Your Station - Technical Stuff

 

Isle Of Wight Radio's broadcast history begins on Sunday April 15th 1990, on Briddlesford Farm, with a purpose-built 1kw AM transmitter pumping out 200 watts on 1242khz AM. The switch to FM in March 1998 meant the loss of some listeners on the south coast of England, mainland Europe and Scandinavia; however it did give the Island high-quality coverage in FM stereo!

Isle Of Wight Radio is now broadcast from four different transmitters. Most of the Island (and sometimes beyond!) is covered by the transmitter on Chillerton Down, 208 metres high, on 107.00mhz FM. The difficult relief of the Island means we also need to use low-power relays on 102.00mhz FM to cover blackspots in Ventnor, Ryde and Cowes.

 

Contact us!  

If you are experiencing reception difficulties please get in touch. You can call us on (01983) 822557 or fill in our online form, and select 'Engineering'. If you're a 'long distance' listener please let us know!

 

Having problems receiving Isle Of Wight Radio?  

This may be partly due to relief of the Island and the relatively low-power of our transmissions. However you can improve reception by comparing frequencies - in general, FM 107 serves the island best, with FM 102 better in Ventnor and parts of Ryde and Cowes. If reception is difficult, it's usually worth trying retuning.

 

Improving reception  

It's worth checking your aerial. Make sure that your FM aerial is connected and fully extended - this is just as important for car radios. If you don't have an aerial, they are readily available at very little cost from hi-fi stores on the Island.

You can improve reception even further by using an external or loft aerial. Similar in shape and size to a roof TV aerial, a directional aerial will almost certainly dramatically improve recption on your hi-fi system. Again, hi-fi stores will be able to help and they will also give you advice on installation.

 

Other problems  

Although IW Radio uses the same mast on Chillerton Down as the other mainland radio stations, it's worth remembering that we are using much less power than they are. They serve the South of England, while the Radio Authority have granted us enough power to serve only the Island.

 

You may find that the "auto-tune" function on your radio skips over IW Radio. It's easy to find us though - select "manual tuning" and find either FM 107 or 102. 

Reception on portable radios can be improved by moving them closer to a window. Listening to IW Radio on a walkman can be difficult (especially on the beach where it's difficult to "see" a transmitter) although don't forget that your headphone cable is probably acting as an aerial and will probably work better in a different position.