Bloody Punjabi Radio

thermionic

Do you have a wah pedal? My old AC30 picked up Radio 4 clear as a bell when I had a Crybaby plugged in. A wah circuit is not too dissimilar to a radio tuning circuit.

Would an amp pick up an FM signal though? I can understand AM, because there’s only one frequency involved but FM is much more complex and I wouldn’t expect an amp to demodulate an FM signal.

Dominic

no.....just a helix hx

ecc83

You can demodulate FM with a "slope detector" basically a mistuned AM detector but they give high distortion so it is not unreasonable that you could hear an FM station.

Dave.

57Deluxe

I remember the radiator in my bedroom picking up Radio 1 a few years ago - seriously!

77ric

At a guess I reckon your amp is picking up in the AM range around 1584. Which is panjab radio and broadcasts from near north London, it’s a proper commercial radio station. Not sure if there is anything you can do with that information mind you. Maybe it’s possible to filter that frequency out, but that is maybe something @ICBM or @ecc83 or some of the amazing amp builders on here could help answer. 

Does it only happen with a guitar plugged into the amp, or does it happen even without anything plugged in?  

Dominic

Just clocked the name .......it's Lyca Radio - a proper channel on DAB digital too

olafgarten

Dominic said:

Just clocked the name .......it's Lyca Radio - a proper channel on DAB digital too

Yeah 1458 on AM I think. 

boogieman

I used to get radio signals through my set up when I lived in London. I was using a ToneBender and a Coloursound Wah at the time and could even find different stations by moving the wah around. The house was at one of the highest points of London and the tv and radio reception were amazing. I once spent a couple of hours trying to get a slightly better tv picture only to discover the aerial wasn’t connected to the cable, the signal was just coming through the co-ax. When I reconnected the aerial the picture actually got worse. I had to put in an inline attenuator eventually . 

Dominic

You must have been Hampstead /Highgate area
I just realised that it's only the one amp that does it and even then only on the top-boost channel .....the lower gain channel is almost silent but if I turn it up and listen very carefully I can just about hear it
Must be some issue connected with the input
is there something that can go between the lead/jack and the input ie some kind of filter -I assume the lead acts as an arial

ESBlonde

Long shot here, but try re-orienting the offending Amp by turning it 90 deg and see if the radio signal level changes.

boogieman

Dominic said:

You must have been Hampstead /Highgate area

Kingsbury.   we had great views across the city and could see as far as Crystal Palace on a clear day. 

Dominic

ah , my wife is from Honeypot Lane

boogieman

Dominic said:

ah , my wife is from Honeypot Lane

We lived up at the Colindale end, on the Springfield Estate. I guess your wife might remember the Bandwagon pub on the Kingsbury roundabout? Went to lots of gigs there in my youth but it turned into a crappy disco with regular Saturday night punch ups. Got torn down a few years back and turned into flats and shops. Anyway. I’ll stop running your thread now. 

ICBM

Dominic said:

You must have been Hampstead /Highgate area
I just realised that it's only the one amp that does it and even then only on the top-boost channel .....the lower gain channel is almost silent but if I turn it up and listen very carefully I can just about hear it
Must be some issue connected with the input
is there something that can go between the lead/jack and the input ie some kind of filter -I assume the lead acts as an arial

Check the grounding and earth connection on this amp.

jonnyburgo

https://i.imgur.com/8RezNAD.jpg

Dominic

could the fact that it's a US amp being used with a transformer have anything to do with it ?

ICBM

Dominic said:

could the fact that it's a US amp being used with a transformer have anything to do with it ?

Does the transformer have a proper through earth connection? Does the amp have an earthed mains cable?

ThePrettyDamned

mgaw said:

I was trying out the new Vemuram Myriad fuzz the other day and I had  a foreign radio station belting out of the amp!!

I thought vemuram made a lot of noise about how resilient they are to this sort of thing .. 

YellowLedBetterMan

Same here - my Fuzz Pedal plays LBC Radio if I move it near the amp. As if life isn't littered enough by people blabbing about Brexit and Trade Unions.

Kebabkid

If you tell me the layout of your room, I can tell you where to move your amps so that you can get Greek Radio