The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

icdg

It was used at closedown directly before the national anthem while RTE Radio 1 still closed down. These days it’s only played once a day out of tradition more than anything else, since the station is 24 hours.

I'm pretty sure that as recently as the early 00s, if an evening program finished early , you'd get a few minutes of O'Donnell Abu until the news/next program., Nowadays when there's a little gap between programs (happened last Friday night after Biden coverage) the continuity announcer will spin a middle of the road record or two

TAFKAlawhec

Listening to the closedown announcement at present of a couple of SDR's, I've noticed that a few seconds after the end of the announcement up to just before O'Donnell Abú chimes in, the audio represented in the amplitude goes right down to essentially carrier only while during the announcement there's a notable hiss which is especially noticeable just after the interval signal is played and for a few seconds after the announcement. If I didn't know any better, I'd reckon announcement is being played out on a tape which stops & rewinds (hence the lack of any background hiss during this period) before reaching the start & automatically playing again, rather than using some sort of digital playout like a simple MP3 player. It would explain the notable length of the silent gap between the recurring announcement.

Edit: Here's an image from the waterfall of the signal from the Malin Head Kiwi SDR - I've sloppily labelled different parts of the waterfall to correspond to what I think is happening... (Edit 2: bear in mind that in this waterfall, the most recent element of time is at the top, so it's best to work your way from the bottom here).

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120484498#Comment_120484498

Good theory and one that looks to be plausible based on looking at the the waveform of a nice clean recording I made of it in Drogheda. About 7.5 seconds after "thanks for listening", the hiss drops considerably and stays that way for about 26 seconds until Ó'Donnell Abú plays again.

Reminds me of the old Astra promo video from the 1990s which did something similar.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120484498#Comment_120484498

Is it conceivable that the retune message is been played from the transmitter hall rather than Donnybrook? AFAIK there was an emergency backup studio there in the Atlantic days, it would explain using tech as old-fashioned as a tape ?

StreetLight

The O'Donnell Abú is currently being played 24/7 on Saorview test channel 50.

Edit: Not long after I mentioned it, it ceased.

dxhound2005

If they do a BBC on it, that tape will be playing for the next month. I wonder will it last?

letovo3275

Joe Duffy is bound to be flooded with calls tomorrow with all the people cut off from this essential service. except how would they get his number without listening to the radio!

dxhound2005

Joe Duffy's Liveline has lost 3,000 listeners, according to new radio figures.

People are still pushing the "save 252" petition on social media and they actually expect RTE to reinstate 252 for "a couple of more years" as well as using the "sick" and "elderly" as a stick to beat their drum.

Antenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120484897#Comment_120484897

With so much being made by RTE of energy consumption to discontinue it, one would surely expect it to go QRT sooner than a month?

There was no closedown loop at all done with the closure of analogue terrestrial TV in this country , even though technically, no reason in this country it couldn't have been done, with one analogue channel per transmitter site remaining on for a period of time with a looped advice video (as was done in most markets in the USA called 'nightlight')

At most sites the RTE1 analogue transmitter could have stayed on for a while with a closedown loop with advise etc. A few cases (Clermont Carn) another channel could have been used instead, as RTE1 RF analog channel was taken over by digital at switchoff.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120486710#Comment_120486710

Yeah I too was surprised that analogue TV didn't broadcast a loop message for a while (realistically it effected a lot more people than MW and LW) but I guess it was because the closure date was decided by the department not RTE and they wanted it to close the same day as Northern Ireland for whatever reason

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120486832#Comment_120486832

I seem to recall there was an extensive advertising campaign about the switchover though so unless you were living under a rock and not actually watching TV anyway people were likely to have been aware. The LW switch off is much more low key and at short notice so more likely a listener might not be aware.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120486832#Comment_120486832

I don't remember it at the time, but the Minister of the day said that there was an onscreen "bug" at the time advising of the switchover. Also charities and local organisations were recruited to help the vulnerable. I don't think it would be feasible to maintain Analogue services from each transmitter site, along with the new digital to play a closedown loop, in place of the channels. If that is what is being suggested? Also it seems to have been a case of NI waiting for us, because they were the last region in the UK to switch.

National Digital Switchover week (17-23 September) announced by Minister Rabbitte

https://merrionstreet.ie/en/category-index/communications/broadcasting/national-digital-switchover-week-17-23-september-announced-by-minister-rabbitte.html

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte today announced details of National Digital Switchover Week which will take place from 17th – 23rd...

"All those still using the old analogue TV network will continue to see a ‘bug’ on the bottom right corner of their TV screen which will be a permanent reminder and countdown to analogue switchover date, October 24th. This ‘bug’ will remain on all analogue TV screens until October 24th or until those TV sets have been switched to the digital network."

https://wexfordgaa.ie/digital-tv-switchover/

Antenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120487587#Comment_120487587

At analogue TV switchover which was in 2012, only 1 (one) RF channel was initially in use for digital at each transmitter site (it since became two) for digital in ROI. Clearly just one analogue channel could easily have remained on at each site with a advisory video loop on behalf of the Irish TV broadcasters (not just RTE) if they had wanted to for a few days. I'm just saying it could have been done if they wanted to and may have seemed a more worthwhile thing to do than the loop on 252 now

TAFKAlawhec

The "nightlight" service in the USA in 2009 was co-ordinated by the FCC in specific markets and with some very small exceptions carried a looped video of the analogue switch off, mostly on a VHF Band I channel that wasn't either being immediately reused for DTT nor would cause interference to a neighbouring channel, and only lasted one month. Lower powered analogue channels remained on air until July 2021 if they still existed by that stage (though a few low-powered ARCS analogue transmitters in the Alaskan Bush were allowed to remain on air until January last year).

In most of the rest of the world, either analogue TV broadcasts were abruptly cut, or an analogue "shutdown" message was broadcast for a very short period of time. Japanese broadcasters broadcast the switch off message for one day - the only other countries that had a switch off message AFAIK was Hungary & Finland, and it might have only been for some analogue channels. For pretty much everyone else in Europe, the analogue switch off was abrupt.

In the last few decades there has largely been co-ordination between Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland when it comes to significant overhauls in both broadcasting & non-broadcasting infrastructure, going back to at least the mid-1980's when as part of a new plan to adopt the sub-band plan of the UK in RoI and to allow RTÉ to begin rolling out three full-time FM networks, BBC national network frequencies in Northern Ireland and western Wales were changed to accommodate it (though Divis was spared this). More recently, this co-ordination has extended to the DSO in 2012 and the most recently, the 700 MHz clearance at the end of the 2010's. Nothing unusual about this, for example the UK DSO schedule in southern England was coordinated with their French counterparts to minimise interference issues between their two countries.

In RoI, there was a permanent DOG on the screen of RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2 & TG4 during programming that was in a grey box with a red "X" and "24 OCTOBER" in white lettering (corresponding date in Irish on TG4) for a couple of months in the lead up to DSO in the country - it was pretty much impossible to miss it. This is a video I took of the closedown from Carin Hill, received in Omagh that shows the DOG on the bottom right corner.

https://youtu.be/35b63ahngBM

As for the idea of a "nightlight", it could have been technically done, but I suspect that similar echoing to protests about certain people, for example, "not being able to watch Six-One" would have reared its head, demanding an analogue outlet remain indefinitely like that we've seen with the 252 broadcasts. Ultimately, it was likely for the best that the analogue switch off was as abrupt as it was (albeit with plenty of warning), and the lack of "IT'S A DISGRACE JOE!!!!11" calls to Liveline relating to the switch off on the days afterwards would suggest to me that the switchover process went quite well overall·

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120488099#Comment_120488099

I enjoy the shambles of a countdown at the end. Also interesting that rte are using the same idents 11 years on...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489311#Comment_120489311

They've had those idents since 2006, apparently the longest in Europe for a main flagship channel.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120487700#Comment_120487700

Pretty sure both muxes were in use before ASO.

According to a post on Facebook, Monday the First of May is when the transmitter will be switched off

TAFKAlawhec

Now off the air, reading elsewhere the power switch was flicked to off at ~9.55 AM IST.

I very much doubt we'll see it resurrected again except maybe for a brief rare test at best while the mast is still standing.

RIP 252 from Summerhill/Clarkestown.

Edit: ~9.59 AM IST

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120492351#Comment_120492351

I wonder did RTE decide to end the loop tape early and scrap the rig asap incase the save 252 group who are looking for it to be reinstated get support?

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120492494#Comment_120492494

I'd be sure that everyone whom was listening to RTÉ Radio 1 via 252 kHz is now aware that it's no longer available, and that there's no point wasting energy to keep the loop going.

It's certainly short in comparison to BBC Radio Ulster & Foyle's looped messages when they shut down their MW outlets, they went on for a month! But I do remember that BBC Radio Ulster's TOTH jingle mentioned 1341 kHz even on its final day of broadcasting, so maybe getting the eventual message though needed time!

Mickey Mike

RTE closed Medium Wave in 2008, closed DAB in 2021, closed Long Wave in 2023. They can't close much more. FM is secure for another 10 years or so, but it will be next, there is always changes with the generations.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120493108#Comment_120493108

I think the next platform to be closed will be saorsat, AFAIK the actual satellite might be at end of life by the end of the decade

Mickey Mike

BBC still have a long way to go, they are on multiple platforms like, Long Wave, Medium Wave, FM, DAB and Satellite and of course Internet, must have very big electric bills.

RetroEncabulator

it would have been a very cool send off if had cut to a montage of Atlantic 252 jingles and then O'Donnell Abú and a gentle fade out to static.

The frequency was most famously the home of the Atlantic.

It’s a bit of tech and pop culture history signing off forever.

Simpler times!

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120493833#Comment_120493833

I believe that's just BBC4 that is on long wave. And if I recall correctly the British Navy use it in the event of a catastrophe to check if Britain still exists so there is a secondary use for it also

RetroEncabulator

I suspect those submarines probably have more up-to-date and reliable ways of checking these days.

Gerry Wicklow

Isn't there some story that BBC LW transmits a signal for domestic electric meters to switch to night rate or is that long since retired?