Summerhill Transmitter Site

Cork_chick_94

Is the land worth much ? Is the mast going to be taken down ? Will the new (7 years old) transmitter be sold ?

L1011

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

Is the land worth much ? Is the mast going to be taken down ? Will the new (7 years old) transmitter be sold ?

No, unlikely - none of the MW ones have been, also unlikely - no major resale value.

Cork_chick_94

RTE seem to have totally disregarded the people who really depend on this service. Middle aged to eldary irish living in the uk who don't have a clue about apps, internet etc.

Losty Dublin

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

RTE seem to have totally disregarded the people who really depend on this service. Middle aged to eldary irish living in the uk who don't have a clue about apps, internet etc.

None of whom contribute by way of licence fee or JNLR figures to ascertain ad revenue. It's costing RTE about €1.5 million PA to run LW; in terms of the licence fee revenue of approx. €180 million it's rather a lot of money that isn't easily justifiable given it's return.

As regards your other questions, the rig will almost certainly be sold off, the mast will be awkward and expensive to remove given it's size and farmland is fairly valuable in that part of Leinster.

munchkin_utd

Losty Dublin wrote: »

As regards your other questions, the rig will almost certainly be sold off, the mast will be awkward and expensive to remove given it's size and farmland is fairly valuable in that part of Leinster.

theres a lot of copper there that someone will recycle for free no doubt.

Cork_chick_94

If the ESB bill is about 400K per year what brings the cost of the service up to over €1 million ?

L1011

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

If the ESB bill is about 400K per year what brings the cost of the service up to over €1 million ?

Maintenance, security, staffing.

Cork_chick_94

How many staff are employed at the site and would it be a full time job ?

L1011

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

How many staff are employed at the site and would it be a full time job ?

I would doubt there are any permanent staff on-site, but as it may require access 24/7 there are still costs in ensuring staff from HQ are available, and can get their (transport-wise).

I'm not aware of any transmitter in the country that has permanent staff on-site as it really isn't required with modern equipment.

Cork_chick_94

Does anybody have an idea what the annual cost of the upkeep of the mast will be after the transmitter is turned off ?

Five Lamps

The mast would have been maintained by RTE Networks with some sort of service level agreement in place in the event of tech issues and regular service.

It's quite possible that they may keep the mast intact for some time after transmissions cease. It's even possible that a private broadcaster could rent it.

As regards listeners in the UK - RTE Radio 1 has only been on LW for a short number of years so I don't think there would be a large number of elderly ex-pats who have been tuned in for decades and now don't know what to do.

Infoanon

Losty Dublin wrote: »

None of whom contribute by way of licence fee or JNLR figures to ascertain ad revenue. It's costing RTE about €1.5 million PA to run LW; in terms of the licence fee revenue of approx. €180 million it's rather a lot of money that isn't easily justifiable given it's return.

That argument fails when you consider the return the 10million p.a. spend on RnaG.

Infoanon

Five Lamps wrote: »

The mast would have been maintained by RTE Networks with some sort of service level agreement in place in the event of tech issues and regular service.

It's quite possible that they may keep the mast intact for some time after transmissions cease. It's even possible that a private broadcaster could rent it.

As regards listeners in the UK - RTE Radio 1 has only been on LW for a short number of years so I don't think there would be a large number of elderly ex-pats who have been tuned in for decades and now don't know what to do.

Don't forget that before LW Ex Pats could listen to 567 MW and in the 80s there was a huge hullabaloo when Caroline and Laser were causing interference to 567 and preventing reception to Ex Pats in the Southeast of England.

Btw RTE radio on Astra are no longer on a European wide beam transponder.

SPDUB

Losty Dublin wrote: »

None of whom contribute by way of licence fee or JNLR figures to ascertain ad revenue. It's costing RTE about €1.5 million PA to run LW; in terms of the licence fee revenue of approx. €180 million it's rather a lot of money that isn't easily justifiable given it's return.

Given that equally applies to News Now and RTEjr and they cost about 1.9m combined there's a case to be made to shut them down .

Five Lamps

Infoanon wrote: »

Don't forget that before LW Ex Pats could listen to 567 MW and in the 80s there was a huge hullabaloo when Caroline and Laser were causing interference to 567 and preventing reception to Ex Pats in the Southeast of England.

Btw RTE radio on Astra are no longer on a European wide beam transponder.

Yes but that was the 1980's - nobody would be setting up a music driven MW pirate these days and a big chunk of the "interested audience" as RTE calls them on MW would have had no issue migrating to other platforms since then.

Infoanon wrote:

That argument fails when you consider the return the 10million p.a. spend on RnaG.

That's their public service remit. Many BBC services don't wash their faces either when you look at the cost and the audience served e.g. BBC 6 Music.

Five Lamps

Anyway back to the mast. Of the other AM sites, what is currently remaining between aerials and transmission facilities?

What is the "wake up" status - could these facilities be reactivated in the event of a national calamity - or is this pointless given that they broadcast on what is an obsolete technology in this country?

Cork_chick_94

Looks like they have given the old tullamore 567 mast an nice new paint job http://10sd156.blogspot.com/2014/05/el-transmisor-tullamore-500kw-ubicado.html?m=1

Five Lamps

I assume that's the old Athlone mast that you can see north of the N6?

Trick of the Tail

Yes except that's only one of the two that supported the 'T' transmitting antenna. As one of the towers is gone, it would not be feasible to deactivate Athlone now.

Tullamore, however, is still complete and could be put back on air tomorrow.

Five Lamps

Trick of the Tail wrote: »

Yes except that's only one of the two that supported the 'T' transmitting antenna. As one of the towers is gone, it would not be feasible to deactivate Athlone now.

Tullamore, however, is still complete and could be put back on air tomorrow.

Athlone seems to have a lot of other transmission dishes on it so probably earning some nice rent. Guess that's what Athlone might end up doing but the cost of maintaining that mast given it's height must be an issue.

dabfan

I took those Tullamore photos - they were taken about a year ago. Very impressive site!

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

Looks like they have given the old tullamore 567 mast an nice new paint job

Cork_chick_94

I am surprised RTE haven't been questioned about their longterm plans for this site and about the odd 15 million they have spent on it over the last few years.

Cork_chick_94

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

I am surprised RTE haven't been questioned about their longterm plans for this site and about the odd 15 million they have spent on it over the last few years.

I thought about this earlier and I don't think it's as bad as it sounds.

The Tullamore site would have been quite inefficient being valve based. Clarkstown in its original form was apparently very inefficient. The new transmitter would quite likely have paid for itself in a year or two.