Listening to London Radio stations

[Angie]

Is it possible to obtain London radio stations in the south of France.  I don't have a phone line connected so obviously can't listen to them via the computer.  I was planning on taking a radio over to France for the summer as I like to listen to it in the garden, but don't want to waste the luggage space if it won't work.  Sorry if this is a stupid question!

[Chiefluvvie]

Hi Angie - yes.

I listen to radio stations (and their podcasts) from just about anywhere (love LBC 97.3!) using my smartphone. Lots of stations have their own apps and if not there is always Tunein.com. So long as you have a good 3G/4G (i.e. where there is no wifi) connection that covers your location - you'll be just fine. However your regular 'radio' will most definitely not work.

Chiefluvvie :-)

[Patf]

Another fan of LBC 97.3 here, but we have our radio via internet.

[nectarine]

My husband has a traditional radio and can pick up some stationsbut the signal varies and is erratic. During the night he likes to have the radio on quietly but often can only get 5Live Sport (which, as he doesn't like football, is nigh on useless).

[YCCMB]

There's no way you'll get anything on an ordinary radio, unless it has Long Wave, in which case you might, if you're lucky, get a crackly and faltering signal for radio 4. And, unless you happen to be a fan of cricket, then it's a waste of time even listening to that, because the LW signal is where all the cricket coverage is broadcast, whilst R4's regular programme output remains on MW.

If you have a TV with a dish and freeview channels, you can get most of the mainstream radio channels (including local ones) on your TV, of course. We used to have a tiny gizmo which sent the signal from the to our normal radio, and that was a strong enough signal to allow us to listen to the radio outside the house. I've searched in vain for details of it for other people but couldn't find it.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"] We used to have a tiny gizmo which sent the signal from the to our normal radio[/quote]

I have a Sky gnome which is OK for reasonable distances but changing channels is useless.

TuneIn radio is used on an Ipod but that requires wi-fi or 3g. Some of the commercial London stations are blocking overseas connections now Absolute Radio springs to mind (similar to how Radio5Live and R4LW do it - rights restrictions).

[Quillan]

[quote user="Angie"]Is it possible to obtain London radio stations in the south of France.  I don't have a phone line connected so obviously can't listen to them via the computer.  I was planning on taking a radio over to France for the summer as I like to listen to it in the garden, but don't want to waste the luggage space if it won't work.  Sorry if this is a stupid question![/quote]

The answer to your question is no, leave the radio at home.

[Chiefluvvie]

[quote user="Patf"]Another fan of LBC 97.3 here, but we have our radio via internet.

[/quote]

I've never found a better talk station anywhere! Love Steve Allen and download all his podcasts both from his regular show and his 'in conversation' interviews.

Chiefluvvie

[Martin963]

Actually the London Capital Radio (AM GOLD) transmitter puts a cracking signal out to a lot of southern France from dusk until dawn - the aerial system at Borehamwood/Barnet is highly directional in order to deliver a good signal into London,  but after dark it bounces on in a south/south-east direction and in the late 1970s I regularly used to hear it in the southern Alps.

But - it is a bit like listening to Radio Luxembourg 208 m in the old days - it does fade and distort at times.   Certainly it comes in in 24 though.

However,  it is true that you'll have less luck with stations lower in frequency,  but it's surprising what you CAN get,  provided you know how to "drive" a medium wave radio and you don't mind a bit of fading and distortion.  If your home radio (prone to interference from mains borne noise) is also difficult to tune then try the AM band in the car where you can enter the frequencies in digital form.

LBC is 1152 kHz and Sunrise (or whatever it's called this week) is 1485 kHz.   Capital on 1548 kHz.

[YCCMB]

Funny, isn't it? I can't get ANY Mw station (English OR French) to stay on my car or house radio for very long. The most annoying thing (IMO) about French Mw stations is that if you're in the car, as soon as you drive about half a mile in any direction, you lose the signal...Oh, for a half decent French Mw station to listen to on a long journey without having to retune the radio every few yards.. And as for the "frying" noise every time you drive under any overhead power lines...[:(]

[Martin963]

Of course I don't know where you are,  but generally MW reception is very stable (apart from tunnels and power lines) all round a transmitter's service area,  for a high power transmitter that's a radius of anything from 50 miles to 150 miles.

If you're getting variations like that over short distances then there's probably something not quite right with your car radio,   unless you're in a very remote part of France (Alpes,  Pyrenees).

At home it's a bit different because of mains borne interference (or if you live in a steel framed building).

Having said all that the French only really use MW for France-Info;   on LW of course there's France Inter,  Europe 1,  RTL and RMC,  all of which are available on FM in many areas (particularly the larger conurbations).

The days of LW/MW are probably numbered,  but as the OP doesn't have internet it seems worth a go.  

But the ideal solution would be satellite,  I think LBC is on DSat isn't it?

[YCCMB]

Well, here's one of the reasons - random example:

[url]http://www.virginradio.fr/frequences[/url]

[url]http://www.nrj.fr/radio-510/frequences-517/frequence/[/url]

And I meant FM....rather than MW... and it applies to the radio of every car I've driven in France, including my own, OH's and a variety of hire cars...

[Martin963]

Ah - well had you *said* FM rather than MW then my response would have been entirely different!!!!   My remarks about MW are entirely correct.   And what you said about power lines further led me to believe that you knew you meant MW,   as noise under lines on FM is very rare,  due to the different modulation technique to that used on MW and LW.

Does your FM car radio not have RDS?    Some older ones of course don't,  but with RDS engaged there are many (most) areas where it should retune automatically.   Of course it can't if there's no signal,  which it's true does apply to some rural areas,  but in most parts of France it should work seamlessly,  as it does (mostly) in Britain.....

But if you're somewhere mountainous then that's different.   Although Int/Cult/Musique have pretty much 100% coverage,  and excellent RDS implementation.

[YCCMB]

Hilariously, I'm in the Charente-Maritime, or, as my late mother described it: "just like Norfolk".  In the UK, I'm just outside Windsor. In both countries, with a variety of cars (and I used to get a new one every 6 months, courtesy of my job) I haven't found a car radio that would seamlessly retune itself to my station of choice, but maybe that's just bad luck. To tell you the truth, I have my doubts about all that, as the BBC seems hell bent on making me listen to Radio Berkshite (I actually mistyped that, but then decided to leave it as the typpo is apposite) when I tune to BBC London Radio. Even on I-player radio I have the same problem.

Meanwhile, in France, I can assure you that my journey to the local supermarket (about 8.5 Km) is a flat one, but does pass under several overhead power lines and, whilst I can (now, finally) manage to listen to one radio station all the way, it suffers from major cracklin and fizzing as I drive beneath them. In fairness, it's a rubbish radio, and I really can't say my life is in any way enhanced by listening to French commercial stations, but at least I only lose that particular station if I venture further than 10Km from home!

[Quillan]

Personally if I didn't have one I would get a Kindle or tablet and load a few books on. Nothing nicer than a light breakfast on the terrace in the peace and quiet reading a good book (or newspaper) in the morning.

[Loiseau]

I came to the conclusion that it was the roadside telephone wires that seemed to create the most interference, when listening to Radio 4 on LW (not during the cricket season, obviously!), which ironically I can get on the radio in my litle French car. My UK car won't have any truck with LW, so if I bring that over then I bowl along the autoroutes to the strains of Radio Nostalgie, the signal for which seems to remain constant, with no need to retune as I head south.

Angela

[YCCMB]

Quillan, your idea is perfect. It's what I do, when I've finally run out of podcasts on my ipad. Although I usually leave out the breakfast part.

[Quillan]

Even better in the evening, nice glass of wine and a good book, nothing like it.

[YCCMB]

In the evening I do the same, only without the wine.

[Martin963]

I sympathise re Radio Berkshire.   The BBC RDS retuning system hands one on from one BBC local to the next - or at least that's the idea.   Radio Berkshire has somewhat over-engineered coverage,  with a transmitter at Windsor Castle itself,  a relay atop the old Butts Centre in Reading,  a relay at Henley,    and a very powerful transmission from the TV station at Hannington a few miles north of Basingstoke,  which has huge coverage.

It is therefore quite hard to escape R Berks I agree!   That's where being able to turn RDS off is useful,  but on some car radios they make it very difficult - in fact I have to admit that in spite of being an ex BBC chap I don't know how to neuter it on our Ford....

I think you may have had some bad luck,  and RDS on FM *ought* to work where you are - but there are always places where there are problems....

Angela is right about phone wires.   In the "good old days" before Broadband ADSL phone wires were normally not much of a problem,  but they carry so much "RF" now that they can really knock out weak signals on LW and MW - such as Radio 4 LW when one is getting a bit far south.  

[Angie]

Thanks so much everyone.  Yes we are LBC fans and in particular Steve Allen!!  We are planning on installing FreeSat or Freeview in the spring so this may be our best route. I do have a new smartphone which I got for Christmas but have just figured out how to make phone calls on it so the radio aspect might have to come much later!!  Evenings on the terrace with a glass of wine listening to an LBC podcast sound like my idea of heaven.  Roll on the summer!  Thanks again

[Martin963]

Satellite would be my choice.  

Just to be pernickety - you want "freesat"  (small f although that's not so important!).  

What is important is that you don't want Freeview - Freeview is confined to Britain because it works off a conventional TV aerial and so is pretty much contained within national frontiers.   A Freeview box is completely different to a freesat box.

A Freeview box will not do what you want (although if you plugged it into a roof aerial in France it would pick up French TV for you,  but that's going to be a disappointment as far as getting LBC is concerned!).

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Martin963"]I sympathise re Radio Berkshire.   The BBC RDS retuning system hands one on from one BBC local to the next - or at least that's the idea.   Radio Berkshire has somewhat over-engineered coverage,  with a transmitter at Windsor Castle itself,  a relay atop the old Butts Centre in Reading,  a relay at Henley,    and a very powerful transmission from the TV station at Hannington a few miles north of Basingstoke,  which has huge coverage.

It is therefore quite hard to escape R Berks I agree!   That's where being able to turn RDS off is useful,  but on some car radios they make it very difficult - in fact I have to admit that in spite of being an ex BBC chap I don't know how to neuter it on our Ford....

I think you may have had some bad luck,  and RDS on FM *ought* to work where you are - but there are always places where there are problems....

Angela is right about phone wires.   In the "good old days" before Broadband ADSL phone wires were normally not much of a problem,  but they carry so much "RF" now that they can really knock out weak signals on LW and MW - such as Radio 4 LW when one is getting a bit far south.  

[/quote]

Grrr....I can see Windsor castle from my house (sort of, in winter) so that explains a lot.  I wouldn't know the how and why of all this, but isn't it strange that, according to Orange (or EE) when they were my mobile phone provider and I couldn't get a decent mobile signal at home, there's also a mobile phone mast/transmitter or whatever you call it in the grounds of Windsor castle, yet that's "reserved", Royal family and guests for the use of, and from my house, so close by, I can't pick up THAT signal.....

[Chiefluvvie]

[quote user="Angie"]Thanks so much everyone.  Yes we are LBC fans and in particular Steve Allen!!  We are planning on installing FreeSat or Freeview in the spring so this may be our best route. I do have a new smartphone which I got for Christmas but have just figured out how to make phone calls on it so the radio aspect might have to come much later!!  Evenings on the terrace with a glass of wine listening to an LBC podcast sound like my idea of heaven.  Roll on the summer!  Thanks again[/quote]

Goodness Angie - if you already have a smartphone just download the LBC app onto it - they offer both iPhone and Android apps. Good pair of earphones and you're sorted!

Chiefluvvie :-)

[PaulT]

Ah, good old MW.......

Used to listen to the offshore 'pirates' until the last one was forced to close due to increased legislation in 1999.

OH bought me some CDs of recordings made of various stations. Sound quality will never be high due to the characteristics of the MW but also affected after dark due to atmospheric conditions.So, quality was variable, also affected by lowering transmitter power due to fuel issues.

When the broadcasts were happen have received with quite good quality broadcasts from the North Sea.

At the end of the day, the DJs on the recordings are far better than those on radio today where their ego is their main concern rather than the music.