rather surreal and threatening letter sent by the DTI Radiocommunications Agency to Radio Caroline manager Peter Moore warning them off Radiofax carrying programmes for Radio Caroline and supplying programmes to Radiofax, claiming it is 'causing interference'
* Response by Radiofax Station Manager Trevor Brook to the incorrect allegations in the letter that Radiofax was causing interference. Trevor responds rationally and in detail to the DTI's accusations of interference, including how Radiofax intervened to clean the bands of intermodulation products on 6205 kHz and discussion about the band plan
* Quote from John Redwood, DTI minister: "We want to see full use made of the radio spectrum in the United Kingdom" [spot the irony]
* Music: The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn by The Pogues
* New recorded music formats around the corner - CD vs DAT vs DCC - Cornflake shop - Barry Fox thinks DCC will win the format war! - Checkout 91, Channel 4 [DCC and Mini Disc both due in 1992]
* More about new Digital Compact Cassette products from Panasonic, Sony, Thomson, Matsushita and Grundig - Consumer Electronics Show, Berlin - wide screen TV - 36 inch CRT
* Music: You Really Got Me by The Kinks
* The Cleverest Carburettor - how the famed SU carburettor works - led to improved horizontal integrated float HIF model - includes interview with Malcolm Smith from the legendary Carburettor Centre (and Radio Caroline) of 426 Archway Road, London - Chris Webb, Practical Motorist, August 1991
* Letter from David Broome of Whipton, Exeter in Devon - congratulations - Geronimo - Veronica - Atlanta - could listen over and over again - Racal RA17L - look forward to licence
* Music: The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke) by Hawkwind
* Interview with John Cahill - Chief Engineer, County Sound Radio, Co. Cork, Ireland - engineering setup - 96FM - links - mountain terrain - 3 hops - Moseley - Marti - composite multiplex - Harris 3.5kW - North Cork Local Radio pirate - milking time - power drop - Continental - Maggie Taylor, Radio World - ERI - WKLR - Skibbereen relay - rebroadcast receiver off-tune
* Letter from Charles Bowman of Poulton-le-Fylde, Blackpool in Lancashire, age 14, who sends an enormous list of short wave loggings
* Music: This Old Heart Of Mine (is weak for you) by Donnie Elbert
* Sparks theme (Tender Force by Space)

Duration: 1h33m15, Originally broadcast: 9th September 1991

MP3 file size: 53.3 MB

Sparks Programme M12: Improving air traffic control - Radiofax DTI letter - Electric cars - Digital SSB receivers - Ball lightning - How long for Radio 4 long wave?

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Papa Was a Rolling Stone by Was (Not Was)
* Making the most of Europe's Airspace - European Civil Aviation Conference ECAC - Eurocontrol - Central Controls Function CCF - West Drayton - Michael Donne, Financial Times [Developments in air traffic control] - AR88 monitoring 300kHz and MW Non Directional Beacons NDBs
* Music: Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys
* Quote from John Redwood "We want to see full use of the radio spectrum in the United Kingdom"
* Letter from Radiofax to DTI Minister John Redwood - seeking licence for several years - several thousand listeners support - few kHz of spectrum - former Eastern Bloc before UK - repeat mistakes - Lord Thomson IBA - MPs - restricting to BBC
* Lord Thomson, IBA, 1988 letter - unfortunately we cannot help under present legislation - lack of interest at Home Office - sorry cannot help - wish you luck with exciting project
* Music: The Only One I Know by The Charlatans
* Advertisers, Pirates and the Pan-European Dimension - Cheltenham Radio - Quality Europe QEFM - satellite - Radio Caroline 1967 - pan European advertising - laugh - viability - Howard Rose, Now Radio
* Music: Roll Away the Stone by Mott the Hoople
* DC777 shortwave car radio Ad
* Flashes of Insight into Ball Lightning - football sized - investigating difficult - float - not hot - against wind - laboratory - pass through walls - 1.5kW 2.45GHz - Electronics and Wireless World
* Music: Three Little Birds by Bob Marley & the Wailers
* Letter from David Gowan of Llanfarian, Aberystwyth, in support of gay radio - think there may be a gay radio station in Germany
* Music: Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man) by Hazell Dean
* Hurdles in the road to a smog-free destination - General Motors - Impact project setbacks - John Griffiths, Financial Times [Trying to be first with an electric car by 1994, we're still waiting aren't we?]
* Music: In Yer Face by 808 State
* Digital conversion in SSB receivers part 2 [Part 1 in M8] - 2-30MHz - 16kHz front end - 1Hz steps - 100MHz IF - A to D convertor - 96kHz undersample - dither - overload - 40dB headroom - DSP chip - FIR filter - Electronic Design
* Music: Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
* Letter from Tom Reid in Tytherington, Macclesfield with his SW station log - 6211 Love - 6219 Midlands Music - 6220 Telstar - 6225 BRI - 6230 JRR - 6240 Merlin - 6252 Live Wire - 6254 Geronimo - 6275 WNKR - 6280 Ozone/Northlight - 6282 Live Wire/PFBS - 6290 Confusion/WMR/London - 6293 Stella - 6300 WFRL - 6302 Confusion - 6558 Freesound - 101 Unity - 101.4 IBC - 100 Kiss - 101 Choice - 104.9 Toxteth - 1350 North Coast - 954 North Atlantic - 981 Star Country - musician, Prestatyn summer season - Sparks is longest and best DX show on the dial - Atlantis - East Coast
* Japan Broadcasting and NTT working on 3D TV that won't need viewing spectacles - hundreds of miniature double convex lenses - years from being a consumer product - Electronics Weekly
* Music: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Megadeth
* Report on radio listening in the UK - 40 million a week - enormous competition - retain audience - 3 national commercial stations - saturation - revenue fear - Tony Jaques, Kaleidoscope, Radio 4
* Music: Mary's Prayer by Danny Wilson
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Cutting a Long Wavelength Short - Gorbachev deposed - Down Your Way elbowed out - opposition to shutdown of Radio 4 Long Wave - reuse 198kHz - expatriates - cultural survival - Droitwich - blatant lies about FM - 37 FM retunings in 40 miles - news deserves own outlet - Stephen Games, Evening Standard
* Letter from Dave Smith of Lladrindod Wells, Powys, in Wales - looking for a communications receiver

Duration: 1h33m52, Originally broadcast: 16th September 1991

MP3 file size: 53.7 MB

Sparks Programme M14: Radio faces satellite invasion - Can Russia catch up - Atomic size switches - Pirates on Coronation Street - Adios Mi Amigo - Dust mites

The tape for M13 may be missing or possibly we superstitiously skipped it, anyway on to programme M14. A shocking attack on Radio Caroline at 1h30s - but who wrote it?

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: The Rhythm of Life by Oleta Adams
* Radio faces Satellite invasion - Tien Gold - Sky - RTL4 - Nordsee RNN - Hit - Power - Ferry Maat (Veronica) - Music Business International [market report on the Netherlands]
* Letter from Arturo Fernandez Larrea of Malgrat del Mar, Spain - ICF7600DS
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Music: A Better Love by London Beat
* Letter from Stewart Allen of Greetland, Halifax, Yorkshire - every minute every day you are on - thanks for nice programmes - A.J. Beirens RNI - Caroline since 1964 - wooden models - Laissez Faire - Mi Amigo - Mebo 2 - 6240 Merlin - G7IHX - stay on for ever!
* Switches shrink to atomic scale - IBM breakthrough - single xenon atom - Scanning Tunnelling Microscope STM - position atoms - letters I B M - mono-atomic step - Leon Clifford, Electronics Weekly
* Music: Sat In Your Lap by Kate Bush
* Letter from Kenneth Munroe of Stamford, Lincolnshire - way above my head technically - interested in much of the programme - asks about short wave listening books in Braille
* BT produces bills in Braille - large print - John Wall - RNIB - Braille printer - 3000 pages/day - Electronics Weekly
* Can Soviet industry catch up in high technology? - scarce - low quality - reform swiftly - market system - outdated, overmanned - factory idle - old equipment - apparatchik - Gaby Rado, ITN, Channel 4 [Gaby Rado died in Iraq during the 2003 invasion]
* Music: Too Busy Thinking About My Baby by Marvin Gaye
* Small TV production companies in financial difficulties - waiting for ITV franchises - Real Life - year's work on ice - corporate video dried up - Margaret Heffernan IPPA - John Birt - NETCO - Kent Barker
* Music: 1000 Miles Away by Hoodoo Gurus
* Review of a new magazine - Radio Active - 'The only choice for scanners and CB' - marine band - aircraft - antennas - scanners legal? - collecting QSL cards
* Jim Lowe from Liverpool sends station reception list for August - 100 Kiss - 100.5 Commodore - 100.7 Rhyl CR/Hot 100 - 101 Choice - 101.7 Merseywaves - 98.5 Concept - 104.9 TCR - 101.4 TCR relay - 1350 North Coast - 6280 Live Wire
* Free directory enquiries for the blind taken advantage of by Barclays - 250 blind operators - 38 pence charge - Maplin Magazine
* Music: The Thin Ice by Pink Floyd
* Extract of pirate radio storyline on Coronation Street - big trouble with police - not like a proper crime - Granada TV
* DC777 Ad
* Music: Moribund The Burgermeister by Peter Gabriel
* Hard Disc recording at home [!] - review of CardD from Digital Audio Labs - record - edit - 10.5MB/minute - DOS 4.1 [how quaint] - 50 mins £1000 - Chris Bryant, HiFi News & Record Review
* Music: Don't Come Around Here No More by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
* Problems for asthma sufferers from dust mites - hot humid summer 1991 - infestations of fleas - 5m on medication - no prevention - deaths avoidable - pillows - inhale - dry air abroad - Actimite - cats - Methoprene - hazards multiplying - woodlice - earwigs - scorpion fly - Susan Young, Observer
* Vive La Radio - Ten Years of FM - exhibition - conference - debates - diversity of radio in France - CNIT Paris La Defence - 24/26 October
* Adios Mi Amigo - critical article about Radio Caroline - romantic days over - off air for months - Cash Casino - every other radio locked - Caroline bell - footprints on the car windscreen - Johnny Walker - Mi Amigo - Ross Revenge - rotting - rudder almost fallen off - navigation lights failed - fires on the deck - unlikey phoenix arise again - who cares? - Plat Du Jour, The Broadcaster (Editor Richard Lynton Porter; Tim Blackmore; Michael Bukht; Mark Wesley; Maureen Winnall; Tony Grundy) - not longest spell off air
* Free copies of the new Radio Active magazine first issue for the first 25 to write in asking

Duration: 1h33m27, Originally broadcast: 30th September 1991

MP3 file size: 53.4 MB

Radiofax Programme M15: BBC short wave monopoly should end

This fragment is all that remains of M15
* ...creativity that neither art nor science has yet reached - Sheila Hayman, Sunday Independent
* Letter from Tom Smith of Lisbellaw, Co. Fermanagh - letter to MP - support licence - don't think BBC should be only ones to have one
* ID Andy Burnham - Ruth Phillips - Maurice Cringeworthy - James Hampton Lovett - Trevor Brook
* DC777 Ad
* Music: Beds Are Burning [Teal Remix] by Midnight Oil

Duration: 4m19, Originally broadcast: 7th October 1991

MP3 file size: 2.47 MB

Sparks Programme M16: Holly is back from Nepal - History of vaccination - Independent National Radio troubles - TVAM's Bruce Gyngell interview - Fuzzy logic

The first part of the HiFi Show report was in the missing part of M15. A rather poor tape this one, apologies for the mushy recording.

Presented by Andy Burnham, Holly Robson and Trevor Brook
* Introduction - 1988 Radiofax presenter Holly returns from Nepal with some stories
* Music: Follow You Follow Me by Genesis
* Interview with Bruce Gyngell about how he runs TVAM - special and unique person - happy, successful and joyous - most profitable - Greg Dyke - Roland Rat - Lynn Barber, Sunday Times Review
* Letter from Bart McGuire of Belfast - tuning regularly for six months - particularly like Sparks
* Music: Dancing On the Floor (Hooked On Love) by Third World
* Radio Authority shows the Independent Television Commission ITC how to regulate by refusing to give Showtime Radio extra time - Classic FM - Phil Redmond - Granada - TVS - TSW - George Russell - Claire Dobie, Independent
* Network of 100 computers - testing prime numbers - Fermat - NeXT has Xilia using spare workstation - Richard Crandall - supercomputer - Electronics World & Wireless World [A technique now routinely used for home PCs as well]
* Music: Bostich by Yello
* Biography of Edward Jenner by Richard Fisher reviewed - smallpox - WHO - vaccination - Jenner injecting son sculpture - ballooning - poetry - unmasking poisoner - scrofula - cowpox - David Widgery, Independent
* Music: Promise Me by Beverley Craven
* Interview with Bruce Gyngell part 2 - Packer family - worship - David Frost - Eve Pollard - Kathy Rowan - next incarnation - tea too strong - Anne Diamond - Mike Hollingsworth - child - unmarried - garish sofas - Mike Morris
* DC777 Ad
* Live Report: Andy visits the Hi-Fi Show - Nakamichi cassette - tuner - high end DAT - B&W speakers
* Letter from Matthew Searle of Tadley, Basingstoke - intending to write since start - offshore features the best - Lowe HF125 - listen every other evening - appreciate hard work keeping Radiofax going
* Music: After The Love Is Gone by Earth, Wind & Fire
* Live Report: Hi-Fi show continued - speakers at rear - simulate concert hall, church - 4 rooms, 8 channels
* More about Showtime Radio failing to raise the money for the FM Independent National Radio franchise - which is how Classic FM won - pressure on Radio 3 - Peter Fiddick, Sheridan Morley, BBC Radio 2 - two national AM franchises to come - 1215 and 1053+1089
* Music: I Know You Got Soul by Eric B. & Rakim
* Fuzzy logic finds a home in domestic appliances - robots - teaching itself - Mezzo F7 from JVC and Sanyo - fuzzy logic recording level - Electronic World News
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Music: When You're Young by The Jam
* Holly, who has been working for Voluntary Services Overseas, talks about TV and radio in Nepal, amongst other things - 5 hours TV - few TVs - one radio station - one battery radio per village - two or more wives
* Station ID in Nepali by Holly
* Music: Walk Away Renee by The Four Tops
* Letter from someone who works for the British government in Moscow and uses the DC777 - real asset during recent events
* Music: Is There Anybody Out There? by Pink Floyd
* Golden Age of Pirate Radio - David Hutson, Radio and TV Appreciation, Northern Telecom Social Club - advertising event in Basildon on Saturday 19th October [we cover this in a later programme]
* Next week: interview with Peter Chicago - RNI and Radio Caroline engineer - put together equipment on the Ross Revenge
* 2.5 minutes of Sparks theme (Tender Force by Space)

Duration: 1h33m44, Originally broadcast: 14th October 1991

MP3 file size: 53.6 MB

Sparks Programme M17: PalPlus - Peter Chicago interviewed - Amstrad's videophone - SSB on shortwave - Music charts fiddled - Letter from the DTI - Hospital radio on FM

A real find with lots of Radio Caroline and radio regulatory content.

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Too Many Walls by Cathy Dennis
* Letter from M Keenham of Cosham, Portsmouth - listening a few years - likes music and media news mix - keep up the good work - HF225
* Eureka 637 PalPlus - widescreen HD TV planned for terrestrial TV - component video - compatible - flat screens - Orlando Kimber, International Broadcasting
* Heart attack early warning - fibre optic blood sensing - Tufts University, Massachusetts - threaded into artery - chemical dyes - Electronics Weekly
* Music: The Second Summer of Love by Danny Wilson
* Trevor interviews Radio Caroline engineer Peter Chicago at his home - premonitions of anchor issues - become legal or stay offshore?
* Peter Chicago premium phone line details
* Music: Fairplay by Soul II Soul
* Radio Netherlands book list - typical entry - Pirate Radio Stations 1991 - editor Michael Raveneaux - hobby station lists - 60 Franks
* Letter from Tapio Salmiavi in Tampere, Finland - 46 - technician - NRD535D - thank you for interesting programme - old days was a keen Caroline listener
* How the Top 100 record charts are fiddled - Gallup chart computers - free product - register on Gallup - avoids suspicious bunching - Roy Hunter, Glasgow, Private Eye
* Music: Take These Chains by 10cc
* Amstrad's Alan Sugar sees a big future for home videophones - £500 - GEC Marconi - consumer product - analogue phone - 64kbps - ISDN - 9.6kbps GPT - Richard Wilson, Electronics Weekly
* DC777 Ad
* Minister John Redwood announces 9 network operator applications - BT Mercury duopoly ends - Cognito - Ionica - Meteor - NTL - Pacnet - RAM Mobile Data - Satellite Information Services - Sound Broadcast Services
* Letter from Lefan Bruno of Sens near Paris - Sony 2001D telescopic - marvellous
* Music: Have A Cigar by Pink Floyd
* Sparks theme and ID
* Metres to Microwaves by Brian Callick - 1937-1944 - historic radar book review - SP51 - magnetrons, CV6 triodes and all that - R.M. Trim, IEE Journal
* Music: When I Grow Up by Michelle Shocked
* Changing to single sideband SSB for short wave... or not, say the BBC and Trevor - Deutsche Welle Jülich - Media Network - nobody is thinking of the ugly AGC problem - reduced subjective S/N ratio
* Letter from Peter Grenfell in Western Oamaru, New Zealand - hearing both 12,255 and 6205 - good to hear Radiofax again - all the best for future - R5000
* Music: You Could Look It Up by T-Bone Burnett
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Music: Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by Solomon Burke
* Letter to Radiofax from M.J. Mitchell, Chief Executive, DTI Radiocommunications Agency - prosecution - seizure - 'no mechanism by which you could transmit legally in the HF broadcasting bands' - for Home Secretary to decide - short wave unsuitable
* Long letter from Jennifer Jones of Cheltenham - extremely well informed about the workings of officialdom and media control [GCHQ employee pseudonym we wondered?]
* Fishing vessels: 2738 F word frequently - 6300 smoking good Mexican weed - Key West - robbing $10,000/weekend - Monitoring Times - emergency broadcasts indeed!
* Music: Where Are You Baby? by Betty Boo
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Home Work Clears the Air - telecommuters - save polluting journeys - work from home by computer - 75km less/day - New Scientist
* Redhill Hospital Radio to be first to go on FM 87.6 MHz [never happened] - On Air, NAHBO
* Zapped Pirates - American Cablevision - worm program - disabled illegally adapted boxes - General Instrument - blows ROM chips - $5000 fines - International Broadcasting
* Music: Lip Up Fatty by Bad Manners

Duration: 1h34m14, Originally broadcast: 21st October 1991

MP3 file size: 53.9 MB

Radiofax Programme M18: Police stop eavesdroppers - Harmony SW tests from Ireland - What Classic FM will be like - DAB - Tallest mast collapses

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Waiting for the Great Leap Forward by Billy Bragg
* WFRL - Archer's World of Radio - Poor Man's Media Network - 6305 Harmony Radio - well known (Caroline) voices - John England [Mervyn Hagger] - Ireland - West North Kent Radio WNKR 6275 - Andy Walker
* Electronics & computer manufacturers - sales growth - out of recession - leading rest of industry - Engineering Employers' Federation EEF
* Letter from Phil Burbles of Rockville, Maryland, USA - ICF2010 - 12,255 previously - now 6205 - lots of variety - not just music - WMR - Stella - USA fines $1000
* DC777 Ad
* Music: The Mob Rules by Black Sabbath
* BBC Praises HF Broadcasting - next decade - leading element - 3 footprints - flick of switch - local FM - SSB changeover - research - John Tusa, MD World Service, Radio World
* Music: Theme from S'Express by S'Express
* Police foil radio interception - scramblers - ACPO - crime squads - £1000 - trials - scanners - bolt on solution - Electronics Times
* Alan Dean, Burnley, Lancashire sends reception news - Argentina - Merlin 6240 plan more power & long wave - Harmony - Mutiny 6210 - Taiwan - Echo of Moscow 6165 - Belgrade - Zagreb
* Music: Bodyheat by James Brown
* David Maker profile - Classic FM - Jazz FM - David Astor - Showtime fail - Lord Hanson - Golden Rose Broadcasting - 1986 - Andre Previn - Kiri Te Kanawa - Radio 3 elitist - Bootle Times - Radio Merseyside - City - Red Rose - Aire - Gwent - CBC Cardiff - persuade IBA - Owen Oyston - Buzz FM - black music promise - MoR - blandness - ignorance - 'anything apart from Mozart' - Steve Clark, Independent
* Jazz FM - Promise of Performance - part of licence - discussed music - shorter - avoid inaccessible - jazz in widest sense - give up licence - Paul Brown, Radio Authority
* Jazz FM - 'Any suggestion that Madonna will be heard on 102.2 FM should be scotched forthwith' - David Maker, Independent
* Music: Movements of a Visionary by Tangerine Dream
* Michael Fabricant - co-founder - director - MBI Broadcast Systems, Brighton - studio mixers - selected Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate - Mid-Staffordshire
* VideoPlus - video recorder codes - printed in Radio Times - three keystrokes - once - daily - weekly - 8 digits - infra red signal - one minute before - handset to VCR
* Tom Read sends a huge list of receptions - 6210 Mutiny - 6220 Zenith - 6229 JRR/Southern Music/London/Europe - 6230 Britain - 6240 Merlin - 6240 WMR - 6255 Confusion - 6262 NIRS/Riverside - 101/European Pirate - 6275 WNKR - 6276 Delta - 6280 Ozone - 6285 East Coast Holland - 6290 Orion - 6293 Stella - 6300 Confusion - 6305 Harmony - 6524 Pamela - 6538 Sierra Sierra - 7446 Stella plus AM and FM stations from Ireland, Rhyl and Merseyside
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Music: The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum) by The Specials
* Highest aerial mast - Polish long wave - collapsed - Konstantyn - 646m - 225kHz - guys changed - tallest structure in world - 1,100 tonnes - standby 1/4 power - rebuild - black ley line
* Equipment Monitor Program - neural network - intensive care equipment - monitors - alert - free up nurses - Lorraine Dodd - Neural Solutions, Cheltenham - New Scientist
* Music: And Stones [Lovers All Around Mix] by The Blue Aeroplanes
* Japan Facing Satellite Problems - BS3B - failures - BS3A - WowWow - HDTV - PCM radio - launch disasters - breakdowns - explosions - battery short circuit - Asia Pacific Broadcasting
* SkyPix - Kent - Hughes SBS 6 satellite - 1991 - 80 channels - 46dBW - 200 movies/day - home shopping - monthly charge - phone line - pay per view - Microwave Journal
* Music: I Hear Voices by Robert Calvert
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Digital radio - world standard fail - Eureka - NAB - DAB standard - WARC 1992 Spain - 100W DAB = 50,000W FM [dubious claim] - L Band - Michael Feazel, Asia Pacific Broadcasting
* Letters from Alan Christie of Derby - enjoy Sparks - good signal - Sony 5900 - telescopic - Power 99.2 - rock station - Mister Fish - Fat Controller - Curly Spencer - Caroline 1990? - Reverend Tiptoe Tony - Andy Hull - good - comparable Alice's Restaurant, London - heard Krissi - Gem AM Nottingham and Ruben Antonio Sagrastani, Cordoba, Argentina - ICF2010 - 12,255

Duration: 1h34m0, Originally broadcast: 28th October 1991

MP3 file size: 53.7 MB

Sparks Programme M19: Radio Caroline manager interviewed - Dodgy telephones - Clearing air for Ch5 - Voice overs - Crystal ovens replaced - FM student radio

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: The Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys
* Backtracks 91 - Golden Age of Pirate Radio - Peter Moore - Steve Conway - Wendy Shepherd - Radio Caroline - £1500/month - lot of work - off air - main ship components - diesel fuel system - sanitary - small generator - blockade - November 1990 - demoralised - no fuel - no water - no food - air sea rescue - Manston - Sea King helicopter - reclaim ship - Peter Chicago - weather suitable - rubber dinghy - off air but great improvement - after raid - 1990 Act - new offence to run radio ship - board by force - close down [Photo of the 2kW generator Trevor had donated, lashed onto the deck of the Ross Revenge and account of that grim winter by Caroline Martin. Petrol for this got washed overboard, leaving the vessel without navigation lights and power.]
* Letter from Robert Highley in Sutton Coldfield - heard of you on Caroline Movement Infoline - good reception Toshiba radio cassette - also enjoy other programmes - longer programmes - hope you get UK licence
* Music: I Don't Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats
* Backtracks 91 part 2 - satellite - Chris Cary - Nova - no profit - 1 year airtime - not on his premises - Keith Lewes - jingle tapes - big response - live programming - Ronan O'Rahilly's station - pulled out - off air a year - resume offshore regardless - not good idea - Dutch PTT raid - frustrated
* Letters from Joseph W. Neil of Llangwm, Haverfordwest - most interesting programme about asthma - atom switches - plenty of interest for new and old hands and Ruben Antonio Sagrastani, Córdoba, Argentina - 12,255
* Music: Feeling Good by Pressure Drop
* On Their Wavelength - student radio - Brunel University - B1000 - ansafone - slick - professional - Howard Cory - AM 999 - FM - Manchester - RamAir Bradford - Leeds - TDK Campus Chart - Streets Ahead - Liz Kershaw - USA model - Rolling Stone - 1988 Polygram attempted charging - boycott - NUS - Ray Cooper - Circa Records - Giles Smith, Independent
* Music: Radio Ga Ga by Queen
* DC777 Ad
* Telephone bill errors - Mr Gee - 1988 - empty house - £30 bill - BT: 'not possible' - junction box - disconnected - illegal - proof - bill continued - engineer visit - blob of solder - connecting another customer meter - both paying both bills - 3 years - £448 refund - Which?, Consumers Association
* Credit card fraud - Mercury - BT - reprogram payphones - stop calls - fake cards - some destinations - Africa - Asia - optical - magnetic stripe - Electronics Weekly
* Letters from Anthony Edwards of Knaresborough, Yorkshire - 6205 strong - 12,255 beyond 800km - very impressed by your station - Lowe HF225 - RNI - signature tune - Man of Action - Carl Mitchell - Weird Beard - keep up the good work and Marco Pastega of Adria in Italy - 6205 - Grundig Satellit 500 - telescopic
* Music: Drop!! by Londonbeat
* Jingles - station idents - WOWO - talk radio - WHDH - station voice - 100 mile quarantine - TV - big studio - one man - different voices - more creative - sweeper - 96.5 WKLH - speeding up songs - edit songs - PCJ - AM thriving - Jim Cutler, Jonathan Marks, Media Network
* Music Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle
* Stable crystal oscillator - Salford Electrical Instruments SEI - less power - digital memory - Gerry Wheeler - patent - ASIC - Peter Smithers - 0.2ppm - matches oven - Roger Woolnuf, Electronics World News
* Music: Could Have Told You So by Halo James
* Radio Caroline Legend Lives On CD Ad
* Channel 5 - coverage - 31 transmitters - 73% population - opt out - 2.4m VCRs - retune - publicise - alternatives - Channel 5 VCR Retuning Survey £587.50 - Spectrum, ITC - airport radar
* Music: Ace Of Spades by Motörhead
* Music Einstein à Go-Go by Landscape
* Hire equipment fraud - £200,000 - Hilton Sound - bogus fax - Robin Hilton - AIR Studios - police - arrested - Thames TV - reconfirm bookings - Prosound News
* Music: Invisible by Alison Moyet
* Software drives electronics industry - hogwash - British belief - memory - hardware - New York Times - below dogfood in UK - DTI - SERC - Professor Alec Broers, University of Cambridge
* Music: (I'm A) Road Runner by Junior Walker

Duration: 1h33m42, Originally broadcast: 4 November 1991

MP3 file size: 53.6 MB

Radiofax Programme M20: Crossed Field Antenna - Independent TV in Poland - Vega Selina tuning tips - Car audio - Satellite phones - Churchill tapes, are they genuine?

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da by The Police
* Crossed Field Antenna - told inventor Mr Hately - not credible - measurements - inefficient - hype - proper certification - Pointing - Maxwell - ridiculous - spurious - CFA - no more articles - waste readers time - Alan Boswell, Chelmsford, Electronics & Wireless World - photo of Egypt tests - rising wire - aerial - charlatan - Dipole of Delight
* Letter from Paul Burnett of Eston in Cleveland - nice to hear Radiofax - electrical engineer - radio ham - likes Sparks - Lowe SRX30 - back you all the way
* Music: Never Give Up On a Good Thing by George Benson
* Poland's first independent TV station - shoestring - VHS - TV Echo - Wroclaw - Channel 21 - 150 Watts - Heliax - turnstile - 2 cameras - Commodore Amiga - Andrew Emmerson, International Broadcasting
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Music: Circumstances by Rush [no, not Spirit of Radio, we used to play album tracks too]
* Restructuring Italian Radio - broadcast bill - political climate - frequency allocations - 4000 applied - 1500 licences expected - Radio World
* DAB policy - WARC - Canada - USA - 1500MHz L Band - terrestrial DAB - satellite - Europe below 860MHz - NAB - 223/230MHz - 100/108MHz - military air
* Improved Solar Cells - quantum wells - bandgap - test cell - 40% efficient - Dr Keith Barnham, Imperial College
* Music: Is That Love by Squeeze
* No Escape from the Global Telephone - dial people - Universal Personal Telecommunications UPT - worldwide - caller verification - Tim Thwaites, New Scientist
* Music: State of Independence by Jon & Vangelis
* Iridium - 77 satellites - handheld - terrestrial unavailable - 20GHz down 30GHz up - 1.6GHz - 7 cell freq reuse - intersatellite links - Howard Bearman, Microwave Journal
* Music: The Promise You Made by Cock Robin
* In Car Audio Design - Ford Dunton - special department - audio manufacture - anechoic chamber - interference suppression - head mannequin - Geoff Howard, Car Design & Technology
* Music: C'est La Vie by Robbie Nevil
* Vega Selina 215 - tuning tips - 3 trimmers - Radio Orion 6290 - strength increases - Radio Confusion - portable radio - radiator earth
* DC777 Ad
* Apple Computer - Macintosh news - most powerful - Sony - Quadra 700 & 900 - 25MHz - Powerbooks - trackball - TSOP pseudo static RAM
* Music: Affrodizziact by Cry Sisco!
* The Churchill Tapes, are they genuine? - old dispute - impersonator - moneyspinner - Decca - EMI - Norman Shelley - sleeve notes - dates - Sensimetrics, Cambridge, Mass - false echo - Chartwell - Argo - no Parliament recordings - British Council - Churchill approval - BBC transcription studios - Speech Station - epiglottis - formants - genuine voice - Barry Fox, Studio Sound
* Letter from Bengt Renman of Vantaa, Finland - 57 years old - enjoyed listening - 6205
* The Churchill Tapes, are they genuine? part 2 - 3 recordings suspect - blood, toil, tears and sweat - dark age - fight on the beaches - impersonation - BBC archive - 78 RPM - Sally Hind - CD3005 - later rerecordings
* Sparks theme

Duration: 1h33m56, Originally broadcast: 11th November 1991

MP3 file size: 53.7 MB

Sparks Programme M21: Radio Harmony 6305 - Future of short wave - BBC plans radio news network - AM stereo for Europe - Electrophobia - Sunshine Ludlow tests

17 minutes of this one is missing, including the fuel saving camshaft.

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: My Girl by Madness
* No grounds for 'Electrophobia' - sensationalist - alarm - fear - WHO - NRPB - epidemiology - little basis - brain cancer - leukemia - other factors - hypothetical - unproven - physiological - thermal - non ionising - insufficient data - athermal effects - Biological Effects of Low Frequency Electric Fields, IEE
* Letter from Dave Smith in Llandrindod Wells, Powys - Harmony - excellent signal - Anorak - Pamela - WMR - European Pirate Radio - Mutiny - Mi Amigo - Stella - Radiofax mention on HCJB Musical Mailbag on 6205 - callers said used by Radiofax - Rich McVicar DX programme - looking for alternative
* 48m Band rundown from Tom Reid - 6210 Mutiny - 6220 Zenith - 6229 JRR - 6230 Britain - 6240 Merlin - 6240 WMR - 6255 Confusion - 6262 NIRS - 6275 WNKR - 6276 Delta - 6280 Ozone - 6285 East Coast - 6290 Orion - 6293 Stella - 6305 Harmony - 6524 Pamela - 6538 Sierra Sierra - 7446 Stella
* Music: White Rabbit by The Damned
* DC777 Ad
* Music: In Love With Love by Debbie Harry
* World of Shortwave - public - government - religion - commercial - pirate - Voice of Anarchy - Xerx - geomagnetic disturbances - 200m people - BBC - VoA - News - crisis driven - Passport to World Band Radio - freedom - decline - TV - WRNO - KUSW - Manuel Noriega - change distribution - survive? - James Careless, Radio World
* Music: Family Snapshot by Peter Gabriel (Small prize for the first to identify it)
* Radio Harmony - 60s & 70s music - 6305 - Texas - Frinton - East Anglian Productions - Ireland - not competitive - La Voz del CID, Cuba - Jonathan Marks, Media Network
* Letter from Peter Evans, Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire - glad Radiofax back - pleased found loophole - JRR - Ozone/Westside - Carousel 6240 - Rainbow 6240 - Sparks very interesting - enjoy Jodie's Rock, Archive, Paul Bentley - WABC - Sunshine 531 - Nova 738 - Caroline 963 - Wyvern 954 - loop null - 1988 Sunshine Ludlow 1017 interviews - 1512 aerial test transmissions - SSB - synchronous lock - centre lathe operator - Airbus item of great interest - keep up enjoyable programmes
* Music: Uptight (Everything's Alright) by Stevie Wonder
* Wavering on the News Wavebands - BBC News Radio plan delays - 4 committees - £6m - news on LW - problem - drama must be FM - continue Radio 5 - Radio 2 losing audience - Radio 3 - Richard Brooks, Observer [Radio 5]
* Music: Pigs (Three Different Ones) by Pink Floyd

  17 missing minutes

* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* AM Stereo in Europe - little interest - AM RDS data - marketing advances - CQUAM - Japan - compatibility - LW data - L-R quadrature - existing receivers - envelope detectors - spectrally efficient - filters - sidebands -40dB @ 9kHz - no multipath - synchronous detector - Lawrence Hallett, Radio World
* Article about Radiofax - little argument UK licensing authorities must look at independent broadcasting - overtaken by events - unlicensed - Keith Townsend, Radio Active Magazine
* Mention for Free Radio Quarterly - new magazine - first issue - Adrian Cooke, Editor - Keep this freq clear - Britain Radio - SW listings - 4 Watt 6MHz TX
* Music: Pink Sunshine by Fuzzbox
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Science Research Funding poll - majority want increased spending - Association for University Teachers AUT - Dianna Warwick - science suffering - Electronics Weekly
* Letter from Dirk Nehring of Stuttgart, Germany - 6205 - 12,255 better during the day
* Music: Quiet Heart by The Go-Betweens
* Music: Drop the Pilot by Joan Armatrading
* Sparks theme and address
* Music: Jack Le Freak by Chic

Duration: 1h17m08, Originally broadcast: 18th November 1991

MP3 file size: 44.1 MB

Sparks Programme M22: Solar Power - Radio in Ireland - Videophones - DCC versus digital audio tape - AM stereo in the UK - Jazz on the airwaves

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Music: A National Acrobat by Black Sabbath
* Independent Radio in Ireland - 26 stations - licences available for two years - unlicensed not illegal - Horizon - Kilkenny - North West - MWR - MBI 16 desks - Harbeth monitors - Revox PR99 - Selector - Active Link - Tipperary North - IRTC - LMFM - Drogheda - Carlow Kildare - Radio 3 - Shannonside - Northern Sound - Kerry - Century Radio news - Maggie Taylor, Radio World
* UK Consumer Electronics Survey 1992 - 60% had a video recorder [woo] - only 4% on satellite - 9% on cable - 20% CD Player - 6% cordless phone - 4% mobile phone - Karl Schneider, Electronics Weekly
* Music: Keep The Customer Satisfied by Simon & Garfunkel
* Digital Compact Cassette - Philips - remarkable innovation - 1/8 inch - 120 minutes - single sided - metal shutter - compatibility - Reed Solomon - due mid 1992 - SCMS copy protection - DAT - dead in the water - sales declining - Copycode - notch filters - sonic degradation - professional - time code - PASC based on Musicam - masking analysis - hard disc - Mel Lambert, Radio World
* Music: It Pays by Desmond Dekker
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Letter from William Schmitz of Washington DC - thank you - speed - wish US stations that rapid - praise in USA for verification policy - VoA - interference - 7405 - US pirates - SSB
* Music: House of Fun by Madness
* Power from the Sky - solar cells - 10% efficient - oil pipeline monitors - monocrystalline silicon - BP Solar - 60W/sm m - cadmium telluride - Richard Wilson, Electronics Weekly
* Music: by Depeche Mode
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* UK Evaluates AM Stereo - AIRC - promising - 9kHz - Peter Jackson, Capital Radio - 3/6 months - IBA - rated highly - CQUAM - Kahn - NTL - Japanese report - CCIR - marketing tool - end simulcasting - boost for AM - RDS AM - compatible - DAB - John Gatski, Radio World [quashed by technical niggles from the DTI's Radiocommunications Agency - it never happened of course]. An off air recording of this item is on our Miscellany page.
* Music: Motorway City by Hawkwind
* Mobile telephone masts - relaxed planning restrictions - communications explosion - blight Britain - Department of the Environment - unnecessary obstacles
* DC777 Ad
* Music: Tramp by The Stranglers
* Future of Conversations - video telephones - camera - pan European trials - business users - ISDN - picture quality - codecs - 64kbps - PC expansion slot - horrified - commonplace - BT - £5000 - analogue - 2 inch screen - Christopher Price, Financial Times [something else that never caught on]
* Music: Oxygene by Jean Michel Jarre
* Jazz on the airwaves - programme planners - Jazz FM - 18 months later - new schedule - embarrassed by name - vestiges of individuality - MoR rock - wide remit - timid Radio Authority - Malcom Laycock - local BBC nurturing - haphazard - halfhearted - useless compromise - Richard Cook, Sunday Times [18 months and already diluting their output]
* Music: My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style by the Dream Warriors
* Nuclear fusion update - virtually no waste - rival renewable - no pollutants - hugely expensive - mirage - 2040 - Joint European Torus JET 1983 - lightning - magnetic confinement - TOCOMAC - plasma degrades - impurities - diverters - International Thermonuclear Reactor ITER - Nigel Williams, Guardian
* Sparks theme

Duration: 1h33m53, Originally broadcast: 25th November 1991

MP3 file size: 53.7 MB

Sparks Programme M23: HiFi pseudo science - 100nA watch chips - Barking mad at the DTI? - Microscopic motors - Radio 3 secrets - FEM FM - Atlantic 252

A full programme to listen to, lots of interesting stuff in this one.

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Dave Johns
* Introduction
* Music: Close to Me [Closer Mix] by The Cure
* A More Attractive Dish - BSkyB slowly taking off - soap planned - BSB - Sky - losses £1m/day - Sam Chisholm - Osterley - 15% population - ITV disarray - Thames TV - The Bill - Raymond Snoddy, Financial Times [This was one year after the merger/takeover]
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Letter from John Winson of Mickleover, Derby - likes technical tit bits - as much as possible - electronics engineer - RAE - what tape decks do we use and Andy's tape door falls off!
* Music: The Whale by ELO
* An IC Maker to Swatch - wafer handling - robot arms throughout - analogue watch - EM Electronic-Marin - SMH Group - Omega - 100nA current draw - Intel - ALP - Richard Baum, Electronics Times
* Music: Deeper Understanding by Kate Bush
* Are they all barking mad at the DTI? - Telepoint and PCN failures - spectrum overhaul - licence for cash - John Redwood criticised - MoD - HDTV - car navigation 5.2GHz - Electronics Weekly
* Mongoose - principal food snakes - 'mad as a mongoose' - 'mad as a minister' - repeat mistakes - military - auction - open market - strange madness - Peter Firth, Electronics Times
* Department of Trade and Industry DTI Cash Slashed - autumn statement - one of few departments cut - Peter Lilley - Electronics Times - cashing in on radio spectrum
* Music: The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades by Timbuk 3
* Women in Radio - Atlantic 252 - 8% female - Jocksearch 91 - 2,500 calls - 110 tapes - Key 103 - Piccadilly Gold - Jackie Brambles - sexism - Fem FM - Caroline Mitchell - Diana Luke - Mark Storey - Lawrie Taylor, Jane Markham, Radio Programme, Radio 4
* Another letter from Derby - Chris Carrington G0IYZ in Chellaston - likes attitude, presenters, way things are presented - most difficult things easy to understand - new Polish TV station
* Music: Scream Like a Baby by Davie Bowie
* 20 bit recording for classical music - just marketing hype? - fine in theory - 16 bit - Abbey Road - Mitsubishi PDX 8620 - marked difference - solo instruments - imaging better - Richard Littleton, EMI Classics, Pro Sound News
* Sparks theme and ID
* Music: This Corrosion by The Sisters of Mercy
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Shortwave Report from Alan Dean, Burnley - good to hear Holly back - interesting comments on broadcasting in Nepal - Harmony disappeared - Frinton PO Box - East Coast Commercial - year after raid - JRR - NIRS - Kiss - Toxteth CR - Burnley 100 &101 - SW news including Luxembourg 1440 axed, English continues 15,350
* Music: Psychedelic Shack by The Temptations
* Radio 3 programming 'secrets' - best concert halls built before acoustic science - passionate - amusing - no typical listener - many loathe what others like - avoid narrow approach - traumas - profit - politicians - lowering standards - more cautious programming - audience share - lifetime work eroded - applause - John Drummond, Radio 3 Controller, Audio Engineering Society dinner
* DC777 Ad
* Music: Peter Gunn by Sly & Robbie
* Microscopic electric motor - Toshiba - 0.01 inch - magnet - bearings - coil - microchip controller - micro-machining - enter human body - medical tasks
* Calling Dick Tracy - Citizen Watch - smallest LCD screen - 200 sq mm - 400,000/month - camcorder - eye screens - virtual reality headsets
* Hi-Fi Audio Pseudoscience - magic - mysticism - no scientific basis - gullible - improve conductivity of house wiring - CD spray treatments - no effect on data stream - CD edge green felt tip - powerline cords - TPT electron noise - CD elastic bands - AccuPower - Noisetrapper - Fred E. Davies, Skeptical Inquirer
* Music: Think For A Minute by The Housemartins

Duration: 1h34m09, Originally broadcast: 2nd December 1991

MP3 file size: 53.6 MB

Sparks Programme M24: SETI - Sampling mad sound engineers - Early years of Capital Radio - Women's Wireless - What next for Radio Caroline?

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Box Set Go by High
* Letter from Thomas Hood of East Lothian in Scotland - Sony 2001D - telescopic whip
* Early Years of Capital Radio - 539m 557kHz - practice studios - Michael Bukht - intimate friend - timing records - drama - talks - documentaries - live music - IBA tape - Richard Attenborough - Blue Mink - 'Isn't it good to know' - Tommy Vance - Joan Shenton - Broadcasting House - like BBC local - star names - The Broadcaster
* Music: Fade to Grey by Visage
* Early Years of Capital Radio part 2 - weekends recorded - F word - Roger Scott - Dave Simmonds - Monty Modlyn - 3 day week - power cuts - boring - newsroom axed - Ron Onions - Kenny Everett - Dave Cash - Michael Aspel - MoR gone - glam rock - drama cut - 1.1m audience - Everett attempted suicide - Graham Dene - biggest in world - Sue Cook - Pam Armstrong - Peter Jackson - John Whitney - schedule - Nicky Horne - Open Line
* Music: California Dreamin' by River City People
* Sound engineers who are sampling mad - film Prospero's Books - HD video - sound - Peter Greenaway - hate library effects - Akai S1000 - Tandy PZM in toaster - varispeed - Audio Media
* Poolside Drums CD - swimming pool - London Sample Workshop - Tom McLaughlin - Neil Huxtable - foam rubber - mezzanine - 8ft above water - genuine environments
* Music: Eleventh Earl Of Mar by Genesis
* DC777 Ad
* Difficulty programming your video - complicated - not just women - shuttle jog - Sharp speaking handset - Bob Tomalski, Womans Hour, Radio 4 [pre VideoPlus]
* Letter from Roland Stenbo of Enköping in Sweden - 35 years old - environmental protection
* Music: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) [Version Latino] by Pet Shop Boys
* Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence SETI - radio telescope - Soviet Union - Ohio - NASA - Planetary Society - colonise universe - 0.5Hz wide - Skeptical Inquirer
* Music: Hello Earth and The Morning Fog by Kate Bush
* Women's Wireless - Caroline Mitchell - Trish Caverly - restricted licence - FEM FM - Bristol - Women's Day - training - Bristol Initiative - non profit - Anne Karpf, Observer
* Petal radar dishes - serrated edges - reduce sidelobes - taper field - improved beam - satellites - geosynchronous orbit - Electronics Weekly
* Music: Policy Of Truth by Depeche Mode
* What next for Radio Caroline? A personal view from Sparks presenter Andy Burnham on hearing the Ross Revenge radio ship had run aground, an event that proved to be the end of true offshore radio in the UK - chain sheared - recovery fees - donations - Ross Revenge Support Group - Panama licence - crisis led - sad month - 208 - Rob Harrison - new towers - grew up - Caroline Newsline
* Report on pirate radio in Nottingham and Derby from Arnold Gibbon - Globe 101 - Rave 101.6 - Heatwave 98.6 - Power 99.2
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Good chunk of Sparks title music, Tender Force by the band Space, better known for their one hit wonder 'Magic Fly'.

Duration: 1h33m49, Originally broadcast: 9th December 1991

MP3 file size: 53.6 MB

Sparks Programme M25: Ireland's national commercial station collapses - Night time imaging - Digital Compact Cassette - Shambles of Britain's satellite BSB - Electric cars

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Dave Johns
* Introduction, with the 3910 frequency added for the British winter
* Music: Epic by Faith No More
* Letter from David Broom of Whipton, Exeter, Devon - excellent - listen every day - Broadcasting Bill unfair to those with genuine interest - Radiofax and Caroline - keep up good work
* John Hannam MP responds to question about licensing for Radiofax - Peter Lloyd, Home Office - BBC - IBA - moving as quickly as possible - short wave - Radio Authority no access - only BBC - very great distances - enormous interference potential - highly congested - new services difficult - Foreign Office - major interest - wider implications [no SW frequencies available lies]
* Music: Bakerman by Laid Back
* Electric car prospects - lead acid never viable - new cells - fuel prices - gas - Stirling - Enfield - BMW - IAD - Swatch - Fiat - sodium sulphur cell - Panda Elettra - ZEV - ULEV - specious - not zero - power station - losses - range - fraudulent - computing - attitude changing - Brown Boveri - RWE-Chloride - price - Anthony Curtis, Car Design & Technology
* Letter from Paul Gager of Deutschkreutz in Austria - listened daily on holiday - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
* Music: Easy Life by Cabaret Voltaire
* Collapse of Irish national commercial station Century FM - recordings of 98FM Hot Hits coverage in Dublin - minister Seamus Brennan disappointed - Leinster House shocked - difficulty - audience share - policy failure - market ideology - practical realities - tears - liquidator - NUJ - cheques bounced
* Apple Computers vs Apple Corp (Beatles) - contracts dispute - 1981 logo agreement - flouted claim - concilliatory - renegade - John Scully - IBM - Sony - PowerBook - Tony Mitchell, Pro Sound News
* DC777 Ad
* Music: Then by The Charlatans UK
* Dished - Rise and Fall of British Satellite Broadcasting book - Hitler's butter joke - board meeting - DMAC chip & Squarial delayed the launch of BSB - iteration - Anthony Simmonds-Gooding - receiver manufacturers - John Collins, Fortel - DMAC - PAL - Ferguson - Salora - Tatung - wooden model - marketing executives - IBA - Richard Brown, Electronics Times
* Thanks to Elaine Richards from Short Wave Magazine - latest issue - Radiofax mentioned - reported by all monitors
* Letters from Manfred Lepp, Subdfundibor, Philippines - listened on holiday in Munich, Germany - Sangean 808 and Neil Oakey in Whitstable, Kent
* Music: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' by The Marvelettes
* Avoid riverboat accidents - military technology - government inaction - Marchioness disaster - August 1989 - 51 deaths - infra red imager - accident report - dismissed - Computing Devices, Hastings - visibility restricted - mobile SCUD bases - gimball mounted - PLA launch Westbourne - 0.16 deg C - Tower Pier - Southwark Bridge - Wapping - duck - unaided vision - engine heat - blind spot - swamped - FLIR - forward lookout - BowBelle - Nick Flaherty, Electronic Engineering
* Music: Kayleigh by Marillion
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Letter from Bill Dunne of Co. Limerick, Ireland - Sony ICF 7600 - portable on foil, sink, radiator - better ground without overloading
* UK National Commercial Radio - BBC FM & AM - 8 national - INR1 - highest bid - Radio Authority - David Astor - Carlton - Time Warner - GWR - David Maker, Red Rose, Buzz FM - 32 existing sites - NTL - BBC sites - combiners - 72% coverage - mandatory sites - Radio 2 160 transmitters - 98% - INR2 Radio 3 - INR3 Radio 1 - BBC network distribution - Tim Smith, International Broadcast Engineer [Classic FM to be]
* Music: Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) by Jimi Hendrix
* How DCC works - R-DAT - 500m cassette decks - 40% prerecorded - PASC (like MP3) - perceptual coding - 0.95MB/s - DAB - Musicam/MPEG - Advanced SPectre Entropy Coding ASPEC - masking - 32 bands - freq areas - throw away imperceptible bits - threshold - thin film head - rotate - quality degradation - Tim Frost, Audio Media [remember Digital Compact Cassette?]
* Music: 1959 by The Sisters of Mercy

Duration: 1h34m07, Originally broadcast: 16th December 1991

MP3 file size: 53.8MB

Sparks Programme M26: TVAM NICAM foldback - Teletext licences - Short wave in the USA - Fixing washing machines - Caroline grounded - Century collapses - Queen Victoria's voice

One of the most searched items, Queen Victoria's voice, is at 50 minutes

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Introduction
* Music: Cult of Personality by Living Color
* Letter from John Bradon of Kaiserslautern, Germany - oldies are boring - moved from USA - physician - good luck - likes Sparks
* Fixing your washing machine - most overworked appliance - drain fail - check filter - bigger obstruction - kinking - door seal - drive belt - air pressure switch - tumble drier - clean filter - bearings - PTFE - silicone - thermostat - refrigerators - door seals - condensor - Gareth Parry, Guardian
* Asteroids - Galileo - photograph Gaspra - between Mars & Jupiter - 6 miles diameter - green filter - Dr David Hughes, Sheffield University - failed planet - BBC Radio 5
* Music: Beat Dis by Bomb the Bass
* TVAM foldback audio in NICAM - radio - mobiles - intelligible voice - data space - AM quality 5kbps - Delphi System, Salisbury - CELP - robust - Tim Frost, Pro Sound News
* Letter from John Thorpe, Head of Development & Robert Ellis, Support Engineer, Lowe Ltd. - senior anorak consultants to Atlantic 252 - wish you well in search for licence
* DC777 Ad
* USA shortwave commercial broadcasting - Joe Costello - WRNO - KUSW - KYOI - not commercially viable - Billy Graham - 40 years - dream - 100kW - log periodic - 1000 letters/month - Media Network
* Music: Hard Days Night by The Beatles
* Consulting the Oracle - ITC - Teletext auction - spare lines - profit potential - low overheads - £3.5m - Ch3,4&5 - Ceefax - 1500 pages - 6.5m viewers - bookmakers - financial services - David Mellor - no public service plan - not user friendly - slow - Falklands War - Thatcher resignation - ITN - Daybreak - Virgin - Rebecca Smithers, Guardian
* Music: Blue Sky Mine by Midnight Oil
* John Braden of Leimen, Germany forwards ANARC listings - 12,255 Radiofax - Voice of Tomorrow - Free North America - Beer Drinker - Action - Defiance 90 - 6240 Merlin - 6310 Dublin
* Letter from Raymondi Danielle of Verona in Italy - 6205 - little interference
* Music: The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby & the Range
* Recording of Queen Victoria's Voice - cylinder recording - 4 words - electronically filtering - different stylus - bottom of groove - damage surface - 'Greetings... I have never forgotten' - Paul Tritton, Lost Voice of Queen Victoria book - Kaleidoscope, Radio 4
* Irish national Century Radio collapses - Marty Whelan - left RTE - daring move - risk - Fiona Carmody - not abandoning alternative to RTE - IRTC - East Coast Radio
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Letter from Simon Mason in Hull - really enjoy - especially Sparks - glad 3910 added - number stations - English female - book shortly - you deserve a more powerful station
* Music: All Around the World by The Jam
* Collapse of Century - Colum Kenny interview - diverting money - cap on RTE - crisis - rushed legislation - hardship - ridiculous Ray Burke promoted - 20% news - exaggerated expectations - community radio - 98FM - city TV - IRTC - readvertise - RTE
* Music: La Lambada by from Kaoma
* Radiofax starts 3910 report with recording in Hilversum - Ross Revenge on sandbank - pulled free - towed to Dover - impounded - not seaworthy - Neil Gates - Steve Conway - caretakers - Media Network
* Radio 3 and Cricket - Test Match Special - former announcer - sacrifice for 32 days - FM - loss of confidence - further cuts - raise voices - Patricia Hughes, letter, Times
* Music: Eyes of Fire by Rainbow
* HDTV Wide Eyed and Clueless - 16:9 / Cinevision - Thomson - Nokia - 625 to 1250 lines - flicker - 50 to 100Hz - progressive scan - digger cut cable - PalPlus - D2MAC - simulcast - EC Directive - Barry Fox, International Broadcasting
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Sparks theme

Duration: 1h34m32, Originally broadcast: 23rd December 1991

MP3 file size: 54 MB

Sparks Programme M27: Channel 5 frequency problems - Electricity from rubbish - 95 Radio Crackers - Recycling BMWs - Test Card music - Robot TV Cameras - Ambisonics

Presented by Andy Burnham and Trevor Brook
* Music: D Generation by Loud
* Radio Cracker - Christmas RSLs - Alan Hocking, Manager, Dudley interview - Steve Chalke - 95 stations - shares - cadging - churches - Christian - youth groups - pirate experience - Tearfund - produced by Martin Deeley
* Andy describes a few of the other Radio Cracker stations - Nottingham - Wimbledon/Morden - Cheam - Godalming - free newspaper - not publicising - County Sound
* Music: Romeo and Juliet by Blue Magic
* Electricity from rubbish - becoming viable - old tyres - pig slurry - anaerobic digestion - alcohol - gasification - landfill - leachate - brick kilns - koi carp - Mike Flood, Observer
* Recycling elderly BMWs - giant metal claw - steel crusher - baled to cube - every part stripped - Landshut, Munich - reprocessing - reconditioned - 6 plastic types - rubberised hair - glass - 95% - Rover pilot - Long Marston - Sue Baker, Observer
* Music: Shoplifters Of The World Unite by The Smiths
* DC777 Ad
* 48 metre band rundown - Julius Hermans of Sloten, Netherlands - Radio Dublin 6910 returns - Irish Harmony 6305 closed - no airtime sales - Jonathan Marks, Andy Sennitt, Media Network
* Background radiation concern in France - Minitel (like Prestel) terminal - special number - 70 monitors - £2000 each - Chernobyl disaster - Electronics Times
* Pirate TV - Robert Parker, 45 - mother's cottage - Tedburn St Mary - 2 year ban - One Foot in the Grave - John Wayne westerns - Wireless Telegraphy Act - social reports - Independent
* SW report from Alan Dean, Padiham, Burnley - 3910 good - hope '92 is year you get a licence - Toxteth CR - Choice - Laser - Kiss - 2 Blackburn Asians - UAE - Capital Radio - Caroline Dover - Portugal Laser ship - World DX Club mention - Afghanistan - Adventist World Radio - Merlin 6240 - Radio Active 6262 NIRS - Reflex 6220 - VoA Botswana - Morocco - New Zagreb 6210 Croatia
* Music: Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by The Blues Brothers
* Day of the Robots - robot TV studio cameras - Radamec EPO - Vinten - savings - 4 cameras, 1 operator - dolly, pedestal, detail - unscripted - Alexandra Palace 1960s news - ITN - CBS - Parliament - Ian White, International Broadcasting [now commonplace of course]
* Radio Jackie LP Ad
* Music: In A Broken Dream by Rod Stewart
* Test card music you love to hate - Test Card Society/Circle - 70 members - 3,500 tracks - Tony Emery, Bournemouth - Watch With Mother - enormous range - fall in love - cannot buy music - Test Card C - reconstruct Trade Test Transmissions - colour films - all walks of life - Mozart - pop - Mike Thomson, You and Yours, Radio 4
* Russian Holographic HDTV Video Disc [!] - stores spatial spectrum - Fourier techniques - depth of detail - fast access - St Petersburg - seek manufacturer
* Music: Love Comes Quickly by Pet Shop Boys
* Whatever Happened to Ambisonics? - 1970s - quadraphonics - limited acceptance - stereo enhancement - British academics - Michael Gerzon, Oxford University - AM stereo - Alan Dower Blumlein - microgroove stereo discs - pan pot - phase - Haas effect - both ears - wavefronts - flanging - Itchycoo Park, Small Faces - two signals - reflected - coincident pair stereo - 3 dimensions - Soundfield microphone - 4-4-4 subcarriers - matrix 4-2-4 - logic decoding - Dolby Surround - CBS SQ - Sansui QS - impressive - not accurate - Nippon/Columbia [Denon] UD-4 - BBC - Matix 45J, H - UHJ - Richard Elen, Audio Media - Radio London Underground - legendary creativity
* Music: Lip Service by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
* Britain's fifth analogue TV Channel - frequency problems - VCRs, satellite, games - retune - not liable after new equipment installed - west London to Slough - Heathrow radar - 50,000 VCRs problem - SCART - notch - Television
* Gareth Foster, Whitton, letter to Television - Channel 5 cross-polarised - stupid - Irish - French - protection lost - splitter unsatisfactory - ghosts - diplexer - Channel 69 - CT2 cordless phones - Band I & III - spectrum shortage story - ITV 1953 Band III - private mobile radio - over half FM band PMR [Channel 5 was not cross-polarised when implemented]

Duration: 1h34m03, Originally broadcast: 30th December 1991

MP3 file size: 53.8 MB

Sparks Programme M28: Commercial Radio in Ireland - Offshore radio and human rights - Multiple-D mics - 1976 film about Caroline - Vintage sound of transistors

A classic programme, one of the best, in full.

Presented by Andy Burnham, Trevor Brook and Martin Deeley
* Introduction
* Music: Radio Waves by Roger Waters
* DC777 Ad
* Back to the golden sound of vintage transistors - mixer EQ harsh - Neve - Professional Audio Systems Technology - Steve Butterworth - equaliser review - authentic - discrete - Zenon Shoepe, Audio Media
* Letter from R.T. Prokhorov, Moscow - radio amateur - Sparks excellent - Romantic Space Radio - Without Borders BWBI - electronic - acoustic - pirate radio station in Moscow
* Music: Phaedra by Tangerine Dream
* Century collapse - Ireland national commercial station - ILR can succeed - Waterford Local Radio WLR - loyalty - 10 years pirate - news - Radio Kilkenny - struggling - grovelling for cut from the Licence Fee! - public service broadcasting - Terry Wogan - Ray Burke - vibrant - competitive - sudden closedown - liquidation - unrealistic - Oliver Barry - David Davin-Power - TV3 - banana skins - fundamental re-evaluation - RTE1 documentary
* Music: From a Vauxhall Velox by Billy Bragg
* Cobalt tape for cassettes - AES exhibition - taken seriously - duplicators - WEA - quality - TDK - Sunkyong - BASF - DIGIlog - dynamic range - ProSA - Carl Snape, Pro Sound News Europe [something that never really caught on]
* 40 year old 3M acetate backed tape - mastering source - CD release - Howling Wolf - Elmore James - BB King
* Andy reviews the 1992 Radio Listener's Guide - 60 pages - all stations - UK and Ireland - maps - transmitter sites - programming - phone numbers - wavelength to frequency - cable - university - SIBC - international - Radiofax 'best thing to happen to radio for last 20 years' - listed by freq - Maplin catalogue - FM aerials - £3.25 - PDQ Publishing - quiz for giveaways
* Letter from Martin Keene of Hawick, Roxburghshire, in Scotland - likes Sparks - special programme - A Cloakroom of Anoraks
* Music: We Close Our Eyes by Go West
* Sick Shape - amusing story of making a 1976 TV film about Radio Caroline - Ramsgate - Captain Jim - Delta Lady - Act forbade boarding - loudhailer - drinks - meal - drinks - Angus sick - bacon and egg - choppy - drenched - storm - lash him to deck - regret breakfast - autocue - wallpaper - felt tip - researcher stepped outside - Andy Mayer, Guardian [This was Janet Street-Porter's report on the London Weekend Show. Apart from Producer Andy Mayer the names were fictional.]
* Music: It's A Shame by The Spinners
* 1976 Radio Caroline film part 2 - sound man drowning - beneath waves - piece to camera - ink ran - blurred spectacles - sick to camera - abandoned - reached Caroline - sun shining - success - customs officers - searched vessel - someone missing - horror - under wheelhouse - Ronan O'Rahilly: 'weather always calm around the ship'
* Digital Film Squeeze - Japan - select film on telephone - compressed to 5 minutes - record on special VCR - Entertainment Made Convenient EMC2 - Europe & USA - UK partner [never got off the ground]
* Thanks for various letters Aidan Hughes, Dublin; Adrian Childs; Kevin Sweeney, Newark, Nottingham and John Adamson, Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk - new TV - 6MHz switch mode hash - specially enjoy Sparks - 3910 excellent
* Music: Big Ship by The Cardiacs [this is now a very valuable vinyl record - offers please!]
* Radio Cracker - 95 stations - Christmas charity project - South London 100.4 - makeshift studio - old manor house - zany - weather prophet - raise funds - Phil Stokes - Brazil 8m street children - London City Mission - Mike Wooldridge, PM, Radio 4
* Comment on Radio Crackers from short wave Radio Orion - law preventing - promote religion on air - reprehensible
* London pirates reports by Kevin Thorpe of Battersea - Elite FM 98.5 and Tim Henry sends a flyer - Bass 104 FM - Phuture Dance posse - all nighters - rave scene in Surrey - membership
* A moan about American television - urgent warning for Britain - so superior - more channels - worse programming - BBC - Public Television - Discovery - CNN - rest hideous - Rosemary Lamb, New English Stage Company - Guardian
* Music: Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meat Loaf
* Mirror Group Newspapers accused of PC software piracy - Business Software Alliance BSA - 4 of 5 pirated - High Court - injunction - offices searched - Aldus - Autodesk - Lotus - Microsoft - Word Perfect - audit - Computer Weekly - Mirrorsoft - BBC Micro
* Music: Just Got Paid by Johnny Kemp
* Radio Caroline CD Ad
* Multiple-D Microphones - sound entries - ports - front - rear - directional - acoustic RLC phase network - fabric - delays sound - diaphragm - rear cancel - proximity effect - single-D - bass rises - multiple-D - varying distances - Electrovoice - RE20 - slotted tube - natural sound - ribbon - AKG - Shure - handling noise - damping - Bruce Bartlett & Jenny Bartlett, Radio World
* Taking a Stand - breaking human rights - offshore - taking action - directive - Article 10 - ARD - ZDF - Autonics - ignore - British pirate radio act - hindering freedom - no legal basis - D2MAC European Directive - non compatibility - compensate consumers - Andrew von Gamm, International Broadcasting
* Review of the classic book 'Troubleshooting Analogue Circuits' by Bob Pease, Staff Scientist, National Semiconductor - 208 pages - $32.95 - Frank Goodenough, Electronic Design
* Letters from Robert Marshall, Tyler Hill, Canterbury - all the best for a licence; Hugh Warshverkor, Friedrichsdorf, Germany - regular listener - especially Sparks and Stefan Schleepack, Frankfurt - surprised 3910 - very strong signal - appreciate programme format - JRC NRD525

Duration: 1h34m9, Originally broadcast: 6th January 1992

MP3 file size: 53.8 MB