Red Sands Radio - Part 2c

Issue : 3

Updated : 17th November 2008

Control Tower from G1 walkway to catwalk position

Shivering Sands from the top of Red Sands G1 roof

Radio 390 broadcast hours 06.30 - Midnight on G2

G1 Tower Fort rooftop, antenna mast was placed centre & guyed to outer steel frame

Tony Pine by one of the 3.7" shell lockers & the Windfarm in the background

As the sun goes down ...

Builders scaffold tower goes up

First shot of the antenna work from sea compliments of Ian Boyle

For see the Simplon Postcards Passenger Ship Collection

4 stages erected

Another shot by Ian Boyle he said "taken using a 500mm lens on a bouncing small boat"

Well done & thanks you can see more of Ian's superb pictures at Simplon Postcards

5 Jet Skiers power by, any radios, life preservers - doubt it!

Scaffold Tower with another antenna stage slotted in

Press Release 6 - PDF File - 11th June 2007

Mark 1 Antenna with capacitance hat erected in builders scaffold tower

Alan Singleton of Pennine Controls & assistant Steve who supplied all our Power Generation & distribution plant

Control Tower with catwalk roller remnants

With the Fort cleaned out in crucial areas Peter Chicago along with everyone else delighted with the weekends achievements

Leaving the Fort on Sunday evening the 8th July a final look up at the antenna

Bottom doors secured, second top & roof doors due for the Big Phil treatment, the dreaded acetylene gas torch & club hammer?

With Red Sands Radio due to test on Friday the 13th July we'd have surely guessed our buoyant mood wouldn't last

This feature continues in Red Sands Radio - Part 3

16/08/07 - Open Email to Hi Hans Knot. As always, I enjoyed your report, but have been meaning to e-mail you for a couple of weeks as I was surprised to see no coverage of the Red Sands Radio broadcasts. Do you need any pictures or anything, or have I missed out on a report? I have a load of pictures if you need them, in fact I've been meaning to send Martin my second set taken when, with a couple of days notice, Bobi asked me to lend him a hand for last few days of the broadcast. Needless to say that to stay on & broadcast from the Tower, & also spend some time with Bob, along with Peter Chicago, Tony Pine & Robin Banks was a fairly easy decision which just coincided with a window work-wise & my wife being away for the weekend! There were some fascinating conversations along the way, along a few laughs, people seemed to enjoy the programs too. We were getting positive feedback from all over. Anyway, if you need anything for you next report, let me know. Regards, Rob Ashard

04/08/07 - Please allow me to submit a report to you. We were on holiday at the 'War And Peace' show in Beltring Kent from 15th July 2007 till 21st July 2007. I listened at various times with interest, as one of our team has a military radio truck fitted with HF radio equipment. We were using an Icom IC756 Pro transceiver & also a Racal RA1792 receiver with dipole antenna cut to 3.7mhz running approximateley east west with a center height of around 60 feet. Although the antenna was well out of band & you were 'end on' to it, your reception report was as follows. The day time signal strength was on average S9, with no fading or interference. During the night time there was some noticable interference probably from continental stations, but you were still very strong & perfecly audible.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the programs, they brought back many memories of the old Caroline / Radio London days. I really do hope that the station comes on the air again, hopefully in a more permenant capacity. Sadly, my home location is in the midlands, so well out of the coverage area, I did however appreciate the live stream to which I listened to the final hours when we arrived home. I look forward to hearing from you and keep up the good work. Best wishes - Tony Steele, Stoke On Trent
Staffordshire

01/08/07 - Dunno if you’re picking up email out there but if you are Well done, loud and clear online here in Sydney. Congratulations on a fine job. Cheers - Ian MaCrae

25/07/07 - I would like to say many thanks for the most enjoyable radio in a very long time, I do hope that you will be able to transmit again from the fort. I listened on 1278khz (236mw) old money with a very good signal in not so sunny Romford, Essex. Having worked on many London & Essex based free radio stations & Offshore Radio 1584 in which I helped build the studios & antenna in my back garden with Les Plock the rig, Les now works on Big L 1395 as Roger Davies a name he has used since the 70's on East London Radio.
Well that's enough of me boring you, if you required any help with
your next planned broadcast I would be the first to put his hand up and help out in any way. Being thanked by everybody is not enough for all the hard work that you & others put into the broadcast the music content was the best ever with a good mix for all ages WELL DONE. It was also great to hear Peter C on air the last time I heard him was on that bad day in Carolines history in 89 I was taking the phone calls that weekend for the Caroline Movement and boy was that a busy day for me & John Burch. All the best. Regards Allan K Reid (L.A.)

24/07/09 - Well done what a great job you & the others did. It stopped me from doing the day job on many occasions. The signal was great here in Medway. The content both live & recorded was excellant. I loved your chat with Peter yesterday. Well I guess I better take the anorak off & earn some pennies. Looking forward to seeing you at the Radio Acadamy do.Once again Bob a great job well executed. Regards Andrew Austin

24/07/07 - I am enjoying the station, fantastic to be on the Forts again. When do they plan to screen the programme on Meridian do you know please? Regards, Mike Terry

23/07/07 - Don't know if you remember but it was great to talk to you today during your interview with Peter Chicago. Must congratulate you for what you have achieved, once again showing Caroline how it should be done! I can now see your boat from my bedroom window,(on StMarys Island) assumeing it is moored next to a vessell with a cream/yellow hull! I am going out on one of you RiB trips in August. Hope you can repeat this venture again. Regards, Paul Haskell

23/07/07 - Have listened when I could to Red Sands Radio, the sound transports me straight back to the 60's - wonderful. Will you be having any CD's of the programmes available in the future? - Dave Brown

15/07/07 - Congratulations to you & all concerned with getting the statioin on air. As if it was meant to be, I was waiting for the ferry to Calais this morning in Dover & I tuned in to 1278. Much to my surprise it was my own show on air! Later when I arrived in Calais I stayed tuned during a long part of the journey.
Just wanted to let you know. Take care, Sietse Brouwer

14/07/07 - Hello, In my qth I receiven Radio Red Sands on 1278 khz. My qth Dokkum, The North of The Netherlands. No problem during daytime to receive. And can you give me a map about the qth from this fort? Greetings, Henk from Dokkum

14/07/07 - Congratulations on your station finally up & running, Have been listening to Red Sands Radio on 1278 from a remote controlled receiver on the internet located at Gosport Hants. This was from around 10.30am till 11.18am today (Saturday). The signal was weak from 10.30 until 10.50, then the signal came up a bit & the announcements were quite readable. Will send you a reception report & a CD of what was heard. Heard Radio Caroline North back in 1963 from Invercargill in New Zealand, & was on the HMNZS Canterbury in 1972 when we were alongside Ijmuiden, & lo and behold there was Radio Caroline North & South tied up together aft of us. A small world. Regards, Tony Magon VK2IC, Sydney Australia

QSL Cards - We have been inundated with requests for Red Sands Radio QSL Cards, these are now ready & have been posted

Unfortunately we've recieved mail that didn't include the requested Stamps, Reply Coupons or Cash & therefore some may not recieve a QSL

If you would still like a QSL Card please send three 1st Class Stamps, 3 International Reply Coupons or Cash to:

Red Sands Radio, PO Box 299, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 2YA, United Kingdom

We now offer trips & excursions on our tender the X-Pilot for more information & booking see Boat Trips

For all of the features on Red Sands & its Radio Stations navigate from Red Sands Rendezvous

For a brief history of all the Thames Estuary Forts see Fort Fax

For the full history of Radio from Redsands on CD & the range of our other documentaries, the Sealand VCD, books on the Forts go to Offshore Shop