The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

Mickey Mike · 04-10-2015 1:41pm

John Joe Jones wrote: »

Does anyone here know for sure what KW has Clarkstown been running at the past year ? I know its a 300kw rig but I understand it hasn't been running at 300kw for some time.

This big beast should have been running at 500kw and not 300 or 200kw or whatever, Does it really matter now as of early 2016 it will be reducing in operation hours from 7am to 7pm and a full and permanent shutdown on 01/05/2017. The End of Long Wave.

John Joe Jones · 04-10-2015 1:53pm

Mickie Mike wrote: »

This big beast should have been running at 500kw and not 300 or 200kw or whatever, Does it really matter now as of early 2016 it will be reducing in operation hours from 7am to 7pm and a full and permanent shutdown on 01/05/2017. The End of Long Wave.

The old Atlantic 252 rigs got replaced around 2006/2007 so 300kw was the maximum power that could be used since then.

Mickey Mike · 14-06-2016 10:38pm

I now notice RTE Longwave 252 have been off air now and again, has it started its reduced hours leading up to its full shutdown next May? RTE Radio 1 extra should be put back on Satellite 28.2 to compensate for the loss of LW.

The Cush · 15-06-2016 12:06am

RTÉ Radio was part of the losing Listen2Digital licence bid and were then to appear in the Manchester area on a 9 month trial Local DAB minimux operated by Niocast Digital but all has gone quiet on this front possibly due to Ofcom licensing reasons.

Have they given up on broadcasting RTÉ Radio into GB?

StreetLight · 15-06-2016 7:28am

Mickie Mike wrote: »

I now notice RTE Longwave 252 have been off air now and again, has it started its reduced hours leading up to its full shutdown next May? RTE Radio 1 extra should be put back on Satellite 28.2 to compensate for the loss of LW.

The downtime was due to routine transmitter maintenance. I read about it earlier in the week on Aertel.

dxhound2005 · 15-06-2016 11:35pm

The results of the survey in Britain have now been published. The noises coming from the Ministers and from RTE in the DFA press release are fairly vague, but might suggest that consideration is being given to continuation of the service.

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2016/06/03/saving-rte-252-long-wave/

https://www.dfa.ie/news-and-media/press-releases/press-release-archive/2016/june/flanagan-mchugh-longwave-research/#

http://www.irishinbritain.org/cmsfiles/Images/RTE/FINAL-Exec-Summary-for-uploading-to-website.pdf

4 band radio · 16-06-2016 12:29am

Apparently some UK broadcasting act says that ofcom are not allowed give a radio licence to a publicly funded broadcaster and thats the simple reason way RTE on dab in manchester never happened.

Mickey Mike · 13-07-2016 5:05pm

Long Wave 252 has been off the air again for more maintenance, what's all the maintenance for? Are they still closing it down permanently next May 2017? What ever they are doing to it the sound quality is not good.

Fuzzy Clam · 13-07-2016 9:20pm

Mickie Mike wrote: »

Long Wave 252 has been off the air again for more maintenance, what's all the maintenance for? Are they still closing it down permanently next May 2017? What ever they are doing to it the sound quality is not good.

Sounds fine to me.

The Cush · 02-10-2016 8:01am

http://www.independent.ie/business/media/rte-ditches-plans-to-axe-longwave-252-radio-service-35096216.html

But the station has confirmed it is now carrying out a "review" of its previous announcement.

Mickey Mike · 02-10-2016 10:27pm

RTE Long Wave 252 is saved after a campaign to keep it open, I'd imagine they will turn up the power to its max and move to 261 khz. In 10 years time it will start up again with a switch off of LW, Old folks (my age then) will be kicking up another row to keep it going.

SPDUB · 06-10-2016 8:35pm

Well it seems it's not as clear cut as the Independent says

This is now on the RTE how to listen page

http://www.rte.ie/radio/page/138471-rte-radio-ways-to-listen/

Note: RTÉ has announced its intention to close this service in 2017. While this is principally an operational matter for RTÉ, we are working with a consultative steering group, including the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade and representatives of the Irish community in Britain, to explore possible ways forward in the context of maintaining the link with our UK audiences. We do not anticipate any revision of our position without the involvement of the consultative group.

So basically it seems it's put up or shut up .

The Cush · 06-10-2016 8:54pm

SPDUB wrote: »

Well it seems it's not as clear cut as the Independent says

This is now on the RTE how to listen page

The information in the Indo may be more up to date than that RTÉ page.

As the report says in the Indo they are "now carrying out a "review" of its previous announcement" and there is no specific switch off date. So nothing written in stone yet.

Elmo · 06-10-2016 9:37pm

How much would it cost RTÉ to put Radio 1 Extra on FreeView?

The Cush · 06-10-2016 9:47pm

Elmo wrote: »

How much would it cost RTÉ to put Radio 1 Extra on FreeView?

Look up Arqiva reference offers. Ofcom licencing issues would appear to be preventing any RTÉ service being carried on a terrestrial network in the UK. R1 was to be carried on the trial Manchester small-scale DAB mux from last year but these plans appear to have been abandoned.

decor58 · 06-10-2016 10:45pm

In London recently was surprised to find rte radio 1 on Virgin media, I don't know if the service is carried in other regions and if is who is paying.

Mickey Mike · 06-10-2016 11:22pm

Its a bit of a headache for RTE, trying to switch off LW proved to be an impossible task, with various groups kicking up a fuss. Surely older people can manage technology to some extent, surely there's help to give them a better service than cracking LW, I'm nearly an old man myself and like keeping up to date with new technologies, you have to.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-10-2016 1:07am

Does RTE Radio have worldwide rights on all programming, particularly live sport?

What point is there getting OAPs to use streaming only to hear that the All Ireland final or whatever "is blocked in your region" :rolleyes:

LW is simple technology, it works well, it is cheap, it is dead simple for the audience to access and use, it has no rights restrictions. Shift it up to 261 and get the power back up to what it should be. DFA should fund this (as the Foreign Office used to fund BBC World Service.)

Digifriendly · 10-10-2016 7:03pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Does RTE Radio have worldwide rights on all programming, particularly live sport?

What point is there getting OAPs to use streaming only to hear that the All Ireland final or whatever "is blocked in your region" :rolleyes:

LW is simple technology, it works well, it is cheap, it is dead simple for the audience to access and use, it has no rights restrictions. Shift it up to 261 and get the power back up to what it should be. DFA should fund this (as the Foreign Office used to fund BBC World Service.)

Totally agree. Very wise advice. I hope RTE and DFA are reading this.

former total · 10-10-2016 7:26pm

Digifriendly wrote: »

Totally agree. Very wise advice. I hope RTE and DFA are reading this.

If they were, they'd probably point out that the All Ireland radio coverage is available worldwide.

formerly scottish paddy · 11-10-2016 3:24pm

Remember the government got a big return on TV ASO when DTT took over. The DFA should fund LW as it is primarily serving the Irish audience in GB and therefore outside RTÉ's national remit.

16-10-2016 11:39pm

No one should be forced to use the internet to receive radio and TV.

DRM is good technology and it's amazing how good quality you can receive from so far away. No need for the internet but unfortunately you can't buy a DRM capable radio in Europe yet. DRM is being heavily rolled out in India. It's truly amazing. Europe is relying on the internet for minimum cost. Hopefully things will change soon.

No one should be considered backward because they don't want to be tied to the internet to listen to the radio.

burnsey1987 · 03-01-2017 1:00am

Any update on what is going to happen with RTE1 on 252? I haven't heard much in the last while.

On a side note, Radio France (Allouis) can be added to the list of LW stations which are no more. Also, while at home over the Christmas i powered up the old Pye valve radio and surfed the LW band for a bit - very few stations left, those still there are almost unlistenable with wall-to-wall electronic noise. I can't see longwave surviving as a viable broadcasting medium for much longer. I'd give it until the end of the decade at best...

03-01-2017 1:47am

Yes perhaps LW and MW will be dead in the next, say, 10 years or maybe DRM will give it a new lease of life.

The Internet is fine for some streaming but I expect to see a lot of Geo blocking in the future as well as stations being blocked as proposed by the Germans and Obama Admin, at least with radio it's not as easy to block. I don't like being dictated to what I can and can't receive via radio or the internet but this looks like the future of the E.U where it will be decided for us more and more what we should know and to some extent this is happening already.

Noise can be sorted by using a decent antenna or by moving the radio to a different location and good grounding.

Directing the Am antenna towards the signal can make a big difference , turn the radio a few degrees left or right.

feez · 06-01-2017 9:45pm

Most electronics, especially power supplies/adapters/chargers create massive amounts of noise which can drown out the strongest of LW/MW/SW stations. Seeing as most houses have tens of these, you need very good grounding and external antennas to get a good clean signal. And I'm sure most houses have a laptop of phone charger plugged in right beside the AM radio.

Backing off the TX power by ~20 dB didn't help. I guess they reduced the power so that people would eventually stop listening due to bad reception, therefore getting less complaints when it's eventually switched off.

kazoo106 · 06-01-2017 9:59pm

20dB - If it were the case it would only be on 5kW now

If it went from even 500kW to 100kW the dB drop would only be 7dB

marno21 · 06-01-2017 10:24pm

I have a Grunding Concert Boy 240 and in a town it works perfectly with high voltage power lines nearby and in a house with plenty of electrical interference. In the car (Ford CD6000) 693/882/909/1053/1089 are all a ball of noise whilst the radio in the house has them as clear as they would be in the UK.

Most of the modern cheapo receivers have terrible circuitry in them. These heaps of ****e aren't really helping the case for continued reception of MW and LW services. The fact that RTE are turning down the power on 252 whilst Algeria is wiping it out in the south of the country isn't helping either. It would be ideal if, assuming that RTE are planning to keep this on air for another while, RTE would consider making a case to get 252 switched to a different frequency. 252 is one of the least clear frequencies back here, 261, 270 & 279 would all be ideal (270 has a Czech service on it but I don't think at 50kW its enough to cause a mess back here). 243 has a Danish service part time also so there may not be much of a future there.

06-01-2017 10:29pm

Didn't they upgrade the 252 mast for DRM and run trials some time ago ?

Digital will eliminate the noise but the signal still needs to be good but still, DRM does offer a lot of advantages. And I can receive 252 perfectly even in a high interference area, however it floods the AM band due to something in my neighbours, I turned it on new years night nad magically the Am band was whisper quiet and could receive so many stations.

I will be moving soon and it will be a very interference free area with no houses too close.

Magnetic loops offer excellent rejection of interference and can be mounted in the attic.

Just like TV reception, the signal is always best with an external antenna.

feez · 06-01-2017 10:46pm

kazoo106 wrote: »

20dB - If it were the case it would only be on 5kW now

If it went from even 500kW to 100kW the dB drop would only be 7dB

My point is that they are probably TXing at 5kW, I can barely hear it with an active antenna on a mast at the top of a hill, getting drowned out by Chaîne 3

marno21 · 06-01-2017 11:14pm

feez wrote: »

My point is that they are probably TXing at 5kW, I can barely hear it with an active antenna on a mast at the top of a hill, getting drowned out by Chaîne 3

Same here in Cork. Chaine 3 has a power of 750kW at night and has a landpath totalling ~400km from Algeria to Ireland. I don't think RTE are as low as 5kW because if they were they would be completely wiped out.

The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

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