The station, based in County Donegal in North West Ireland, broadcast on 846 kHz and has been on air for 40 years. But on Thursday Comreg officials raided the station and, according to reports, took everything.
Another long-running station, Radio Star Country, which used 981 kHz, went off air as a precaution.
Recently there have been a number of Irish pirates appearing on medium wave. But many will no doubt pause activities after this raid which has sent shockwaves through the free radio community.
There is more discussion about this on the HFU Forum: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,168807.0.html
Coast FM posted on the forum that the Swedish low power station Asfalttelegrafen had been encouraging people to report pirates to Comreg.
Read more about the history of Radio North on the DX Archive website: https://www.dxarchive.com/ireland_a_to_z_irish_pirates_radio_north.html
A sad day.
17 comments:
of course the dutch lpam station have also been whining.
And the Radio North comments were taken down from that blog, but still exist here
https://web.archive.org/web/20260903192928/https://petersdxcorner.nl/ireland/qsl-radio-north-846-am/#comments
remember both Album AM, former 846 dutch lpam, and the Swedish stn both ran off channel which they were NOT licenced for.
Please write to 1224khzam@gmail.com to ensure that this guy understands that real radio people do not condone his underhand actions. The Swedish authorities should also be advised that he had intentionally operated off channel in the past to cause interference.
The operator of this site https://petersdxcorner.nl/ encouraged this Swedish guy to post requesting people to complain to Comreg. I ask free radio stations not to QSL this guy who was party to this action resulting in Radio North being raided. These people seem to think the own the airwaves. They don’t!
This is really said news that Radio North got raided. Keep Fight For Free Radio. 73's Göran in Sweden
The tit from Sweden threatened Blackbeard and put a hetrodyne on l495 .. He said he was going to go to Ofcom.. He did the same with 1440.. He needs to grow some ethics and respect for fellow pirates..
Heard the news on WMR today. Very sad, but I suppose Comreg have to act if there has been a complaint (same as Ofcom would). I seriously can't believe Radio North's signal would have caused that much interference. Surely the first rule of free radio stations (or ex free radio stations) is not to grass on another op. Hopefully the Irish MW ops will return in the due course of time.
Comreg in fairness only seem to act on medium and short wave stations IF a complaint is received. Radio North in
it’s current form operated on 846 kHz only since around 1999. No dodgy FM transmitters, just a professional AM unit that was maintained by competent engineers. So the risk of actual interference is minimal. The combination of the Swedish and Dutch guys “complaints may well have been the trigger for the unnecessary events that have unfolded.
1440khz@gmail.com is the last address I have for them
Radio North was NOT interfering with this station. They were on different frequencies. The op has a problem with all free radio stations in Ireland, regardless of frequency.
Yes, he put his transmitter off frequency to interfere with Energy 1440 in Dublin. In doing so, he is operating more illegally that the stations he is complaining about.
Sorry, it's am1440khz@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576748691980
Asfalttelegrafen Facebook profile
Very unfair whole situation very sad to hear of gone already big fan medium wave heard that station last night Sweden rather.freevradio Ireland dxoer hear radio north
And why exactly did Peter Reuderink not remove the Asfalt post from his blog at https://petersdxcorner.nl? Apparently is had been up since May. I take it he is part of the problem??
Whining, jamming frequencies, especially the shortwave band. I can remember the hassle Blackbeard had with them no so long ago. Who the F?@$ do they think they are? And Asfalttelegrafens name is now total mud. No sympathy for the guy whatsoever.
Dutch Station MCB Radio is also believed to be behind this, the post probably is what gave them the idea
I share in the sadness of the free radio community in the raid on Radio North, which I have received when staying in Wales several times. I have a friend who was involved in the Dublin radical pirate Radio Active in around 1994 - he was of the opinion that the Irish regulatory authorities rarely acted without a formal complaint against a pirate. The 1988 Anti-pirate laws gave them lots of teeth against pirates, but they are not often used. It is particularly galling to learn that supposed "legal hobby" stations in Sweden and the Netherlands are behind the complaint. Mind you, it happens in Britain too - the large commercial station Heart has a part of its web pages telling its listeners to snitch on FM pirates, and even has a guide to "spotting a pirate station". The BBC Engineering pages also slag off pirates for allegedly disrupting its signals. Let's hope that Radio North resumes broadcasting soon.
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