© 2014-2021 Offshore Radio Museum
Radio London - Technical
Transmitter
50Kw RCA BTA 50H transmitter. Initial power 17kW, increased to (claimed) 50kW in April 1966.
Standby transmitter - 10 Kw RCA BTA 10J
A new 75kW transmitter was claimed to have been installed in June 1966, but the apparent increase in signal strength was achieved by minor modifications to the aerial.
Aerial Height
The aerial mast was tubular tapered welded-section steel 150’ (46m) high from deck level.
The aerial was a shunt feed type.
The station claimed an aerial height of 212’ (64.6m) and had originally planned it to be 215’ (65.5m) high with a capacity hat.
Above: the Radio London News Studio
Below: Tony Blackburn in the main studio on board Galaxy
Studio
The initial studio comprised:-
2 x 16 inch Gates turntables
1 x Ampex tape machine
1 x Scully playback machine
3 x RCA cartridge machines
1 x AKG microphone
RCA 4 channel mixer
An additional studio (constructed in 1966) comprised:-
1 x 10 channel mixing console
3 x Gates turntables
1 x Scully playback machine
1 x Ampex tape machine
1 x AKG microphone
Right: The aerial mast on board Galaxy
QSL Card
Radio station engineering departments issue QSL cards to verify reception reports received from listeners
Thanks to Ian Anderson for providing information from his research into offshore radio aerial masts (originally published in Offshore Echos Magazine December 2007 and April 2008)
Left: Close upof the studio microphone