© 2014-2021 Offshore Radio Museum
Radio Caroline - Technical
Transmitter
2 x 10Kw Continental Electronics 316B transmitters, coupled together in a combining unit
Aerial Height
155’ (47m) from deck level. The top 120’ (36.6m) was tubular welded-section steel mounted on 35’ (10.6m) of the original ship’s mast.
The station’s claimed height of 165’ (50.2m) was measured to the bottom of the keel.
The aerial was a wire cage series feed.
Top: Radio Engineer, Alan Turner playing the records in the Sound Control Room on board MV Caroline.
Above: Simon Dee in the studio with the radio engineer who actually played the records from the Sound Control Room.
Left: Tom Lodge and Jerry Leighton in the studio
Below: the aerial mast on board MV Caroline
Studio
1 x Gates Studioette mixer unit
2 x Gates 16” turntables
3 x Ampex tape recorders and amplifiers
2 x Spotmaster cartridge machines
1 x AKG D12 microphone
Radio Caroline’s early QSL cards
QSL Cards
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)
The above QSL card was sent to us by Martin A Shelley who sent a reception report on 29th June 1964 from his home in Saundersfoot, South Wales.
When the verification arrived (postmarked October 1964) the location of the MV Caroline had been amended, but clearly this was incorrect as the ship only arrived off the Isle of Man in early July 1964.
Martin had in fact been listening to the original Radio Caroline, anchored off Felixstowe, not Radio Caroline North from Ramsey Bay in the Isle of Man !
Thanks to Martin for allowing us to include this unique QSL card
