The festive season 1989 was a roaring success, with 3 100 watt transmitters on air at the one time. 15043 and 13630, (alt 13790) channel was used, as well as the usual 48m channel. There was a huge mailbox for these broadcasts, making the effort worth while.

In January 1990 I was on a skiing holiday in Les Trois Valleys in the French Alps. I had arranged with the WMR mother to switch on the transmitter at a certain time, to see if it was able to be heard. This test was successfully heard down in the French Alps on 15043, even though the transmitter was not tuned up for peak performance!! Radio Dublin was also heard, as well as strong signals from stations like European Christian Radio, and Vatican Radio.

Some of the April fools hoaxes were pretty good when April 1st fell on a Sat or Sun. On 1st April 1990 a mystery station was heard, called Radio West Coast Commercial, whose QSL looked suspiciously like Radio East Coast Comm. A certain Wee Guy Radio was active, more on this later, and what was said to be the very last transmission from WMR, with excuses for closing including amongst others, that the transmitters were burnt out!!!!! In fact WCC and the WMR broadcast were made via Live Wire Radio, as I was working that Sunday. Wee Guy Radio at night on the Saturday/ very early Sunday was in fact live from the WMR HQ.

Pirate Andy from Germany visited Scotland on his motorbike, during the early Summer of 1990. Some programmes were recorded, including a special programme for BRIs 10th birthday. "Pirate Andy", said a family member to him, "That's not a German name is it??" As Andy was sitting having a drink one night, talking about his bike giving trouble sometimes, the same family member was heard to say, "Aye, it would be a business if you had to push it all the way back to Germany"!!! "Pirate Andy, the Pirates Dandy", was his jingle. Myself and Davey A always looked at each other laughing, whenever we heard this. By our behaviour Andy was undecided if this meant something very funny in English or not!! Like most guests, I think he enjoyed his stay at WMR.

On Christmas day 1990 after a successful transmission, WMR closed down from the frequencies operational that day, and had a listen to the bands. Old friend Pirate Andy at PFBS in Germany was in the process of calling CQ on 15050, and was not going to switch the transmitter off to listen to 48m. So WMR relayed PFBS onto 6240 for some 30m or so and then had a rather interesting cross band QSO, like a telephone. For the record, a couple of years later at Christmas, PFBS relayed WMR onto 11 MHz from the 48m band. The transmission on Dec 26th 1990 was also very successful, with 15043 being heard very well right across Europe, especially in the afternoon, right up to about 1800UTC. There was an open phone line with an answering machine. These calls were recorded and played back down the phone, and aired every 30m or so. All this apart from the usual route, for anyone knowing the studio number!! One surprise caller was Al Muik from the old FRC USA. He had been stationed in South Germany and was enjoying armchair signals of WMR on 15043.

In January 1991 there was another visitor to the studio this time from Australia. Dave Martin who was born in Scotland had heard his old home country on the DX tests in 1989 and 1990. After some speculation, and bad press in OZZ DX by one Bob Padula as to whether WMR was really in Scotland, Dave proudly went back home and told all, and wrote a rather interesting article on the station in the Australian DX press. Guess which Australian Dxer was the only person to date not to receive a reply from WMR!!

In March 1991 Radio Caroline returned to the air via satellite, unfortunately only for a few short weeks. During the first day the live programming was so anoraky, that WMR began relaying the signals onto the 48m band. It was fun to hear phoned in requests for SW DXers, and the comments of the on air DJ, Keith Lewis saying hello to such and such listening on SW, "Naughty naughty!!!"

Some of the Saturday night transmissions were very successful because of the excellent propagation around the solar maximum years. When broadcasting on 48m of a late evening UTC, some broadcasts primarily aimed at Europe were easily heard in the USA and Canada. On 28th July 91, a normal night time transmission was really powering out, on 6290kHz. Terry Krueger called from Florida, and was aired live, to describe reception. In a separate late night radio programme Dr Jean Burnell of Newfoundland Canada rang, and again spoke live on air about reception. There were a couple of European reports of note in the early mornings on 15043 from Finland and Sicily Island in the Mediterranean, where SINPOs of 4s and 5s were noted. It really was great having a world service when the high frequencies were at their peak, and presumably it will all happen all over again in the coming years, as the conditions pick up.

By Christmas 1991 WMR made yet another technical improvement, this time with a transmitter of around 200 Watts. This consisted of an EL84 oscillator, into a single 807, into an 813 in the output. As always, there is a good tale.

The Jock Wilson Connection

The connections with WMR and Jock Wilson's Radio Stella go back many years, but in 1991 ties became closer. Jock Wilson had been using relay facilities in Eire since 1986. This was made possible when Steve West (BRI), Luis Nieto (Radio Woodstock), John Dean (Radio Lynda, WLR), and myself took a week long trip to Eire, and in the process installed the very first relay transmitter of only 30watts. Ireland was regarded as a safe haven for pirates, where the stations were never raided. (Well hardly ever!!!) The chosen site was Killineer, just north of Drogheda. This was at Jim Agnew's place, a well known local radio presenter at that time on the now defunct Boyneside Radio, as well as Radio Rainbow SW. The power was found at this time to be unsuitable, as signals were weak. After some months of negotiations, it was decided to purchase a 200 Watt transmitter and have it installed in Ireland for Radio Stella, and the other station operators who were part of it all (at this stage I was not involved, at least not financially!) Jock sent out letters to everybody, including in his words, former WMR DJ Dave Anderson. This seemed curious to us, and the name has stuck to the current WMR DJ Dave, who has never left the station!!!

In 1987 Adrian Cooke, Steve West and Jock Wilson set sail for Eire and eventually after some confusion, found a well qualified tape operator and someone who was technically competent enough to keep the transmitter on the air. Shortly after this, the original 30watt transmitter in Killineer had turned into about a hundred watts or so, upgraded by Heddy Eddie, and was operating now on the 41m band on 7423. The new 200W TX was installed at the QTH of Gary St John, formerly of 70s and 80s SW pirate Skull and Bones Radio System, in Dublin. Later a 41m TX was added at the same site, coming out on 7490. By this stage WLR had taken over the powerful Radio Rainbow SW transmitter at Drogheda, or just outside it, on 6240, latterly 6231. Towards the end of 1988, SW listeners could regularly hear WLR or Radio Stella actually in competition with themselves, on the different transmitters. These all operated to various degrees of consistency, until the end of 1988 when the Irish government outlawed the pirates and most of them closed down like good boys, hoping to be given a license. Most of them of course did not obtain their license. The whole network, including the 200Watt TX, closed with the rest of the stations at the end of 88.

WABC Radio in Donegal closed down with the flow, only to reopen some weeks later. Paul Bentley, the owner, (Paul and Chrissie of Radio Fax) took over operating the 200 watt SW transmitter. There was a slight problem by the time the station hit the air again, as the modulation on now 6320 was always very low. The main reason was the original circuit of the 200w TX had 4 807 valves to modulate a single 813. This was OK with the original Woden modulation transformer, but when it burnt out, the ex Radio Rainbow SW transformer was used, which was designed to match 2 by 2 813s. Thus the audio was low. For many months Radio Stella was on the air like this on 6320, slightly HF of the former 6318. In May 1990, a one day visit was made to the site by Jock, Dave Anderson and myself, as well as Andy Craig of the NIRS. The audio was obviously low then. Paul proudly showed us round his now 2 WABC stations. WABC Gold on 101.2, and WABC Hot Hits on 101.7, in his old beat up land rover. He was a great character, with so many stories to tell. Unfortunately, Paul had to return home to England for family reasons a few months later. The SW transmitter was moved about 2 miles North, and left with an operator whose site had been used for the WABC 101.7 transmitter. In May 1991 another day trip was made, this time to Old Jim's, for a visit. Jock was keen to attempt to repair the audio, which could not possibly have been done in the time allotted. Radio Fax was now co sited, and their transmitters seen for the first time. Old Jimmy was a great character, and interested in radio enough to play the tapes on SW on a weekly basis (For the price of a couple of pints!!). Unfortunately he would have been unable to set things straight, if the transmitter broke down. It did. So when 6320kHz fell silent, there was no one locally in Eire to repair it. And so began another adventure.

The first long trip to the Radio Stella site for me was in August 1991, along with Jock, and Mrs Jock. The main objective was to put Radio Stella back on the air in an amazing five days, under red hot Irish sunshine. However all was not swimming trunks and Guinness (at least by day), as there was some serious transmitter work to be done. Jock had taken over a rather poorly constructed transmitter a couple of months earlier, and had rather unsuccessfully tried to put the station back on the air. This turned out to be a pair of 807s in the output, driven by an EL34, with a second EL34 used as an oscillator. With this piece of apparatus, a mere 10 watts or less was going up the antenna!! I had built another 30W transmitter for 7446 made from an old Stella rig which operated from Edinburgh once back in 1987 on 6285. The badly made transmitter was given the kiss of life and set up on 6293. There were also problems with the aerials being low, and an extra section was added to Jock Wilson's mast. It was not helped by the fact Radio Fax was running co site, and the antennas were all rather close to each other. Breakthrough had to be cured between the two stations, achieved mainly by making sure the 6205 Fax antenna was not crossing the 6293 Stella antenna. Breakthrough was no problem on different bands, but when similar frequencies were used, things were different. One wonders about co sited Radio Fax 88, on 6205, and Radio Rainbow, 6240, with no breakthrough. At this time Radio Orion (The big O) was heard every week on 6290 from 1100. Strict orders, on a written sign on the wall were left with the operator to switch off before then, and preferably at 1045, to avoid the obvious clash 3kHz LF. Unfortunately the operator in Eire sometimes fell asleep on his big chair, after a cup of coffee and a read at the Sunday Post, and let the tapes play past the 1045 deadline. Mike Wilson on Radio Orion in his DX programmes after that had more than a passing comment to make about the situation!!! The 200 watt transmitter was brought back to Scotland for repairs. After carefully checking the signals of the small 20 Watt transmitters, Jock was happy with low power, so WMR fell heir to the 200 watt transmitter all be it in a broken state. Some will probably dispute the fact but I had the audio of Jocks transmitters all set higher than that of Radio Fax. When a good quality tape was played through the Stella set up, the sound was surprisingly impressive. I used to play recordings from the Astra satellite of RTL Berlin 104.6, one of the best stations ever on the Satellite, which is sadly gone now. The audio on these tapes was superior, although Jocks studio tapes sometimes were less than perfect, in fact a little scratchy!!

Radio Stella had one or two problems eventually. It was nothing serious, but Jock wanted to add an 11mHz freq as well as a 9mHz. The old scrap original TX which Jock had used for broadcasting on 41m, as far back as 1980, was rebuilt again. WMR had fallen heir to this when the transmitter was sold by Mark Snow of Radio Free City, during one of Jocks quiet spells on the air in the mid 80s. (Mark, it was said, not only sold Jocks rigs, but burnt some of his mail at one stage!!) The rig had been already confiscated by the Post Office in 1980, but was returned during the pending court case. It was used again for a series of transmissions as both WMR, and Radio Stella, and also as Radio Clash, around 83 and 84 time. It was rebuilt and put into service on 9981. This was another TX originally bought from Barry Stephens at European Music Radio. A new TX was built for 6296. 7446 had never given any problems, so remained unchanged. The old badly built TX was stripped and rebuilt on site for 11413.

There had been a successful test of the 9mHz and the new 6mHz from the WMR HQ on 6th Oct 91. The 9mHz TX was tuned to 11413 at the time, and the test was under the guise of 'Department Test,' to add a little mystique to the airwaves. A cross band QSO with LWR and WMR on 6 and 11 MHz took place after this broadcast.

With equipment built, and Jock impatient, a new trip to Eire was made in Oct 91. Myself, Jock, and Bill Lewis of Live Wire radio, who had never been to Eire, made the trip over the course of a wild and wet long weekend. Bill had by this stage began working with 813s, which are a step up from the traditional pirate valves, the familiar 807s. On entering the house where Radio Fax and Stella had their transmitters, there was silence. Radio Fax was off the air. It had been a fairly straight forward audio fault, and a not so straight forward overheating problem on the output valves. As it turned out the 813s were soft and a compromise was made by running Radio Fax on half power on 6205 until new valves could be sent over from England. For some reason this was not appreciated by the owners of Radio Fax, who seemed to think we were up to something (This time we were not!!). The station had been off the air on our arrival, but was now repaired by Bill. However when the Fax engineers returned some weeks later to return the station to full power, no attempt was made to cure the breakthrough on Jocks Radio Stella transmitters. Mr Wilson had to make a return to Eire in Dec to try to put things right. Some technicians obviously do not rate other operators as important. The next time the we visited Eire, the 807 on the little Fax 12255kHz rig was glowing red hot!! It was promptly ignored.

The main source of problems during these 2 visits, was breakthrough between Radio Stella and Radio Fax, which as mentioned above were co sited. It was however reduced to a minimal, but it made interesting listening back in the UK. If either of the two stations had an audio break, the opposition was quite audible!! One week in particular springs to mind, when Radio Fax was reported on 7446, when Jocks tape was not playing for some reason.

This must have been the first time any SW pirate has used 4 frequencies on a regular basis; (Radio poacher used a few more in 1981 but that was spurious signals up and down the 41m band either side of the fundamental). The Oct visit included a visit to Radio North (846kHz). We were allowed to view the MW transmitter, in the back of an old container, to find the output coil wound on a thick tree branch. It all worked amazingly well.

Christmas 1991 was approaching, and WMR was in preparation for high power broadcasts. The 200 Watt was checked out. There was a dead mouse in the ht supply to the 813. The poor beastie must have crawled in for a heat on a cold Donegal Winter's night, and suddenly fried! This was not however the problem, which was found, and repaired. The modulation level was still very low, so a new push/ pull modulation system was built modulating the 813 with another pair of 813 valves, giving really nice loud anode modulation. The 200 Watt TX blasted out over Christmas 91, with reports coming in from all over Europe. This transmitter was compared by Alan Hays, to a junk stall at a The Barras, a Glasgow market place!!

Wee Guy Radio Hits The Air

The Radio Stella 4 frequency network did not, as one would perhaps expect, last too long. The equipment was 100% only if someone was there to make sure the oscillators were working, before the HT was switched on. If someone was simply throwing a switch, and hoping for the best, some days the rigs may need a minor adjustment, and if no one was available to do just that, there were problems. By March 92 another trip was planned, for maintenance. The Guinness had been so good the previous twice that 2 carloads of us went over. Former WMR DJ Dave Anderson, Jock, Live Wire Bill, Mr T Comm, and myself all made the pilgrimage. During the Sunday, a tape was made of the WMR April fool station, Wee Guy Radio. Because April 1st fell when we were on holiday in Ireland, the chance was there to have a bit of fun with Radio Stella. However Guinness and sheer devilment took over and on the stroke of midnight on 1st April a strange technical fault developed. The programmes of Radio Fax were heard on 7446 and 11413, whilst on 6205, 12255 and 3910 all that could be heard was Wee Guy Radio. All that Mr Brook in England must have heard was the same, as smoke began to pour out the local telephone exchange. "I'm enjoying the programme", said Jock, in his usual dry manner, "Very, very informative". The mystery problem remained like this until about 1100 the following day, until the fault was rectified. (There were rumours of a private jet having landed in a field outside Derry!) This was a good old fashioned transmitter hi-jacking with a difference. A rather interesting visit to North Atlantic Radio was made. The DJ thought that being Scottish we would appreciate a Sydney Devine request! Steak and Kidney. I ask you!!!! The trip finished with Jock settling for 2 frequencies, 11 and 7mHz.

An interesting experiment was made on 25th April 92 when after a Radio London relay, the operator had a QSO via the phone link to the WMR studio. A relay station QSOing, whatever next!! In the Summer of 1992 some late night transmissions were again very successful. The first attempt at using the 76m band was made on May 25th, using 4004kHz, the only crystal available at the time. (This was soon rectified.)

WMR was a regular on 76m as well as 48m often on a Thursday night, in QSO with Live Wire, Radio Pamela, PFBS, SF02, Confusion/ Subteranean Sounds, and others. Some other stations who have appeared was a mysterious PIT 5 talking about coal mining etc, and old times. This chap surfaced very late on Saturday night/ Sunday morning.... This habit has died for the time being as of 1997, maybe because of late pub visits??

On 7th June a QSO took place between WMR and US pirate He Man Radio, on 15043 at 0142, then again about 0315. This had been accomplished by Live Wire Radio some months previous. His QSOs included Radio Without Borders International in Russia, as well as a few other North American stations, the most notable being a curious station, The Revolutionary Voice of Plainsville. Comondante John ran this fictitious state. There were many other North American pirates heard in Europe around this time by many DXers, on both 7mHz and 15mHz.

In the Summer of 1992 many of the low power Euro pirates who left the transmitters on during the night were lucky enough to be heard in Australia and New Zealand. They included DLR, Radio Dublin, Jolly Roger Radio, Live Wire Radio, the 24 hour Radio Fax, as well as the flea power Radio Waves from France, Tele Radio Stereo 6012, Idea Radio 7380, and the NIRS. Weekend Music Radio made it on 2 parallel frequencies, 6296 and 7380, with only 80 and 120 watts respectively, on 16th August 92 from 05/06 UTC, as reported in New Zealand by Paul Ormandy, supported by an amazing tape.

In the Summer of 1992 I recorded some programmes for WGAS, The Worlds Greatest Anorak Station, which ran 24 hours at the weekends. DJs included Andy Walker, Terry Philips, Dave Martin and co. The first programme was a memorial of the closure of the Dutch offshore pirates in 1974, aired during the first weekend in September 92. Also in the Summer of 92 a visit was made to LWR but no broadcasting took place except a brief appearance on a local FM pirate, when after far too much beer, I for once was speechless!!

It was Sept 92, and holiday time again. Jock was in the process of moving from the Edinburgh address to Kirkcaldy, and could not go on holiday. As was tradition a broadcast was made from the WMR HQ just before the visit. The most powerful broadcast up to that date was aired, with approx. 400w of energy going up the pipe. The frequency for this was 3920. The equipment consisted of the Live Wire Radio PA, and the above mentioned high power WMR modulator. This, as well as a huge carry out from a local pub, all combined with Alan Hays of Radio Gloria made one spectacular broadcast. The whole studio shook as 400w of energy blasted across Europe.

Mr T-Comm, Live Wire Bill, Myself, and then YL, Donna, spent some 5 days visiting various pirates. The first stop was to set up the transmitter and aerials at the Northern Ireland Relay Service. There is an amazing video of Bill on my shoulders up a tree putting a wire up for 48m for NIRS. Andy Craig could never take anything that was said seriously, ever since he was sent for some grease off an old tractor to keep the water out the cable joints. There was also some fun with RF feedback and curing it with a POT! After an amazing walk around the Giants Causeway, we hit Donegal. Although the Fax/Stella site was visited, no work was required at the time. Radio Fax sadly pulled the plug at the end of that month.

A visit to Atlantic 252, the legal station, was perhaps typical of such an outfit. Some staff are ex pirates who can be personally remembered only being proud to show enthusiastic foreigners around their station. The unsociable people at A-252 would not even open the door to us, but merely had some girl or other talk through an intercom. Lovely hospitality!! A trip down some really rough country roads took us to the antenna tower of 252. I thought it would be nice to interview the old guy digging his garden below the tower, but he did everything but chase us with a shotgun!! Perhaps it was not the most popular mast in that area!!

Other stations visited included Riverside 101, Eddie formerly of Radio Rainbow SW, LMFM, Ozone, Radio Dublin, Coast 103 (Dublin FM station, on SW during 1995), DLR. Sadly a planned visit to Capital Radio, the former SW station, could not take place as Aiden had died as a result of a car crash some years previous.

It was not until the Spring of 1993 that Radio Stella was planning to return. Jock fancied a go at 3mHz, after the success of various other stations using 76m, including WMR, so a brand new transmitter was made especially for Radio Stella. I dug up an old beer tray marked with nothing else but Stella Artois, so this was the obvious chassis for his new apparatus. A test was made from the WMR HQ on 14/4 from 19-2130. Signals were strong making it difficult to believe it was a mere 20-30w. A surprise QSO was made with the operator of the Radio Caroline SW transmitter at the end of the tests from Scotland. The day before the Irish visit, Live Wire Bill and myself installed a full length half wave dipole for around 1509kHz. The traditional transmission was made on the Saturday night before leaving for Ireland, this time on MW, in // with SW. Reports from all over Europe, and the UK were received for the MW signal, which could not have been much more than 30 or 40 Watts. To date no transmissions on MW have been as successful, though there have only been another 2 or 3.

The first port of call was the Northern Ireland Relay Service. The NIRS had again been after the engineering services of WMR, to build a 31m transmitter. Andy Craig at the NIRS was a little surprised when the four of us arrived with the rig, only to find that it had been used as an ash tray on the road over!! Sadly although this was installed at this time, Andy shortly afterwards lost the site, and the transmitter was never used. The Radio Stella site this time around, was strange and perhaps a little eerie. Walking into the transmitter room, there was no sound of the Radio Fax modulation transformers, no valve heaters glowing brightly, in fact a silent radio site. Sadly as previously mentioned, the station had closed only a few weeks after our last visit in Sept 92, though the religious propaganda programmes still air every Sunday night. Jock was not that well off, so to save buying new wire, we hunted for old scrap wire and knotted it together to make a 3945 dipole. There were 3 foot lengths, 6 foot lengths, and all sorts of sizes and shapes!! Jock at one stage was in the house eating his dinner, and the sight of him sitting at the window chewing his way through the grub, watching everybody else doing his technical work, still brings a smile to my face. The beer tray was successfully installed on 3945 (on 3910 for a couple of weeks till the crystal arrived) in parallel with 7446 and 11413. 11MHz did need a bit of a tweek sometimes, but survived for some time afterwards. A photograph of the transmitters on the rough old table was noticed on the Internet, in August 1996, in the Free Radio Network gallery, complete with the fold where it has been crushed into the envelope. The transmitters were always described as being very sexy by the operator, with a smile on his face. Radio Stella's last gasp to date was in Nov 93, when Jock and Alan Hayes paid a visit to Eire. Jock was unsuccessful in doing the necessary maintenance to the equipment, and by the time the Summer holiday time came around again in 1994, Jock had gained employment abroad, so the station remains silent and the transmitters are under repair. The old badly made 6mHz which turned into an 11mHz transmitter, is now rebuilt as the WMR mobile 20 Watt transmitter.

A visit to North Atlantic Radio as they were then known, at Bridge Street, Carndonnagh showed an empty studio. They had been raided we were told, but the station was still on air on 846, and 97.1 FM. The 103.8 was off though, which came from Quiggleys Point. I had been at the two MW sites some time before, and knew roughly where to go. They were using the address at Redcastle, which made us think the site at Quiggleys Point was NOT in use. The transmitter site was found deep into the hills, above Redcastle, and a consortium of North Atlantic staff were there to meet us, looking a little concerned. They had seen us drive down the old dirt road and thought we were the authorities again. Luckily we had met them before though. There was an old bus there, totally parked up to the axels in dirt. The lads said it was ok to see the studio and the transmitters. The studio was in the bus, and as we went to the door, a sheep came up to us...... The girl on air was a little cagey of us to begin with, but after we left, there was a record played for the handsome looking gentlemen from Scotland!! The transmitter was in an old container thing, and had just been built, seeing as the other one had been confiscated from the other site. Because the FM transmitter had also been confiscated from the old site, where the 2 were co sited, Tommy Cunningham, the main man, told us they were linking the AM to the 97.1 in Carndonnagh!! The locals won't know the difference he told us with a grin. The AM was sometimes of dubious quality anyway... Inside the container thing where the new MW transmitter sat, we all stood back in amazement. Singing to the sound of the modulation, there was an amazing home made transmitter, sat on an old dodgy piece of chipboard. This was North Atlantic Radio on 846!!

Back at WMR things dodged on. A visit was made to Cambridge and London in June 1993, meeting up with Chris Cortez of the old Arran Close address, as well as Cainey and the rest of the crew. In London, a quick meeting and a cup of coffee with Andy Walker and Terry Philips was also most enjoyable. This was squeezed into a weekend rock festival at Finsbury Park, London, which featured amongst many others, Dylan and Van "The Man" Morrisson. The saddest part of the whole weekend for me was perhaps the fact that I wore an old Caroline 319 t-shirt to the gig. Even at a concert such as Finsbury, no-one even came up and said "Hey man, I remember........" No-one. This I found sad.

In August 1993 a letter arrived inquiring about the possibility of WMR taking part in the Nordic DX championships in September. This was viewed as a great honour to take part in such a highly respected DX competition. A quick reply was sent and a special broadcast arranged for 0700UTC on 19th Sept 93. Because of this broadcast, not only was a special A5 size QSL made, but the power of the transmitter was upgraded to somewhere in the region of 300w. The second HCJB signed off at 07UTC, on 6205, Scotland's most powerful pirate took to the air for some 27 minutes. The transmitter was on its maiden broadcast, and broke down some 3 minutes short of the 0730 time limit. This did not stop around 50 DXers writing in for the special QSL card, and many more actually hearing the broadcast. WMR would like to thank everyone involved for the invitation, and maybe something similar can be arranged again for sometime in the future.

Over Christmas and New Year 1993 one of the most successful series of transmissions from WMR to date took place. On 25th Dec from around 0830, 4 transmitters were used, 6210, 3945, 1575, and locally on 103FM. A tape was aired through the night on 26th on 6240, followed in the morning by live programming from myself and Andy Walker doing our first joint live broadcast on WMR. When Andy arrived, I was trying to set the audio level on the big transmitter without being able to see the VU meters, which was not handy. Just throw a stick at the studio wall when the audio level pointers reach the mark, I said to Mr Walker, who looked at me in disbelief. All the live calls taken on the air provided what must have been interesting listening, judging by the amount of calls to the 'on air' number. There was always great hilarity, when returning to the studio, from outside. The path was very slippery with ice, almost killing us every time. There were transmissions on 1st and 2nd Jan, the latter including input from Jock Wilson, Bill Lewis, as well as 2 mystery guests from a legal station. These transmissions also included a relay of Radio Pandora, a station from England whose transmitter I was supposed to be fixing at the time. (And eventually did)

Activity in 1994 was at an all time low (On SW), mainly because of being involved in other projects. A few tests and QSOs were noted in Oct and Nov, as well as a very limited Christmas sched. This was not the planned extravaganza as I too was celebrating on Christmas night and sleeping in for the traditional Boxing day transmissions. The 26th had always been a traditional time for WMR, like the previous years long broadcasts with high power and guests. In years gone by Mike James had visited the studio on boxing day. One year after having one too many beers with the crew in the local pub, one chap drove his car into a river!!! Christmas 1994 was unusually quiet. The 1st Jan broadcast was also a rather poor transmission. After a brief Titanic relay a breakdown was enough to send me back to bed to nurse a sore head after a traditional Scottish New Year.

I had been talking about DX tests being more difficult with the falling sunspot count, to Live Wire Bill in 1994. Then KIWI from New Zealand began broadcasting on 7445 USB, and was heard well in Germany on 7/1/95. The broadcast on the 20th Jan was heard at the WMR studio, the first Pacific pirate noted here, and has made it since including Dec 96. Mind you, they were running high power.

Any DXers who received the blue QSL in 1995 would have noticed the obvious error. The spelling of Coleraine, was mistaken for Coledraine!! Slapped wrists to the printer!!

In early 1995 WMR had a QSO with Coast 103, who were on 6250. The transmitter was not at the studio site, so it was possible for the operator to tune into other SW frequencies.

WMR resumed regular transmissions with low power from mobile transmitter sites in the forest in 1995. This has the obvious advantage of allowing unmanned broadcasts from a remote site. On the other hand the obvious disadvantage is the power we are able to run from a mobile site where there are no mains connections. The mobile transmitter, the former Radio Stella 6293 chassis, was rebuilt to suit mobile requirements, ie 12Volt operation, complete with an old inverter. Some encouraging letters have been received so far, for these flea powered broadcasts, including some from Axel Rose!! As it happened it was not from rock band Guns `n´ Roses, but only Axel from Germany!! On Sunday 9th April around 0950 the newly built transmitter of about 15-20W took to the air, on 6296.2, moving around 1430 UTC to 6275 in order to make way for Reflections Europe. The transmitter was still on past 0100!! Another phase of WMR transmissions had begun. On Easter Sunday 16/4 6210 was used, with good results, conditions being really good that day. On Sat 6th May the transmitter in the woods was activated on 6205, with 2 hours of "Jack Russel". In June a 2 hour loop was aired with 30m of myself, 30m Horace Morris, 30m Mark Jones in German, and 30m Big Dave Cortez.

The long hot Summer prevented the staff from sitting in red hot studios recording programmes. The station broadcast on 23rd July 95 and was silent right up until 8th Oct. During the setting up of the equipment on 5th November, one of the croc clips to connect the battery to the transmitter was missing, but when in the field, one requires to be resourceful. An old Irn Bru can was found in the woods and modified so the battery post was a tight fit through a hole, and the wire jammed!!! The transmission on 18th Nov 1995 sadly clashed with Ozone also using 6210, but the signal was heard well into the afternoon, so all was not lost. Sadly, although many people heard this clash of stations, no phone calls were received at the studio reporting the mess, so it went unnoticed. There was a rather interesting video shot that day of setting up the station at the mobile site.

By Christmas 1995, WMR was up and running with 120 Watts again. During the first 90 minutes of the Christmas morning broadcast, I was talking to myself, after discovering a break in the feeder to the antenna. No wonder there were no calls to the studio. There was time for only a short broadcast with the feeder connected back up properly on 25th Dec, before the Christmas dinner was ready.

A scheduled broadcast on 26/12, of Level 1, a German venture had been arranged. The top secret schedule of a network of stations broadcasting on 6260kHz was distributed, of which WMR was allocated the 1000 UTC slot. There were transmitters in Germany, Holland, Scotland, and Sweden. At 0958 almost exactly, Davey Anderson walked in the door with the jingle package, which is why the same jingle was used most of the time!! Level One have their own special QSL cards for this network, from the well known Wuppertal address. WMR will probably play a part in any Level 1/ Level 48 transmissions in the future.

Mike James Returns

A surprise telephone call in March 1996, brought Mike James back to the station after a 9 year absence, still clutching his Irn Bru bottle! His triumphant return to the airwaves of Europe has not gone unnoticed, and the frequency of the WMR transmissions have increased somewhat. It is good to have a dedicated radio enthusiast involved again with the operations of the station.

Over Easter weekend 1996, Chris from Crazy Wave Radio in Germany visited the station. Some 48m transmissions were made on the Saturday evening, with the transmitter described by our German friend as being like a crashed car!! He wanted to also try 3910, so the transmitter had to be hashed from 6 to 3 mHz, which was a rush job. Chris seemed bewildered when I found a piece of wood to roll a few turns of wire, to extend the 6 mHz pi coil. At least the coil was completely recycled. When the broadcast was finished, it was used for firewood!!! There was some party spirit, and despite Chris telling us the Beck's beer in Scotland was weak, like water, he was last seen running around the garden with a sleeping bag over his head!!! Having said all that, I lost my boots that night, after falling asleep in the pub. When I did find them, they were tied up in knots!!!! There is a 6 foot hole outside the studio door, which can be tricky if one does not know the path in the dark. Chris can now certainly tell us what the hole is like at the bottom!! This is not the first time the trap has caught out some well known radio people. Nick Richards fell down the same hole a few years previous!! On Easter Monday, the broadcast included a tape of Radio 1521, a new station in Northern Ireland. Chris wrote a very entertaining article in the Summer 1996 edition of Pirate Connections, about his free radio trip to Bonnie Scotland.

A local friend was moving house from Scotland back to his home town of London. Mike and myself decided to help out "Dod" with his removals, and in the process, arranged to have a few beers with the Radio Free London crew. A very unique programme was recorded on the road, while driving down the M6, and half aired on May 4th 1996!!!

As I sat one lunchtime, there was an almighty crash outside. I went to investigate, to find the 120 Watt WMR transmitter had fallen off an old shaky plastic table, and gone over the 6 foot trap, which Crazy Wave Chris became so familiar with only a few weeks before. (The same hole has claimed some non radio victims too)

During bank holiday weekend at the end of May 96, Terry Philips, Andy Walker, and Eric May of Radio Free London were at the studio, along with the DJ formerly known as Davey Anderson, and Mike James. It was a particularly wild weekend, to say the least. Some broadcasting was planned, and apart from the mobile 6210, there were plans to reactivate 3910 at night. The only problem was the transmitter that had fallen down a hole, had to be repaired. The rig, after such a fall, had only broken wires and a couple of smashed valves, (And some serious superstructure problems, which did not affect the performance). After a major patch up job, and a few strange looks from Terry Philips, the rig burst into life again, on 3910. It now looks more like a written off car!! After a few minutes of running perfect, an almighty bang/ spark came from the rig, but it just kept on playing regardless.

"How the fuck can it still be working after a bang like that", asked a shaken Eric May.

During that weekend some tough negotiations took place about the use of 6210. After a lengthy discussion, (5 pints of Beck's each), it was decided to share the frequency, on a bi-weekly basis. The RFL boys had been chased LF because of the drunken, drifting Dutchmen of Radio Horizon/ Farmers from Holland, while 6210 became a little tricky some weeks, because of a drifting French Radio Caroline impersonator, which began as 6200, and reached 6206.6!!!! A move to 6400, the old WNKR and RFL channel took place on July 6th and 7th 1996, with good results. This escaped the jamming and interference experienced on the otherwise clear channel of 6210, which was used again briefly on 13th July because of a technical problem.

The first relay via the North American Pirate Relay Service took place at 2300/2345 UTC on July 13th 1996, repeated 14th around 0235. The frequency of 6955, the common channel used by North American pirates, was heard well in Europe, as well as North America. Another relay via WREC was aired on July 28th, around 0115UTC, on the same frequency. The signal of this here in Europe at least was quite amazing. The letters and e mail have been very encouraging so far for these transmissions. Reciprocal relays in Europe by WMR took place in 1996, although not of the NAPRS and WREC. WLIS and The Fox were heard on the airwaves of Europe on 3mHz at night.

The weekend of July 27th and 28th was arranged for another Level 1 network broadcast. A secret schedule was sent out to the participating stations, which included WMR, and Radio Free London. The original plan was a Sunday morning 48m broadcast, but because of some of the stations dropping out, WMR filled in the night time network, on 3920. Mike was busy recording the programmes for the mobile 6.4 transmitter, while I made some major changes to the technical side of the station. After some serious sweating over hot transmitters, the crashed car rig was repaired and tested on 3910 on Friday 26th July late into the wee small hours of the morning. I was hardly fit to stay on air too late, so Dave Gilmour took over, and even received a report from New York for around 0200 UTC.

The Level 48 broadcast was up and running on 3920 from 2100/2200 on 27th July, with around 120 watts carrier power, and full plate modulation. The carrier had actually ben on for some 90m or so before any music went on air, to soak test and stabilize the VFO. The live broadcast was well heard, as Level 48 (On 76m!!!). The Sunday broadcast was slightly more of a problem. Mike had promised to buy me a pint of Beck's if I could make the former Stella 813 transmitter work. It had previously been operating with around 300 Watts, during Christmas 1993, but was in a state of neglect. Again, after hours of work, it was apparently sending some 500 watts of RF up the antenna. Time was very short, and although the modulator for the 120 watt rig had to be used for audio, it was enough to send a very strong signal throughout Europe between 10 and 11 UTC. Level 48 was on, and included myself, Dave and Mike presenting a live show. All this went on while the small mobile transmitter in the woods played away Saturday night, and all day Sunday.

On Sunday August 4th, one of the legends of rock played Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh. Dave and I attended, although not together. I was described by Dave as attending with the hippi element. While this is nothing to do with radio, the feeling of nostalgia watching "The Eagles" play after 20 years or so, brought back memories of the energy genetrated by Radio Caroline coming back on the air after long absences. It is really difficult to find the words to describe what a band like "The Eagles" actually meant to me over the years.

A relay of American pirate, WLIS was aired on 17th August, on 3910 with 120 Watts. This curious stations full name is actually We Love Interval Signals. A test on 6952, offset a little to protect clear channel American pirates on 6955, was made in the early hours of Sunday 18th August. The power was around 450/500 watts, with full anode/ plate modulation. The programme was mainly non stop Eagles music and the odd announcement, arranged as a test to see if the signals could reach North America. As it turned out, the signals were pretty acceptable in North America, and an easy copy. It was reported to have been heard well all over the North Eastern part of North America. SRS News reported the following.

"Scottish based WEEKEND MUSIC RADIO was heard in the Eastern USA and Canada on 6952.6 kHz with 400 watts AM mode! Some US people even thought it was a domestic relay! WREC called CQ to WMR during a short TX break but WMR did not answer."

But why did the carrier stay on for so long the same reporter asked? One Jack Russel had been drinking, and sat down in the big chair in the studio, and fell asleep to the sound of the Eagles!! The USA was calling while the beer took its effect!!

Jamesy and myself had arranged a weekend in London during the August bank holiday, in return for the mad May weekend. On Thursday night,. August 22nd the two of us set off on the journey, which turned into a whole weekend of radio, and mayhem. The highlight I think must have been the sight of 4 adults, standing in the pouring rain in a woodland area, looking up at an old piece of coax, once used by RFL on FM. Not only that, but the same tree was used back in the 70s by another station!! Andy Walker must know about all the old sites from London pirates, going back many years. The two of us infested the RFL studio and airwaves with joint programmes. These were aired night time on 3945, and for around 48 hours solid on 6400.

One very interesting propagation observation, was the groundwave from the 6400 site, fluttering every time a plane flew overhead. Aircraft scatter at 6.4 MHz??? Amazing.

There was a great anorak meeting in a pub with Dave Martin, Andy Walker, Terry Philips, Eric May, as well as listener Steve Overal. The operator of an old 70s MW station turned up as well, for a real good chinwag!! There was also a brief encounter with the amazing Jodi, of Radio Fax/ RFL. Like all good things, the weekend came to an end very quickly, and it was time to say goodbye. This was a cheap way of having an anorak weekend, as we were supposed to be heading for Germany to the DX camp the week before, but money was short.

WMR again took to the air on September 1st with a power approaching 500 watts, on 6952 at 0000, as well as 6296 at 0200, and was again heard well. The following week again aided by Jamesy, the big rig was pumping across the Atlantic.

The station chugged away throughout the late Summer, and into the Winter. Broadcasting stuck to the bi weekly sched with RFL, on 6400. There were a lot of other short tests with 400/500 Watts during the early Sunday mornings, the usual traditional time for SW pirate broadcasting. Results so far have been interesting.

1996 was a good year for the station. An article by Andy Cadier in "CB Radio Active" magazine, a beefed up glossy in the UK, reported the regular Sunday pirates. He then proceeded to suggest his favourites were Britain Radio, WMR and Live Wire Radio!!! SRS News poll at the end of 1996 reported Crazy Wave Radio as number one station with 23 points, and WMR 2nd with 21 points. The 3rd station in the poll was trailing at 16 points!!!

There was some real fun and games on the way to the hillside broadcast site on November 24th 1996. Mike Dave and myself ended up having to push the vehicle to the site up a hill, in very snowy conditions. The broadcast was at least partly a success, but only lasted 2 hours, but with 100 watts or so from the mobile site, rather than the usual 15/20 watts. This was the last time the site was used, as someone stole the old piece of aerial coax, probably worth about £3.

At the beginning of December, a bit of fun was brought to the airwaves. There was a curious Dutch station heard weekly called "Radio The Farmers From Holland", and the station had the strongest signal on the band most weekends. The format was mainly of Dutch traditional music. Suddenly a station called "The Farmers From Scotland" took to the air, and even had a QSO with WMR!! It must have made a few people sit up, as there were also QSOs with Radio Mistero Ghost Planet in Italy, and W126, an old Echo Charlie station, not heard in years, as well as a station in Eire. Apparantley the Farmers use the same address as WMR!!!!

At Christmas 1996, 400watts blasted out across Europe from early 25th Dec until around 1330, on 6285. Reports were even received from the USA for the initial part of the transmission. WMR took part in the extensive LEVEL 48 network, beginning on Friday December 27th at 2200 with WMR on 3910, and ending with WMR on 29th Dec on 6285. There were a real amazing selection of stations from Germany, Sweden, Holland, and England all involved. The studio was like a mad house when Chris Ise and the Fab Fox of Crazy Wave Radio visited the studio, as well as Bill Lewis from Live Wire Radio. Chris seemed to be determined to sabotage the studio equipment and receivers for some reason, after a night on the Scotch Whiskey. Fab Fox made the suggestion that maybe the thieves who stole the coax from the mobile site some weeks before, may have been from a family with 14 children who had no television for Christmas. He pictured them all sitting with smiling faces around the television, thanks to WMR. I pictured them about 2 feet in front of me, while I was holding a stick with a nail in it!! The two Germans were treated to a traditional Scottish New Year, complete with a barbque in the snow, and bagpipes.

In mid January 1997 Andy Walker returned again, and we agreed to add the London address as a maildrop. We also set up the short lived e mail address of wmrsw@aol.com. This lasted only until the RFL raid, on 20th April 97, when the e mail address was closed.

The little mobile transmitter took to the air again on 6400 in the spring, after a number of weeks break, and continued the bi weekly schedual with Radio Free London. This again gave us an unmanned site to work from. The sched fell to pieces after the RFL raid, and also because of RFL moving to 5805. WMR moved in band again so to speak, using 6255, or 6275. The transmitter was up and running again all night from the early part of the the summer of 1997, when the SW conditions enjoy a little window of good propegation, and the signals travel deep into Europe. It may be ironic that at this stage, WMR has now been back on the air with flea power from the mobile site for longer than the initial broadcasting period in 1980-1981. Back then we only operated about 4 hours a month!!

WMR made a very brief contact on air with WREC in the USA in the early hours of June 5th 1997. Unfortunately there were other North American stations on the air at the time around the freq of 6955, making WMR a poor copy.

During June, another broadcast from Level 48 was planned. WMR again had the honour to start the ball rolling at 2000UTC on Friday night, June 6th 1997, on 3920. The crystal was borrowed from RFL, who themselves had their fair share of trouble during the previous weeks. Mike James and Andy Walker from RFL were in the studio, and results were entertaining. When Spaceman from Holland came on air at 2100, it was our Q to hit the pub. A 2 hour RFL tape for Level 48 was aired from Scotland at 2300/0100UTC, followed by an amazing live show, from 0100 onwards!!

The sched of the station was really up in the air until July 12th 1997, when we again joined RFL for a bi weekly frequency share of 5805. The initial reception reports certainly were very encouraging.

AND FINALLY....

One thing listeners may notice is that the reply time from the station has always varied considerably. This could mean waiting a couple of weeks for a QSL, or even some months. Once, back in 1984, some DXers waited patiently for about four and a half years!! This was exceptional, and should never happen again. All letters received at WMR are always replied to eventually. Anyone who thinks they have had to wait too long may send a follow up, but there is no need in these circumstances for return postage (or irate letters!!). Chances are it has been a busy time for the station and no mail has been outgoing. One thing that really helps is the inclusion of an addressed envelope or at least a self addressed sticky label. Even if return post is not included, this will help save time when QSLs are being sent out.

Listeners should note that Weekend Music Radio from Scotland is totally unconnected with any other WMR stations. Even in 1997, letters still arrive at the station addressed to World Music Radio, which used to broadcast from Holland, as well as relays from Radio Andorra, and Radio Dublin, and of course has made their reappearance again. There was even a Dutch station using the World Music Radio name on 41m, with DJ names taken from the real World Music Radio. WMR is not connected with a station from Holland who appeared as Weekend Music Radio, around 6400 a few years back. Radio Victoria's night time shows via Radio Time some years back, when the famous DJ, Roger Kirk used the name Weekend Music Radio, are also unconnected. World Mission Radio has no connection, nor has WLR, which was only a relay station from Eire.

What does the future hold for WMR?? When asked by one prominent Free Radio supporter about future plans, the answer was simple. Despite the obvious decline in interest in Short Wave in general in recent years, toward satellite, personal computers, Internet etc, WMR will continue the struggle. The plans for the station are to remain active on the SW with low/ medium power, from mobile sites, and the occasional higher power night time broadcast.

On the programming front, WMR is always open to suggestions....  

1st Edition © August 1997... Jack Russel