RTE 252 longwave

Kunle

How many listeners does the RTE LW service have ?

JDunphy

About 3 fiddy

mike65

Me for one.

Carson10

is this ' i listen to atlantic radio 252 now give me my money' ?

Rock Solid

I listen to 252 LW when down in Kerry and Cork in the mountain areas where Fm is poor, also in parts of north Donegal, in parts of Ireland is difficult to get a good Fm signal and LW is the only option available.

seanmacc

On a good day on the East Coast of the US you can pick up RTE 252.

Podgers

i tune in every now and again, for authentic reasons.

padd b1975

Loads of ex pats and truckers listen to it.

ads20101

I remember when this was a pirate frequency - far better!!!

constitutionus

well thats what happens when pat kenny buys ya out .



i used to listen to atlantic 252 alot years ago, but TBH im not even sure if any of my radios can recieve LW anymore.

JDunphy

ads20101 wrote: »

I remember when this was a pirate frequency - far better!!!

LOL @ "pirate frequency" It was always an RTE licence and Frequency.

cml387

Listened to it on Tuesday in the car in Cambridgeshire.

L1011

Have listened to occasional sports coverage on it, but my new car radio is brutal for LW and my van radio doesn't pick it up at all

mike65

The electrics in modern cars are positively hostile to AM signals of any length due to poor shielding and modern built in antenna (bring back the proper pull up aerials that poke out of the rear three-quarter panel!)

cml387

mike65 wrote: »

The electrics in modern cars are positively hostile to AM signals of any length due to poor shielding and modern built in antenna (bring back the proper pull up aerials that poke out of the rear three-quarter panel!)

I was a regular listener to Radio 4 in the old days. I considered Sue McGregor and Peter Hobday as personal friends. I knew the everyday story of country folk (The Archers) inside out.
All that disappeared with successive cars that gradually leeched out the LW signal until it just became a howling mess.My current car has no LW at all.

Maybe my next car will have 4g capability and I'll be back to R4 again?

mike65

Its a reason to get a "modern classic" (that and cheap tax) from 30 years go.

decies

Do you remember when it was a sports radio station?? They used to broadcast matches from a pub!!! Think it lasted 6 months !!

mike65

I do, they were on air during the 2002 World Cup, commentary off the telly screen.

decies

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeamTalk_252

Lovely Bloke

cml387 wrote: »

Maybe my next car will have 4g capability and I'll be back to R4 again?

Smartphone + Aux In + TuneIn Radio App

decies

The above is what I do as well :-) . Add some VPN sauce for sports rights problems and your sorted !!

Albert X

I listened to Joe Duffy on it at the beach last week, 18 years ago I would have been at the same beach listening to the big tunes of summer 95 on it.

Podgers

the Atlantic 252 tribute stream online is very good, plays the music from the 252 years with the proper jingles, its as good as you can get now!

would be nice though if the added some recordings of when it was live.

http://www.atlantic252tribute.co.uk/

mbur

Podgers wrote: »

the Atlantic 252 tribute stream online is very good, plays the music from the 252 years with the proper jingles, its as good as you can get now!

would be nice though if the added some recordings of when it was live.

http://www.atlantic252tribute.co.uk/

Nice stream. It sounds miles better that the original.

Back in the day I had a vehicle which had an LW band. The reception was patchy to say the least. The diesel engine was no problem but windscreen wipers, electric windows etc all wanted to play along. I always knew when I was near an ESB substation or transmission line. I think there is good reason behind the lack of LW bands on more modern vehicles.

All of which begs the question. Who is still listening to LW?

munchkin_utd

Was on holiday in south England for the past week and lw252 was heavily listened to I can admit.
Last Saturday evening was coasting around London on the m25 with reports of the Cavan game finishing up and then the hurling commentary on Kilkenny Waterford which was a cracker of a game.
This morning listening to pat Kenny when pottering about the Cotswolds!
Reception was surprisingly good and only under bridges and tree lines roads would the signal go altogether.
Even in north Belgium it's a good signal so irish truckers and tourists on the road there could use it, as well as the very large Irish community in Belgium which is probably the largest cluster of irish in a non English speaking country.

Greenman

I listen everyday in my truck but only when stopped and faraway if possible from other trucks and trailers with a GPS tracker. At the moment no Algeria in the background.:)

Mike 1972

Parts of NI dont get RTEs Fm signals having said that most people here dont seem to realise RtE radio can be recieved at all

JDunphy wrote: »

LOL @ "pirate frequency" It was always an RTE licence and Frequency.

Nova (the original) had a short lived experimental service back in the day

Mr. Rabbit

Given that so few cars have long wave on their radios these days, I've always puzzled as to why RTE ever closed 567 kHz in favour of 252khz.

The decision never made sense to me.

Podgers

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Given that so few cars have long wave on their radios these days, I've always puzzled as to why RTE ever closed 567 kHz in favour of 252khz.

The decision never made sense to me.

I agree, i guess their view of it is that it would reach further for the ex-pats in the UK etc. i say it won't belong and they will have it closed down completely the way things are going with AM

Did anyone ever tune into the DRM trials on 252? i got a DRM tuner but arrived a bit too late. i have received BBC-Deutsche Welle DRM time to time and the audio quality has been good.

Personally i think DRM is the only way i can see it survive, 252 or similar stations in this part of the world

L1011

DRM has had an extremely long time to try and build some form of market share and there's still only a handful of radios that support it despite the silicon cost being tiny for any other digital radio maker to include it. I think its safe to say its dead.

Mike 1972

DRM was always going to have an uphill struggle with broadcasters/governments commited to spend millions promoting inferior plattforms.

My two month old Kenwood car radio has LW. If people are prepared to buy rubbish radios and then blame RTE for not being recievable on them then its their own fault really.

mike65

A regular (?) 2 second drop out pattern today.

Albert X

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Given that so few cars have long wave on their radios these days, I've always puzzled as to why RTE ever closed 567 kHz in favour of 252khz.

The decision never made sense to me.

There was no point broadcasting the same output on both mw and Lw, The Lw signal is a lot more robust than mw, Radios with Lw are widely available costing as little as €10, The Mw transmitter at tullamore dates from the early/mid 70s and was at end of life.

Groucho100

On a good day on the East Coast of the US you can pick up RTE 252.

Wow that's a good trip. Anyone know why they never used LW in the USA?

Infoanon

Albert X wrote: »

There was no point broadcasting the same output on both mw and Lw, The Lw signal is a lot more robust than mw, Radios with Lw are widely available costing as little as €10, The Mw transmitter at tullamore dates from the early/mid 70s and was at end of life.

I thought the MW installation was completely refurbished a few years prior to closure ??
Btw there are many mid70s TXs still operating around the world - new transmitters tend to be more efficient - the 252LW install has a 'newer' transmitter

Mr. Rabbit

Infoanon wrote: »

I thought the MW installation was completely refurbished a few years prior to closure ??
Btw there are many mid70s TXs still operating around the world - new transmitters tend to be more efficient - the 252LW install has a 'newer' transmitter

I would presume transmitters from the mid 70's are all solid state so no problems with unobtainable valves (as in the case of Droitwich) ?

252 kHz would have more problems at night than 567 kHz due to the reduced power and interference from Algeria. Even at this location (Jordanstown Co. Antrim) it can be a problem.

Apart from a weak Russian station, there are no such issues with 567khz.

Mike 1972

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

I would presume transmitters from the mid 70's are all solid state so no problems with unobtainable valves (as in the case of Droitwich) ?
hz.

Solid state high power rigs only really started to appear in the late 1980's IIRC

The mast was refurbished a few years prior to closure but the transmitters themselves date from around 1975 The 567 channel used to be used by a station in Berlin also.

Mr. Rabbit

On a good day on the East Coast of the US you can pick up RTE 252.

252 KHz being received Michigan USA on a Perseus SDR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Pp2FZN9es

Mr. Rabbit

Mind you, a 500ft beverage would pull in anything at that distance.

Mike 1972

Did Finland ever do anything with their 1500kW allocation at 252 KHz ?

Mr. Rabbit

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

I would presume transmitters from the mid 70's are all solid state so no problems with unobtainable valves (as in the case of Droitwich) ?

252 kHz would have more problems at night than 567 kHz due to the reduced power and interference from Algeria. Even at this location (Jordanstown Co. Antrim) it can be a problem.

Apart from a weak Russian station, there are no such issues with 567khz.

I think the Droitwich story is bull TBH. The TX consists of two 250kW Marconi units and was only installed in 1985.

The Continental 317C rig at Athlone which carried Radio 2/2FM isn't solid state and that's from the late 70s.

Greenman

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

252 KHz being received Michigan USA on a Perseus SDR:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Pp2FZN9es

Thats lovely, thanks.:)

Would that be on a low power setting?

Mr. Rabbit

I think the Droitwich story is bull TBH

Well, that's what was widely reported in the press a while back i.e. the transmitter only had a finite life due to the fact they were no longer making the appropriate valves.

There were a few left apparently, but these would only last for a certain number of years.

I assume the Scottish long wave as well the other MW transmitters (including NI) are all OK ?

I think this is all part of the plan to shut down AM broadcasting in the UK at some stage ?

Mr. Rabbit

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Well, that's what was widely reported in the press a while back i.e. the transmitter only had a finite life due to the fact they were no longer making the appropriate valves.

There were a few left apparently, but these would only last for a certain number of years.

I assume the Scottish long wave as well the other MW transmitters (including NI) are all OK ?

I think this is all part of the plan to shut down AM broadcasting in the UK at some stage ?

Oh I know, don't get me wrong, wasn't accusing you of lying. I just don't believe the story because it makes out like the TX is a relic from the 1940s or something.

Mr. Rabbit

Greenman wrote: »

Thats lovely, thanks.:)

Would that be on a low power setting?

Yes, I would imagine so

Before the Elton John Song the presenter wishes everyone a goodnight and the news reader states the time is 2 O'clock, which must be 2 am, in which case the power is 100kw.

Mr. Rabbit

Karsini wrote: »

Oh I know, don't get me wrong, wasn't accusing you of lying. I just don't believe the story because it makes out like the TX is a relic from the 1940s or something.

Yes, that was exactly what they were implying from what I could make of it.

It sounded as if they were trying to make excuses to shut it down.

Rock Solid

I was in the north of Spain in May and RTE on 252LW was blasting in on a pll radio that I got in Aldi ! I was also in Lisbon Portugal and it was much weaker there, signal was best after sunset till around 3am.

Jason_

Infoanon wrote: »

I thought the MW installation was completely refurbished a few years prior to closure ??
Btw there are many mid70s TXs still operating around the world - new transmitters tend to be more efficient - the 252LW install has a 'newer' transmitter

The mw rig at Tullamore was costing 1million per year to run. Summerhill is costing 300k ish

Dom Phil Cobe

Any news on the survey that the Department of Foreign Affairs were going to pay for to find out how many listerners it has in the uk ?

ITV2

http://www.a516digital.com/2017/12/barriers-stopping-rte-dab-broadcasts-in.html

hopefully in the right tread.