Radio Caroline

[davidej]

The Boat that Rocked featured a lightship rather than the Ross Revenge or Mio Amigo. I think it is now a tourist attraction next to Halfpenny Pier.

An amusing film nevertheless.

 

[oldgit]

Did go aboard for quick look round when she was in Queenborough.
Go on to Google Earth, type in "Radio Caroline" to see her location on the Blackwater.

 

[Slowboat35]

Ah! Caroline! And earlier Luxembourg. I used to spend hours under the covers in bed fiddling with microscopically sensitive tuning listening to them with a single hearing-aid style earphone via my tiny tinny AM transistor radio the size of a fag packet that I was so proud of. The sound quality was abysmal but then you were listeing in to thrilling, illegal Caroline (!) or the equaslly subversive and illegal exciting international Pirate station Luxembourg. Pirate radio! It was genuinely shocking and offensive to the mainstream at the time.
Sometimes the white noise and whoops and whoos and whines and wow-wow-wow howls let you grab a few thrilling yet distorted moments of the Doors or the Stones or T-Rex or - God bless him, Peely of immortal memory - oh! happy days! Some nights you couldn't hear a thng but atmospherics, occasionally the aether relented and the music came across clear and free for hours, though that was a rare event.
Then, only a year or two later we got "HiFi", scabby Rotel tuner-amps, cassettes (eeeuw!) and even scabbier Garard SP25 turntables from Lasky's cheap as chips with harmonic diatortion, wow and flutter and crosstalk to challenge the tiny tranny - and already the magic was bleeding out.
The quality of the same music today may be infinitely better but the experience bears no resemblance. None at all.

Now when I hear those tunes I thank God the memories remain.

But oh! how I miss Peely. And Bolan. Leave alone those 'snuggles' with Beverly Grubb...

 

[billskip]

I have a Rasbery Pi set up as a music box to stream from the internet (it can also play stored music on it's memory card and a few other tricks)

My only regret is I can't get it in the car.

Wow it must be big

 

[xyachtdave]

Ah! Caroline! And earlier Luxembourg. I used to spend hours under the covers in bed fiddling with microscopically sensitive tuning listening to them with a single hearing-aid style earphone via my tiny tinny AM transistor radio the size of a fag packet that I was so proud of. The sound quality was abysmal but then you were listeing in to thrilling, illegal Caroline (!) or the equaslly subversive and illegal exciting international Pirate station Luxembourg. Pirate radio! It was genuinely shocking and offensive to the mainstream at the time.
Sometimes the white noise and whoops and whoos and whines and wow-wow-wow howls let you grab a few thrilling yet distorted moments of the Doors or the Stones or T-Rex or - God bless him, Peely of immortal memory - oh! happy days! Some nights you couldn't hear a thng but atmospherics, occasionally the aether relented and the music came across clear and free for hours, though that was a rare event.
Then, only a year or two later we got "HiFi", scabby Rotel tuner-amps, cassettes (eeeuw!) and even scabbier Garard SP25 turntables from Lasky's cheap as chips with harmonic diatortion, wow and flutter and crosstalk to challenge the tiny tranny - and already the magic was bleeding out.
The quality of the same music today may be infinitely better but the experience bears no resemblance. None at all.

Now when I hear those tunes I thank God the memories remain.

But oh! how I miss Peely. And Bolan. Leave alone those 'snuggles' with Beverly Grubb...

Agree with the above, good times. I remember driving to Wales from Kent listening to Atlantic 252 on mw with The Doors crackling away late one evening.

I shall have tune in later and see if it’s still around.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Just wondering where exactly the Radio Caroline ship sank in the Thames Estuary .

And should it be called something like Caroline Sands ?

 

[tillergirl]

Mi Amico by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

Image courtesy of Imray.

Somewhere I have a sonar image of her (I do need to sort out my directories!). She split in two grounding on the edge of the Long Sand (see #4)

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Mi Amico by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

Image courtesy of Imray.

Somewhere I have a sonar image of her (I do need to sort out my directories!). She split in two grounding on the edge of the Long Sand (see #4)

Excellent. Thanks.
I think they are still searching for Tony Blackburn's teeth.

 

[Aquaboy]

and the funny thing is most of the pirate D.J.'s ended up at the BBC...

 

[johnalison]

Mi Amico by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

Image courtesy of Imray.

Somewhere I have a sonar image of her (I do need to sort out my directories!). She split in two grounding on the edge of the Long Sand (see #4)

That would fit with our usual passage in my photo. Long before GPS or even Decca, we seldom had the faintest idea where we were.

 

[oldgit]

Can remember a gathering of Caroline enthusiasts on Beacon Hill near the Army base at Chattenden.
Radio mast located there was being used to jam the Caroline MW transmission .

Curiously 50+ years later now live just below the site.
The mast is still there with its Red light on the top.

Serious fred drift... ?
Anybody remember Radio Geronimo: from Harley Street to Monte Carlo
During the late 1960s along with AFN a constantly fading signal carrying Jefferson Airplane, Doors and Buffalo Springfield as an antidote to sickly mix of safe BBC approved Mat Monro, Val Doonigan, Cliff clones.

 

[Boo2]

Poor story line, cheap production but thoroughly enjoyable.

Like life, really.

Boo2

 

[Keith 66]

Radio Caroline is also available on Freeview channel 277.

 

[oldgit]

Radio Caroline is also available on Freeview channel 277.

Anybody else noticed the 648 MW signal varies in strength.
Judging by the drop in signal, it is considerable reduction in output power.

 

[Cantata]

Living in Herne Bay as a teenager (and still living there!) we are pretty much due S of Caroline and the two forts that were occupied by pirate stations, the Red Sand Towers and Shivering Sand Towers. When the government decided to jam them, we could simply get round it because the jamming signal was coming from the west (from Chatham, I think?) and we could carefully align our transistor radios to cut out the jamming signal and still listen to the stations.

 

[Aquaboy]

I had a night in Herne Bay back in the summer.... only 3 local boats in there, the other 20 or so buoys all unused.

 

[Cantata]

I had a night in Herne Bay back in the summer.... only 3 local boats in there, the other 20 or so buoys all unused.

It's the mud........
Local Council 'run' the harbour and (typically) have no interest in encouraging visitors.

 

[oldgit]

Hernia Bay.
Bit to "exposed" for me, we will happly take to the ground if the bottom is "right" ie. Conyer or Faversham.
Suspect its a bit "hard" for us Mobos and of course sod all to do ashore compared to Ramsgate.

Was there not some hare brained scheme to build a "proper" marina around there a few years ago .
As one time resident on the Isle of Sheep have spend time on the cliffs at Warden Bay looking out across to Whitstable and very glad to be firmly ashore.
Anyone who has ever been in the area in a bracing and refreshing NE knows it gets bit choppy and confused on the surface with the thought that there is probably not a lot of water under you.

 

[Cantata]

The bottom in the harbour is deep soft mud. The CG use it as a National venue for trying out new ideas for mud rescue!
Yes there were some daft marina ideas a while back.
There are some very acceptable restaurants here these days.

 

[oldgit]

The bottom in the harbour is deep soft mud. The CG use it as a National venue for trying out new ideas for mud rescue!
Yes there were some daft marina ideas a while back.
There are some very acceptable restaurants here these days.

Went by car to watch a excellent air show there a few years ago.