RTE Radio 1 changing FM frequency in the northeast?

Mayo Exile

There was a piece on RTE Radio 1 news this morning (5 March) that it was changing its FM frequency in the northeast and that details were on the website. Anybody know about this? Couldn't find it myself!

lawhec

They are planning to swap frequencies with Lyric FM at the Clermont Carn site, this will mean that Lyric FM will go to 95.2MHz while RTÉ Radio 1 will be on 87.8MHz.

DMC

It was nowhere, but is here now...

This is something that I've advocated before, in that 87.8MhZ is beside where Radio 1 is nationally.

RTÉ moving Radio 1 for Northern reception
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0305/rte.html
Wednesday, 5 March 2008 08:59

RTÉ Radio is to change one of its Radio 1 FM frequencies in order to improve reception in the Greater Belfast area and parts of the border region.

It follows criticism from some Northern listeners who have been tuning into the Medium Wave transmitter in Athlone (567kHz), which is due to be switched off in three weeks' time.

The decision to close the medium wave service was defended last week by RTÉ representatives at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, when they were asked about the position for listeners in Northern Ireland.
Advertisement

FM reception of RTÉ Radio 1 is currently poor in the Belfast region.

From 14 March, Radio 1 will swap frequencies with Lyric FM and will be broadcast on 87.8FM from the Clermont Cairn transmitter beside the border near Dundalk, Co Louth.

Listeners to RTÉ Radio 1 in the Belfast region, Counties Armagh and Down, and particularly Louth and Monaghan, should retune from 95.2FM to the new frequency.

RTÉ says the move will enable more listeners in the North East to receive its main speech service.

RTÉ will shortly apply for a new frequency for the music channel Lyric FM. As an interim measure, from 14 March Lyric FM will be available on 95.2FM (currently used by Radio 1).

RTÉ Radio 1 will continue to be available on Long Wave 252kHz and on the internet.

Mossy Monk

Should RTÉ be caring about any criticisms from Belfast? What if I complained to the BBC about my lack of BBC Radio 2 FM reception.

DMC

Full press release...

87.8 FM: RTÉ RADIO 1'S NEW FM FREQUENCY IN BELFAST
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/pressreleases/1191596.html

From 9.00am on Friday 14 March RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast on FM 87.8 from the Clermont Cairn transmitter near Dundalk in Louth.

Listeners to RTÉ Radio 1 in the Northern Ireland areas of Belfast, Armagh and Down, and in parts of the Republic of Ireland, particularly Louth and Monaghan, should retune to RTÉ Radio 1 on FM 87.8.

RTÉ Radio 1 is swapping frequencies with RTÉ lyric fm on the Clermont Cairn transmitter. This will greatly improve the RTÉ Radio 1 FM signal in the densely populated Belfast metropolitan area and southwards to Louth.

RTÉ has prioritised RTÉ Radio 1 versus RTÉ lyric fm for cross-border transmission to enable more Northern Irish listeners receive RTÉ's main speech service. RTÉ will shortly apply for a new frequency for RTÉ lyric fm in this part of the north-east. As an interim measure, from 14 March, RTÉ lyric fm will be available on FM 95.2.

RTÉ Radio 1 will also continue to be broadcast on LW 252 and on the internet at www.rte.ie/radio1

The LW 252 transmitter was upgraded in 2004 and broadcasts across the island of Ireland, into Britain and beyond.

RTÉ will advise listeners of the new FM frequency for RTÉ Radio 1 in the Belfast area via presenter and on air announcements from now until 14 March.

DMC

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Should RTÉ be caring about any criticisms from Belfast? What if I complained to the BBC about my lack of BBC Radio 2 FM reception.

LOL, but reciprocal coverage of BBC Radio Ulster would be welcome.

Mayo Exile

Thanks for that DMC! Why would RTE Radio 1 reception be poor in Belfast? Is reception on Radio 2 (97.0 Mhz) and Today FM (105.5) any better?

Mossy Monk, I think its probably to do with politics! Good Friday Agreement stuff and all that! Being near the border I like good BBC radio reception too.

lawhec

Mossy, its very much down to politics. RTÉ also do try and promote themselves as an All-Ireland broadcaster albeit not as loud as they were back in previous decades.

95.2MHz in Belfast suffers from poor reception in Belfast because of a relay of Radio Ulster in the north of the city on 95.3. 2FM and Today FM are 0.3MHz away from other local stations are are OK with a good receiver. 87.8MHz is the clearest frequency RTÉ have into Belfast.

cmylod

Does anyone know when Tullamore moved to Athlone: "Medium Wave transmitter in Athlone (567kHz)"? Great isn't it when the PR bunch don't know where the gear is located!

Why would Lyric need to move again from 95.2? 87.8 is closer to R1's main sub-band, Lyric is closer to its own sub-band.

DMC

Well, lets look at Clermont as a whole.

Currently you have

RTÉ Radio 1 on 95.2
2FM on 97.0
RnaG on 102.7
Lyric FM on 87.8
Today FM on 105.5

They are getting Radio 1 in the right spot. Lyric FM would be ideal for 97.0. Today FM would suit 102.7. RnaG is not far off with 95.2, so I would fancy that they are looking for something in the 90-93 range, to suit 2FM, to replace 105.5.

I wonder are they having that in mind?

lawhec

The main problem with Lyric moving on to 95.2 is that its reception will be killed in Belfast city, the same way Radio 1 is right now.

87.8Mhz is a very clear frequency, there are no other broadcasters in the UK or Ireland on that frequency or on the 87.6 to 88.0 sub-band other than low-powered community broadcasters. In Belfast the nearest broadcast signal is on 88.8MHz (BBC R2) from the Carnmoney Hill relay which is the same site ironically which has the interfering BBC Radio Ulster signal on 95.3MHz.

97.0MHz for 2FM is sandwiched between Citybeat on 96.7MHz and Cool FM on 97.4MHz. Never had a problem tuning it in with a half-decent radio.

102.7MHz is RnaG. This used to be a clear frequency also until Citybeat started up a relay on 102.5MHz from Carnmoney. But I've heard no mass complaints of reception being badly affected. Today FM is in theory as clear as 2FM on 105.5MHz but I have heard a couple of people complain that U105 on 105.8MHz interferes with their listening.

DMC

lawhec wrote: »

The main problem with Lyric moving on to 95.2 is that its reception will be killed in Belfast city, the same way Radio 1 is right now.

Noted lawhec, I don't think that the issue of Lyric FM is of the highest priority to RTÉ. The press release, it says "RTÉ will shortly apply for a new frequency for RTÉ lyric fm in this part of the north-east." They only appear to have an interest in providing Lyric FM for the North-east, and are not really arsed about if it goes into the north.

I suppose in my scenario, moving RnaG to 95.2 would be not be of interest to Irish speakers in Belfast. But RnaG is such a Gealtacht-aimed service, does that matter?

lawhec

DMC wrote: »

Noted lawhec, I don't think that the issue of Lyric FM is of the highest priority to RTÉ. The press release, it says "RTÉ will shortly apply for a new frequency for RTÉ lyric fm in this part of the north-east." They only appear to have an interest in providing Lyric FM for the North-east, and are not really arsed about if it goes into the north.

I suppose in my scenario, moving RnaG to 95.2 would be not be of interest to Irish speakers in Belfast. But RnaG is such a Gealtacht-aimed service, does that matter?

Considering the fair amount of Irish language activation in Belfast, particularly in the west of the city (remember there is a low powered relay of TG4 on Divis and there's also an Irish language community radio station), I'd say moving RnaG to 95.2 would be loudly protested. Lyric for the time being has been sacrificed as it would be the lowest rated of the RTÉ stations, as simple as that.

marclt

lawhec wrote: »

The main problem with Lyric moving on to 95.2 is that its reception will be killed in Belfast city, the same way Radio 1 is right now.

87.8Mhz is a very clear frequency, there are no other broadcasters in the UK or Ireland on that frequency or on the 87.6 to 88.0 sub-band other than low-powered community broadcasters.

In fact, I was driving around Pembrokeshire last night and 87.8 was coming in a treat... the others never come in quite so much, so that frequency is good one to use.

Perhaps a little email to RTE to ask them about re-configuring their fm frequencies might throw up some sort of response. Mind you, this is just about RTE Radio1, so they might want to preserve the primary network over the others. And presumably it will take time and dosh to change all of the frequencies. Apart from 95.2, the others tend to be in uncluttered parts of the band.

Speaking of clermont carn.
I was driving down from Dublin last night and to my surprise in North Wicklow, the auto tuner switched to 2fm on 97mhz instead of three rock or kippure and the reception of said 97 was perfect.

Lawhec,I found 97fm reception around Belfast pretty poor on the car radio and unlistenable at times-particularally around George Best airport.

Digifriendly

This is excellent news for listeners of RTE Radio 1 in and around Belfast including those who regularly drive through the Belfast area. My RTE Radio 1 Signal starts struggling with co-channel interference on the MI just approaching Belfast and if you go onto the M2 or M3 north and east of Belfast the signal is literally drowned out by Carnmoney signal. Am surprised this hasn't been sorted much earlier. Obviously with plans to close MW RTE1 and furore that caused this move will be most welcome.

lawhec

Deleted User wrote: »

Lawhec,I found 97fm reception around Belfast pretty poor on the car radio and unlistenable at times-particularally around George Best airport.

Reception in and around Belfast would be around the fringe area of reception pretty much due to the local geography of the city and the Mournes being in the way (in normal circumstances reception would be reasonably clear). This means that in some parts reception is grand (when I lived in the Whiteabbey/Jordanstown area all RTÉ services were grand except of course for RTÉ R1) while in other places its poor to very poor. If you don't mind me asking, was the car aerial on your roof and if so, was it around 36 inches? Many cars I've seen now have bee-sting or fin aerials which perform quite poorly.

lawhec

lawhec wrote: »

Reception in and around Belfast would be around the fringe area of reception pretty much due to the local geography of the city and the Mournes being in the way (in normal circumstances reception would be reasonably clear). This means that in some parts reception is grand (when I lived in the Whiteabbey/Jordanstown area all RTÉ services were grand except of course for RTÉ R1) while in other places its poor to very poor. If you don't mind me asking, was the car aerial on your roof and if so, was it around 36 inches? Many cars I've seen now have bee-sting or fin aerials which perform quite poorly.

It's incorporated into the rear window heater and performs well enough to pick up welsh stations here with RDS.

Digifriendly

Have tuned in RTE1 in new FM frequency yesterday (Friday) and today and delighted to say crystal clear reception.

Digifriendly

Have to say that I was visiting my parents in Bangor, Co. Down yesterday and must say RTE1 FM struggled a bit despite no co-channel interference from across Belfast Lough! Is the fact that it is now on a lowered numbered frequency mean it is also lower on the transmitter and not quite as strong a signal? Remember that BBC Radio 1 from Divis on 99.7 is the strongest signal from that transmitter!