Radio Rag studio to transmitter microwave link in 1985. The antenna is pointing through a window next to the bathroom.

Philips stereo encoder (right) and 1305 Mhz transmitter (left) in 1985.

Link receive antenna on the roof of UMIST main building in 1984

Link receiver in the transmitter room on the roof at UMIST. Note the chicken wire rf shielding on the wall behind, to reduce interference..

By the mid 1980s the Radio Rag studio had grown in size and would not fit into an average student bedroom. If nothing else, 24 hour broadcasting was impossible because the regular occupant needed the room to sleep!

In 1984 Radio Rag was even more ambitious than usual and located the studio at a house in Oldham, some 10 miles from the VHF transmitter at the main UMIST campus.

But this required a new stereo link. The existing UHF link was an older design and could only carry mono audio.

Archie Gemmel designed and built the first Radio Rag stereo link. This operated around 1305 Mhz and had a range of several miles. Unfortunately it was affected by the Manchester Airport radar station on the roof of the CIS Tower. A peculiar buzzing noise was heard on Radio Rag every 8 seconds as the radar antenna whirled around.

This was solved in 1985 when the Radio Rag studio moved to a flat in Moss Side. The studio could operate 24 hours and security was better i.e. occasional riots meant the Radio Investigation Service kept well away.