Between my first two trips, some stations had closed, but many new ones had commenced broadcasting, whilst some had even come and gone. We could obviously only monitor the stronger medium wave signals on the Lancashire coast, but even so, a lot of changes were heard.

Double R Radio (1035kHz) which was testing in August 1981 had gone and was replaced by Radio Westside on the same frequency. The battle between the Dublin stations in the 1134-1170kHz range seemed to have been sorted, with Radio City finally settling on 1161kHz, rather than the off channel 1165kHz and Alternative Radio Dublin staying on 1143kHz instead of moving to 1134kHz at night. Bray Local Broadcasting had been forced to move from 828kHz to 657kHz due to severe splatter from Radio Nova, who had put on a massive 10kW signal from the Greenacres Country Club on the adjacent 846kHz. This transmitter was not seen on our August 1981 trip, and was obviously delivered and installed pretty quickly, as broadcasts began from 12th September 1981. A possible early reference to this was on a 'Captains News' broadcast earlier in the year on Radio Dublin, when Eamonn had commented that Sunshine Radio had ordered a 10kW transmitter. As this was around the time that Chris Cary left the station, this could well have been the one destined for Radio Nova. Another 10kW transmitter was also in the country at this time, and ended up on the ill-fated Radio Paradijs vessel, which was fitted out at a Dublin quayside during the Summer of 1981.

The Irish Christian Broadcasting Service (I.C.B.S.) was missed during our August visit as it operated only for a few hours at the weekend and evenings. It broadcast Christian programmes from a church based in Finglas, North Dublin. Their frequency was 1071kHz and signal was particularly good. Programming from this station was also becoming more regular.

Year in, year out, since Radio Dublin began 7 day broadcasts, there had always been rumblings within the Dublin government that legislation to outlaw the 'pirates' was imminent. However, the appearance of Radio Nova and its high power signals were, by the end of 1981 beginning to heavily ruffle feathers at both RTE and in the government. A Radio Nova 'Rileys Review' from 3rd December 1981 tried to make light of the latest threat. Terry Riley, Nova's then American newsreader who each morning scanned the Irish press, scoffed and gave his normal outspoken views at the announcement of 'community radio to replace the pirates'. He became even more cynical about it all when on the same day the latest survey reported that 60% of 18-25 year olds in Dublin listened to the 'commercial pirates', putting RTE Radio 2, the national pop station well down the list. Perhaps this figure, along with possible loss in advertising revenue to RTE, and not the eagerness for community radio, was the real reason for the latest bill. Whatever it was, the end of another year passed without any new laws on the statute book. However, Radio Nova would be the centre of problems for the 'pirates' for some time to come, much to the annoyance of more local stations.

Amongst stations which were new during the latter part of 1981 was Island Radio from Dalkey. This had an excellent quality FM signal, but was unfortunately short lived. It was believed to be an offshoot from Southside Radio and first monitored during late November on 98.2MHz. A medium wave outlet was also heard on 1314kHz which was possibly the old Sonic Independent Radio transmitter in Shankill. Sonic had disappeared shortly after our visit in August, then an East Coast Radio had briefly appeared on 1314kHz on which Steven Bishop (ex-Caroline) and Nigel Roberts were heard. During late November, Steven Bishop began a long stint on Sunshine Radio as John Lewis. Staff heard on Island Radio included Mark Boland and engineer Keith York, both of whom were previously on SSR. The last known logging of Island Radio was in January 1982 and the reason for its closure was possibly problems at the Cliff Castle Hotel studio / transmitter site.

A station calling itself ABC Radio - The Alternative Broadcasting Channel made an appearance on an announced 1385kHz, 217m during December 1981.They were located in O'Briens Hotel, Parnell Street in Dublin City centre. The signal in the UK was not too strong and suffered from interference because the frequency was between two channels, measured around 1382 or 1383kHz. The station was reported also on about 1251kHz, and could well have been the early days of the ABC Radio which was to put out a good signal on 981kHz / 963kHz later in 1982.

Outside Dublin, from March 31st 1982 Community Radio Fingal began putting out a strong signal from the Rockabill Hotel on South Strand, Skerries, North County Dublin on 1584kHz. This station would move several times but broadcast right up until legislation in 1988.

Wicklow Local Radio from Ferrybank, County Wicklow had been noted during the Summer on 1111kHz, were by now well established on 1359kHz and heard strong on the Welsh coast, but poorly in Lancashire due to the powerful Manx Radio on 1368kHz. W.L.R had been heard regularly during 1981, but we did not have time to visit the area in August. A station in Wicklow had also been heard on 1134kHz.

Further South, Arklow Community Radio had appeared on the strange channel of 1201kHz. This was again weak in Lancashire and subject to interference from BBC Radio 3 on 1215kHz as well as Telstar Community Radio (Blackrock) on 1197kHz.

With Southside Radio on 999kHz becoming intermittent, a station in Wexford could be heard on occasions. WABC in Ballaghedereen briefly attempted to change frequency to 1071kHz, but had problems and went back to 1368kHz. They later changed to 1040kHz just before ceasing operation. It is not known exactly when they went off the air in Ballaghedereen, but the entire station was sold (reportedly including the services of Eamonn Brooks), to Alternative Radio West in Ballina, County Mayo. A.R.W were first logged during January 1982 operating on an announced 265metres. We have no confirmation of the exact frequency, but 1130kHz and 1134kHz were occasionally mentioned. As 1130kHz is a mid channel frequency and would have easily been heard by dx-ers in the winter months, it is assumed that 1134kHz was the more probable channel.

The Trip

I had travelled to Blackpool on the Saturday 3rd April to join up with Ruth and Barrie, and meet Warren Stevenson, who was also touring with us.A last tune around the band was made that day to make an updated list from which we would be working from during the following day. With more and more stations using FM we hoped to accurately list as many as we could, as most could not be heard in the UK.

As with all the early trips, we sailed from Liverpool on the overnight ferry. Liverpool sailings were discontinued in later years due to disputes of one sort or another, and a long trip to Holyhead had to be made from the mid 1980's. We arrived in Dublin around 0700 as foot passengers, and a hire car was waiting for us (a Fiat estate I think). Space was at a premium, but we managed to cram everyone in, as well as a limited amount of radio and recording equipment. My memories are a little vague of the first day, probably due to having taken too many travel sickness tablets! I was, and still am not a very good sailor, but suffered in the cause of free radio. We must have gone for breakfast somewhere, but where?? Perhaps everyone else had breakfast on the ferry whilst I was indisposed!! The few photographs remaining from that day begin to jog memories, and I now recall Radio Nova as being the first station visited. We arrived outside 19 Herbert Street during the breakfast show. Being Sunday morning, the roads were very quiet and we found it quite easily.

There was no disguising where the station was operating from, there being a plaque at the door proclaiming that 'Nova Media Services' was housed here.A security camera pointed down at the doorway as we rang the bell.When the door was answered we explained who we were and were kindly allowed inside. It was the first time I had properly been into the newly refurbished 19 Herbert Street studios. (During the previous visit, the studios had been moved to the transmitter site at Rathfarnam, and looking from the door Herbert Street appeared full of boxes.) The legendary Don Allen was on the air at the time. Don was only at Radio Nova for a short time, and presented the weekend breakfast show, as well as some late night programmes.This was the first time I had met any of the famous offshore broadcasters from the 1960's. I felt that Don, being more a country music fan wasn't really enjoying the Radio Nova format, and not long after he left to join Radio Carousel in Navan. Nova was the best equipped station I had seen to date. They had obviously put plenty of money into the operation. The on-air studio consisted of proper broadcast equipment, not just hi-fi / disco equipment that we had seen in most other stations. Cart machines were used to play both commercials and some of the music. The production studio was similarly kitted out, and included a reel-to-reel editing suite. The transmitters were no longer at this site, and since the previous August had been re-located to the Greenacres Country Club, Rathfarnham. Radio Nova were probably the first 'unlicensed' station to use a UHF link to their transmitter site. Most other stations used an FM transmitter from the studio to medium wave site. We stayed at Herbert street for a couple of hours, chatting with Don, and also Jason Mayne who followed Don on the mid-morning slot. Jason was a friendly guy. I liked his programmes a lot as he always sounded to be really enjoying himself. We said our goodbyes and headed off at around 1000.

By 1100 we had arrived at Sunshine Radio in Portmarnock. The station setup had changed greatly since our previous visit and was now also broadcasting on FM, 91.6MHz in stereo. This service had begun just prior to Christmas. The story goes that originally, Sunshine was intending to use around 88MHz as this would have meant that listeners switching between AM and FM would have received the station in the same dial position on most radios. However Radio Nova had already taken that end of the band in June 1981, and 91.6MHz was possibly the nearest clear area for a large signal. The studios were no longer inside the Sands Hotel, but purpose built in a portakabin at the rear. I recall an Alsation dog patrolling around the station, but we were eventually allowed inside. On entering, the cabin was split into four rooms. The on-air studio was at one end (to the right when entering the cabin), with the production studio next door and a news booth. The centre of the cabin consisted of a technical room, where the engineers built and repaired equipment, and finally the largest room (left end) contained the office and record library. Martin King was on the air at the time. I had heard him on the air, but had not seen him before. The girls had, and fussed around their neatly dressed 'pop star looking idol'!! John Lewis followed Martin on the air at 1200, and was in the first photo session of the tour. It was good to see that John had realised his wishes from our previous meeting at Southside Radio, and had indeed landed himself a good position at Sunshine Radio. Apart from the weekends, Johnny hosted the weekday overnight slot between midnight and 0600. I remember him saying that he enjoyed this, as although it was a long shift, he could deviate from the playlist with music he liked, as well as entertaining night workers such as nurses who would ring up for chats and requests. Declan Meehan followed Johnny, started his show at 3pm with quietly spoken Cathy Cregan hosting from 1800-2100. We spent quite a long time in the station before driving around into a street at the rear of the hotel where Robbie Dale lived with his wife Stella. It was easy to see why the deejays were nervous about unauthorised persons entering the station, as Robbie could see most of the movement from the comfort of his own windows!! This was the second time in the morning that I had met a 60's offshore hero. Whereas Don Allen was quiet, Robbie was the opposite and had that air of authority about him. It made me feel nervous. I must have appeared particularly stupid, being lost for words whilst being asked simple questions. Despite this, Robbie seemed quite an amiable chap and although it appeared on the air he did not want to make reference to the 'good old days', he talked fondly of those times to us. There was also plenty of memorabilia of Radio Caroline around the lounge. I left Robbie's house glad that I had met him, although feeling a bit of an 'intruding anorak'!

We stayed that night at the Sands Hotel. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake, as the rf from the Sunshine aerials on the roof meant that any sort of dx-ing was more or less ruled out. Overload of our radios meant that on medium wave Sunshine could be heard in the background over most of the band, whilst on FM, spurious signals popped up everywhere. It has to be said however, that this was caused by our inadequately designed radio circuits and not by any problem with the Sunshine Radio transmitters. So it was that Sunshine Radio was monitored all evening and the following morning. At this time, Sunshine had a Sunday evening country music programme with Bill McLaughlin. He was heard following Cathy, from 9pm to midnight. This specialist show was discontinued in later years when the 'Hot Hits' format started.

One of the few stations that could be heard in the Sands Hotel was Community Radio Fingal on 1584kHz. They were located only a few miles North of Portmarnock and we listened for a while until it was time to leave for the second city. Travelling out of Dublin, as we listened to Radio Nova, to our surprise there was a voice familiar to most offshore radio fanatics. Warren had been corresponding with Andy Archer, who was on Devonair Radio in Plymouth and had recently mentioned an interest in Dublin's Radio Nova. Andy Archer had in fact just joined his old Radio Caroline and RNI colleague Chris Cary and was sounding well on what was possibly his first mid-morning show. He certainly had not been on the air when we left the U.K.

Driving along the Naas Road, the band was scanned to check how far the city stations were travelling on both the AM and FM bands. As expected the powerful transmitters of Radio Nova travelled further than most, although Sunshine Radio on 531kHz travelled well down country. As we passed through Naas, Kildare Community Radio on 1400kHz, were not on the air. However if I recall, they normally tended to sign on later in the morning. Also missing was W.K.R.C. on 1250kHz, in Newbridge, allowing Radio Dublin Channel 2 to be heard a little better on the outskirts of Dublin than the previous August. It was thought that shortly before our visit, the transmitter of W.K.R.C. had found its way to a West Coast Community Radio in Galway. That station was originally reported during January 1982 on 240metres (which was probably the original 1250kHz crystal), but later moved to 1125kHz where it was heard across Europe.

Once we had passed through Newbridge, I began to get excited as this was new territory for me. (In August 81 we had turned off the main road near Newbridge to travel across the peat bogs towards Ballaghedereen.) The further West we travelled, the quieter the band went. We were a little too far away to hear Radio Carol Ann from Athlone, K.C.R. from Kilkenny, and Radio Carlow, so we were unsure if these stations were on the air at that time. It was beginning to look as though there were no stations broadcasting on the main route between Dublin and Cork, until a whistle began to appear on around 1161kHz as we approached Portlaoise. In the town itself the signal was not particularly strong, and did not increase much as we travelled further towards Cork. We decided to stop in Abbeyleix for a drink, and to try and discover the approximate location of this new station. A young lady then announced that this was a test transmission on 1160kHz, 258metres for Laois Community Radio. No FM signal was monitored at this time, but by the following afternoon a parallel signal had appeared on 102.3MHz. The station was obviously in its infancy, as both signals were only covering a small area, the medium wave in particular, compared to what it would in later years. It was discovered from announcements and commercials that the station was from Mountrath. A telephone number was given out, although no address was actually heard. Due to time constraints it was impossible for us to make a detour to track down the studios, as we only had one night to visit Cork City itself.

Thurles was a town where a station had been reported in the past, (on 230m and 1098kHz) but once again the bands were silent as we skirted by. Through Cashel things were quiet, although as we aproached Cahir, a weak signal was apparent from C.B.C. in Clonmel on 828kHz. Though not received on this trip, they were also now being relayed on 1512kHz from Carrick-on-Suir, via the transmitter of the former local station Radio Carrick (see 1981 story Part 2). We hoped to hear Tipperary Community Radio at this point, which had eluded us on the August 1981 trip, but unfortunately again nothing was noted on the expected 1327kHz. We began to wonder whether some of these smaller stations had similar broadcast times to Community Radio Youghal, and were only on-air for a couple of hours at mid-day and early evening. If this was the case we could easily have missed many stations. Nothing was heard as we went through Fermoy, the last big town before reaching Cork City.

Arriving on the outskirts of Cork at around 4pm we were mystified as to why there was no sign of the new station, South Coast Radio. They had been logged late at night on 1557kHz for the previous few weeks in the UK and Europe . Despite this however, both the AM and FM bands were still very much alive. A quick bandscan on medium wave saw the three oldest stations in the city still sounding well. These being Cork City Local Radio on 1131kHz, Radio City on 1246kHz and Capital Radio on 1312kHz. On FM, audio on the outlet of Radio Caroline Cork on 98.8MHz was much improved to the distortion we had experienced the previous August. Radio City also still had its FM outlet on 95.5MHz., and there was a new station called Leeside Community Radio on 102.3MHz.

The Hotel Metropole was our base for the night, and this also housed the South Coast Radio studio. South Coast had been on the air since mid-March and attempted to parallel the large stations in Dublin with specially commissioned jingle packages. It also began to attract foreign staff. I was a little concerned that following the problems attempting to listen to stations at the Sands Hotel, that the same would happen at the Metropole. These concerns were unfounded, and I needn't have worried as not only was the South Coast Radio AM transmitter not located there, but the station was also about to move both studio and FM location. We booked into the hotel, and went to find the studios, which were in a specially converted upstairs hotel bedroom. It was then discovered why the station was not on the air. They had been ordered to leave the hotel, following pressure from one of the local newspapers, which had a large interest in the hotel, and which appeared to be on a crusade to close down all pirate stations, a crusade which was to last throughout the 1980's. As we entered the studios, there was unfortunately little left to photograph which was a shame as the staff told us it had been very impressive.

We were taken a short distance from the Metropole, half way up a hill to a row of older terraced housing. It was here where all the equipment was being hastily re-installed. The new 'studios' were in the attic of a 3 story house and as we climbed to the top, it was obvious the engineers and other staff had been very busy. The mixing desk, decks and cartridge machines had been all wired up and were ready for use. The walls had been covered in red drapes in an attempt to improve the acoustics. There was a hole knocked in the wall. This was for a window to the proposed news and production area. A few photos were taken of these initial stages. (See April 1982 gallery.) Engineer Keith York and others worked through the night to get the station ready for Tuesday morning 5th April, when it would sign back on from the new location. The station normally operated 24 hours per day, so this was a chance to hear a rare sign-on. The FM transmitter was located at the studio site and was tuned to 103.5MHz, although 104MHz was announced. It is believed that the power was between 50 and 100 watts at this time. The MW equipment was located outside of the city on the airport side, and in the first year was an 'ET' transmitter, which probably output 300+ watts. A year later this changed however, as plans were already being formed for the installation of a 10kW MW transmitter.

Both Radio Caroline Cork and Leeside Community Radio were heard signing off at 6pm. (Hear these in the 1982 real audio section). The signal from Leeside was extremely strong in the Metropole area (on the banks of the River Lee), and it was hoped to track it down and make a visit the following morning. Cork City Local Radio signed off at around 8pm, whilst Radio City were still on the air later in the evening with a magazine style programme.

The rest of the evening was spent spent chatting about free radio with members of the South Coast crew, naturally over several pints of Guinness. (I had not yet discovered the wonderful tastes of the Cork brewed Murphy's or Beamish. Those pleasures were to come on later trips!!)

Most stations were on the air by 0800 that Tuesday. South Coast Radio signed back on at 0700 with Peter Madison hosting the breakfast show, and doing a bit of 'anoraking'. The station was initially only on FM in mono, due to the hectic overnight move from the Metropole. Peter was followed by Hugh Brown and then Pete O'Neil. Capital Radio was also heard signing on at 0700. Cork City Local Radio and Radio City were both also on the air with breakfast shows. We were particularly interested in listening out for Leeside Community Radio, as just before sign off on Monday, it was announced they would return at 0800. It was hoped to track the station down as it appeared to be fairly close to the Metropole. Unfortunately, they did not sign on as promised and in fact were not heard until around 10am, by which time a trip to the South Coast Radio medium wave site had already been promised . This turned out to be a fairly high location, quite a way west of the city, and not far from the airport. The transmitter was in a farmyard, housed in a specially built breeze block hut, with a lattice mast at the rear. The transmitter itself was not on the air at the time. Engineer Keith York was there to switch everything back on and check the alignment of the receiver which picked up the FM signal for relaying on 1557kHz AM. Keith was keen to show us the equipment, and if I remember correctly explained that the mast was a base loaded 1/4 wave for 194m. As the transmitter was still off he showed us that because the mast was tuned to 194m, listening on a radio adjacent to the mast brought in Capital Radio from London on 1548kHz (194m). We left Keith to continue his work, and travelled back into the city, hearing the medium wave signal come back to life at around 1230. The excellent compression of the signal gave a superb sound to both the FM and AM outlets of South Coast Radio. The stereo encoder was switched back on the FM sometime later.

When last in Cork, we were told about a station in Midleton, but it wasn't on at the time. As we had a few spare minutes before leaving Cork, we headed towards the town, just East of Cork City and this time heard Midleton Community Radio on the air,around 97.5MHz. For the little time we were able to listen, M.C.R. sounded like a community type station run by local people, and did not travel too far out of the town.

We finally left the city at about 1:30pm for the return journey to Dublin. No new stations were heard on the way, except for the new Laois Community Radio FM outlet mentioned earlier on 102.3MHz. Once back in the city, we stopped at the home of Tony Donlon. I had been corresponding with Tony for around 12 months, after he heard my name on the Southside Radio free radio show, and we had exchanged recordings and information both by letter and phone. Due to time constraints our meeting the previous August trip never came about, but this time I was determined it would. Tony kindly offered to let me stay at his place overnight, an offer which was gladly accepted. After a cup of tea and a chat, the rest of the team went off towards Sunshine Radio, and we settled down to the serious business of tape exchanges and talking free radio into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The first thing that struck me about Tony was how very neat and orderly he was with tapes and letters. I, on the other hand seemed to live in a total unorganised mess!! It was nice to actually find out what stations could be heard in a house in Dublin, without the electrical interference associated with hotels, where I normally stayed. Reception conditions were much better than two nights earlier at the Sands and Metropole. However, Tony lived only a short distance from the RTE mast which radiated 10kW of Radio 2 on 1278kHz. This resulted in signal overload of both my radios on Medium Wave, causing whistles and breakthrough on some of the weaker free radio stations. Fortunately, FM was mostly unaffected and some considerable DX-ing was enjoyed.

During the evening, Tony drove me to meet Prince Terry, who operated Westside Radio International every Sunday on 6280kHz shortwave (as opposed to Radio Westside which broadcast on 1035kHz Medium Wave in Dublin at that time). I had been listening and writing to Westside Radio International since 1976 when Doctor Don used to pop up from about 1100 to 1230 each Sunday. Both Doctor Don and Prince Terry were involved in Radio Dublin at that time, and when the shortwave service had signed off, Radio Dublin commenced broadcasts on 253m to Dublin City. Don ceased the shortwave service in late 1976 following some Post Office activity against Radio Dublin, and Westside was not heard until late 1977, when it reappeared with a weak signal, operated by Prince Terry. It wasn't long before the signal improved dramatically, and Westside became a regular Sunday listen across Europe until December 1988 when the Irish Government introduced draconian legislation to close down free radio stations. It has to be said that Westside Radio International has been by far the most regular landbased shortwave free radio station ever to broadcast to Europe, and possibly the world. It was on the air almost every Sunday for over 10 years. After a brief spell off the air during 1989, two station name changes ocurred and the station is still on the air to this day. 'The Prince' should be given a medal for his dedication to free radio. We arrived at the Westside studio and transmission site, and were warmly greeted by 'The Prince' who showed us up some rather rickety home made ladders into the loft where the station was housed. Space was at a premium and you had to be careful where to step, but this was a treat to see. A real home made radio station. The decks were a piece of broadcasting history, having been originally used by Radio Dublin in the mid-seventies, although only one was actually working at the time. These were complemented by old cassette machines and reel-reel deck along with a small microphone mixer. I also seem to remember that a speaker was actually being used as a microphone, which probably gave the bass heavy voice on the air. The 80 watt transmitter was sat next to the mixer and would have warmed the studio up quite nicely during the winter months. The station had a huge record collection, spanning many years with a slant towards rock and heavy metal - one reason why I used to listen so often! Westside also relayed many local Dublin stations.

We returned to Tony's house and ended the evening listening to sign offs from ABC Radio in Dun Laoghaire and Radio Westside (1035kHz).

On waking up Wednesday morning, I took the opportunity to listen to ABC FM on 96.15MHz., as this station was new to me and although they had a good signal covering Dublin, it was not receivable in the U.K. They were well into the breakfast show when I tuned in. This station seemed very laid back compared to the other stations, and played more of what would now be described as Adult Orientated Rock than its rivals. As far as I know this station did not last very long, and rumour has it that it turned into South City Radio which commenced broadcasts at the end of May.

Towards lunchtime we set off for Drogheda in Tony's Mini, arriving in the town at about 12:45pm, and headed straight to Donnaghy's Mill and Boyneside Radio. It was at this point I realised that I had forgotten my camera. I never forgave myself for this, as it was the only time I ever saw a 'pirate tv station' in operation. Also I was hoping to meet up with Big Ian who had taken the plunge shortly after our last tour, and returned to the Emerald Isle to pursue his DJ career. As well as an early evening show, he had been hosting the overnight show at the station some months earlier, although due to the low output power of the Boyneside MW rig, it was difficult to hear in the U.K. On talking with the staff there, I was informed that Ian was now working on the new station in the Radio Carousel Network, who's studios were in the Navan Shopping Centre. The Boyneside Radio setup was a little strange at this time, in that a video camera appeared to be permanently fixed on the DJ and was subsequently relayed out over the Boyneside Television. At the time, the main lunchtime news was about to be read, and the newsreader nervously readied himself in front of a second camera ready for 13:15pm. Following the news, a young Owen Barry went on the air on both Boyneside Radio and Television. I think it was Owen who told us that Big Ian had left. We left the mill shortly after, but for some reason never went to see Community Radio Drogheda. Perhaps we were running short on time. C.R.D. and Boyneside, who had split in a dispute around a year previous, joined back together six weeks later.

A short while later we were on the outskirts of Navan, and I could hear Radio Carousel clearly on the radio. As we approached the main shopping centre, a large lattice mast came into view in the middle of the car park. We parked not far from this, and the longwire aerial was clearly visible leading down to the roof of the Navan Shopping Centre. Inside the centre was similar to most 'shopping malls', with shops around the outside and smaller booth type shops / kiosks in the centre. One of these was Radio Carousel and was a treat to see. The on air deejay must have felt he was in a goldfish bowl, as all the shoppers could watch as they walked past. Some kids were peering in and making funny faces on the glass. This was radio truly getting into the community and was certainly a unique set up. And guess what, I had no camera!! Worse still, Big Ian was about to go on air, and I couldn't take his picture. I got pictures of the station on later visits, but Ian had left by then. Also there at the time was Kieran Murray who was possibly managing the Navan setup, and is probably known better to those outside Ireland for his work in running the Free Radio Campaign Ireland and its magazine 'Sounds Alternative' during the 1970's. It was nice to meet Kieran after having corresponded with him from time to time. He was as friendly in person as through his letters. We chatted with Kieran about the current radio situation. He showed us the studios and explained about the links between the Navan setup and the main Carousel station in Dundalk. Most of the daytime output was local to Navan, but other programmes, including Hugh Hardy, were relayed from the FM outlet at the Dundalk Shopping Centre. We hung around until Ian (Stuart Scott) had finished his show, said hello and chatted a bit before heading back to Dublin. I had to meet back up with everyone and catch the ferry that evening.

Barry, Ruth and Warren called to collect me at around 6pm. As well as going back to Sunshine Radio, they had been up to visit the nearby Community Radio Fingal, but unfortunately had not taken any photos either. The station on 1584kHz had only been on the air for a couple of weeks, and the studio was apparently in a small hotel room. The walls were covered entirely in egg boxes, a cost effective way to soundproof a studio we had seen many times in the past.

We travelled to the docks for around 8pm, to find that the Captain of the ferry had raised that gangway as the ship was sitting too low in the water. Apparently too many foot passengers had got on, and despite the fact that cabins were paid for, we were unable to board the vessel. The ferry sailed off shortly after, much to everyone's disgust. Protests were mounted, but fell on deaf ears and it looked as though we were about to spend the nigth in the terminal. Eventually, towards midnight, B & I officials arrived and we were taken to the Royal Dublin Hotel for the night. Most of the radio gear was packed away, so this extra chance for DX-ing had to be on a radio cassette player. Radio Westside was monitored with an extremely strong signal until closedown at 0200, and Radio City, who operated only a few streets away were listened to at breakfast time. By 0930 we were on our way back to the terminal to catch the daytime ferry to Holyhead.

So ended an eventful second DXpedition to Eire during which we completed an up to date Irish Station List for April 1982.