Radio Delmare: Difference between revisions
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'''Radio Delmare''' was a project by enthusiasts in 1977 to restore a Dutch radio ship, about three years after Veronica and [[Radio North Sea International|RNI]] went off air. In May 1977 they bought MV "Aegir" and made it ready. |
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== Preemptive raid == |
== Preemptive raid == |
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The first broadcast was to have been aired on Monday 26 June 1978 but the Dutch Radio Control Office and police, already aware a radio ship was equipped, boarded the ship on Friday, June 23 at the Neherkade in [[The Hague]]'s Laakwartier harbour quarter. They had been alerted by a man who did not want his son to take part in the plans to set sail for the North Sea in the next few days. Equipment was confiscated and the ship was made unseaworthy by taking away its anchor and steering wheel. |
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For a year and a half, they managed to keep their project secret - even the free radio society insiders knew nothing about it. Had everything gone as planned and they would have managed to pass customs, then the first broadcast from the station, called Weekend Muziek Radio, would have been on air on Monday the 26th of June 1978. Because of the raid was this no longer possible; with a truck they removed all their possessions: AM and FM-transmitters, the whole studio line-up, thousands of records, record- and tape archive, books, diagrams etc. |
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== International waters == |
== International waters == |
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The enthusiasts bribed a lockmaster to slip away to the [[:nl:Rijn-Schiekanaal|Rijn-Schiekanaal]], sailing into open waters with food, oil and other provisions. In early July they entered the [[harbour]] at Maassluis, near [[Rotterdam]] with the name of the ship changed to "Flip". Two weeks later they sailed to [[Ostend]] and brought on board two [[Marconi transmitters]] formerly used by the [[Belgium|Belgian]] colonial army in the [[Belgian Congo|Congo]]. Each of the transmitters had 3 kW of power. Damage during installation limited them to a few hundred Watts, and also the radio crystals were missing, which caused a very unstable frequency output with an unusual broad bandwidth providing a high spectral [[amplitude modulation]]. The studio contained two Revox A77 reel recorders, four FTM-spotmasters, two Thorens turntables, two AKG microphones and a mixer. |
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The damage was about €20,000, but the ship was not confiscated and so they used it to go out immediately into the open sea. Food, oil and everything else we needed was still on board, so they could hold it out for some time. |
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Early July they went into the harbour of Maassluis (near Rotterdam) with the name of the ship changed into "Flip". Two weeks later they went into the town Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, where the anchor chain was pulled on-board. Through the Zeelandbrug (Sealandbridge) we went on July 16 to Oostende (Belgium) where a week later the transmitters were brought on board. This was registered by a camera-team from Veronica TV who showed this operation in their television program called "Info." |
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Among the equipment that brought onboard in Oostende were 2 Marconi transmitters which came from the Belgium army, 3 kW power each. Though when bringing them on board they got a little damaged, such as the endtubes, that was the cause why the first broadcasts didn't work out so well. Only a few hundred Watt was managed to pull out of them, nevertheless because of the advertisers they had to go into the air and so it was decided to get going with it. The studio-equipment contained 2 Revox A77 reelrecorders, 4 FTM-spotmasters, 2 Thorens turntables, 2 AKG-microphones and a mixer with multi channels. |
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== Broadcasting == |
== Broadcasting == |
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The station name changed to Radio Delmare with the theme tune "The Eve Of The War" by [[Jeff Wayne]]. Over 2000 listener reports in total were claimed from coastal and inland areas around the Netherlands and Belgium. The station aired old tapes from Radio Caroline and some non-stop music. These were live but did not contain much speech. The disc jockey for the first hour was René de Leeuw. The MV Aegir became stranded on 11 September 1978 as the improvised anchor failed at the first Force 6 wind of the season. During the scrapping of her wreck spare parts were gathered for the [[MV Mi Amigo]] on which it was planned to resume broadcasts of Radio Delmare. The MV Mi Amigo board technicians received a saved and badly needed second generator from [[Gerard van Dam]], owner of the MV Aegir as well as the MV Aegir and the newly accessed vessel MV Scheveningen 54, which was for the time being used as a tender ship. [[Ronan O'Rahilly]], operator of Radio Caroline on board of the MV Mi Amigo, however, refused to give up historical rights to the ship, so Van Dam had to change plans to revive Radio Delmare and the MV Martina was bought to be equipped as its next offshore radio ship. It broadcast for a three-week period during the summer of 1979. |
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They changed the station's name from Radio Nordzee International to "Radio Delmare," never "Weekend Music Radio" as up till then by the Press had dubbed the project. For theme tune they choose to take the title "The Eve Of The War" from [[Jeff Wayne]]. |
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Despite the miserable power, they were received by a rather big audience. Over 2000 listener reports, which were sent to then, showed that we not only could be heard in the Netherlands and Belgium at the coastal areas but also further into the country and even from England reports were sent. |
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The modulation was for the first days very poor, but due to some hard work they were after a few days already able to improve it and the rest of the test broadcasts went, according to the circumstances, rather good. During those first days we aired old program tapes from Radio Caroline and some non-stop programs, who were that is true done live, but contained not much spoken words. The diskjockey from the first hour was Rene de Leeuw, he became bored quickly from that non-stop music and rather wanted to go over into real spoken programs which he endured daily for 7 hours in a row. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://members.home.nl/theovanhalsema/dossierdelmare03a.html] |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195553/http://members.home.nl/theovanhalsema/dossierdelmare03a.html members.home.nl] |
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[[Category:Offshore radio|Delmare, Radio]] |
[[Category:Offshore radio|Delmare, Radio]] |
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Latest revision as of 06:37, 17 November 2022
 |
Radio Delmare was a project by enthusiasts in 1977 to restore a Dutch radio ship, about three years after Veronica and RNI went off air. In May 1977 they bought MV "Aegir" and made it ready.
Preemptive raid[edit]
The first broadcast was to have been aired on Monday 26 June 1978 but the Dutch Radio Control Office and police, already aware a radio ship was equipped, boarded the ship on Friday, June 23 at the Neherkade in The Hague's Laakwartier harbour quarter. They had been alerted by a man who did not want his son to take part in the plans to set sail for the North Sea in the next few days. Equipment was confiscated and the ship was made unseaworthy by taking away its anchor and steering wheel.
International waters[edit]
The enthusiasts bribed a lockmaster to slip away to the Rijn-Schiekanaal, sailing into open waters with food, oil and other provisions. In early July they entered the harbour at Maassluis, near Rotterdam with the name of the ship changed to "Flip". Two weeks later they sailed to Ostend and brought on board two Marconi transmitters formerly used by the Belgian colonial army in the Congo. Each of the transmitters had 3 kW of power. Damage during installation limited them to a few hundred Watts, and also the radio crystals were missing, which caused a very unstable frequency output with an unusual broad bandwidth providing a high spectral amplitude modulation. The studio contained two Revox A77 reel recorders, four FTM-spotmasters, two Thorens turntables, two AKG microphones and a mixer.
Broadcasting[edit]
The station name changed to Radio Delmare with the theme tune "The Eve Of The War" by Jeff Wayne. Over 2000 listener reports in total were claimed from coastal and inland areas around the Netherlands and Belgium. The station aired old tapes from Radio Caroline and some non-stop music. These were live but did not contain much speech. The disc jockey for the first hour was René de Leeuw. The MV Aegir became stranded on 11 September 1978 as the improvised anchor failed at the first Force 6 wind of the season. During the scrapping of her wreck spare parts were gathered for the MV Mi Amigo on which it was planned to resume broadcasts of Radio Delmare. The MV Mi Amigo board technicians received a saved and badly needed second generator from Gerard van Dam, owner of the MV Aegir as well as the MV Aegir and the newly accessed vessel MV Scheveningen 54, which was for the time being used as a tender ship. Ronan O'Rahilly, operator of Radio Caroline on board of the MV Mi Amigo, however, refused to give up historical rights to the ship, so Van Dam had to change plans to revive Radio Delmare and the MV Martina was bought to be equipped as its next offshore radio ship. It broadcast for a three-week period during the summer of 1979.