On day, when Leo van der Good and myself came off on the same tender, he offered me a lift to Amsterdam in his little car, which surprisingly had an FM radio. We were able to listen to RNI on FM more or less all the way to Amsterdam, which was about 30 miles from the Mebo II.
The FM signal strength varied as the Mebo II turned with the tides, strongest bow-facing, weakest-stern facing, because of the configuration of the two-bay antennae. The FM antennae should have been higher, up the MF tower, the Voice of Peace doing that with a virtually identical mast (before it broke).
A sea path during a period of hot summer weather with high pressure is ideal for long distance FM reception by tropospheric ducting. I remember there was a Dutch or Belgian station I could hear in North Yorkshire, seem to remember it was at the lower end of the FM band.
I was just listening to a recording from May 1973 in which Mike Ross reads a letter from a listener in Mundesley, North Norfolk. The guy was saying that he could receive RNI on 100 mhz albeit weak. Mike seemed sceptical of this reception, but I suppose it would be possible if conditions were right and more so on such a coastal location. Does anyone remember receiving the FM signal from RNI in England?
Near Sevenoaks in Kent, driving over Gracious Lane bridge over the A21. Interference from taxis.
Message Thread | This response ↓
« Back to index