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What Can be Picked up on Long Wave Around Ireland?

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    #182
    dxhound2005
    Registered Users Posts: 20,507 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    It is coming in to Co Cork at a fair level. And good on radios in Mayo and Donegal. Also very useable reception of Poland and Algeria during the day on those.

    http://rx.linkfanel.net/snr.html

    For anyone who doesn't know, on a PC keyboard Ctrl and F together allows a search of the list. Type "Ireland" into the Search box, and check out reception on the SDR's.



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    #183
    DannoA1
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭DannoA1


    Does anyone know of a radio that reliably picks up BBC Radio 4 in Ireland? And is on sale retail. Roberts supposedly pick up Radio 4 but from experience do not so. I had a Panasonic which did but it had died of old age.



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    #184
    Mickey Mike
    Registered Users Posts: 781 ✭✭✭Mickey Mike


    @DannoA1 weather it can be picked up or not, all I can say its been switched off this year, so I'll be looking at another alternative, Sky, BBC Sounds. etc.



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    #185
    dxhound2005
    Registered Users Posts: 20,507 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    One source is saying that it will be 2025. See report 16 Feb.

    https://mediumwave.info/news/

    Any radio with Long Wave can pick it up. If someone takes the radio to a rural place with no electrical noise. And uses the directional properties of the inbuilt aerial to peak the signal.

    In urban areas the signal could be drowned out by the electrical smog, see video. If anyone has a car with Medium Wave, drive round a town to hear how bad it can be. Radio 4 is also on Medium Wave from transmitters in the North, 720 kHz and 774 kHz. 720 is strong in Dundalk.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDF6F3_44G4



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    #186
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121789071#Comment_121789071

    I think it's LW specific programming such as Test Match Special that's being removed from R4 in the near future. The LW frequency itself is not up for immediate closure just yet.



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    #187
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 302 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    Iceland on 189 kHz and Romania on 153 kHz both had outages earlier today.



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    #188
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 302 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    153 Romania is off once again, has been for at least a couple of hours now



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    #189
    RetroEncabulator
    Registered Users Posts: 1,298 ✭✭✭RetroEncabulator


    I wonder what, if anything LW spectrum will be used for when it eventually goes silent.



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    #190
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 302 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    Romania has come back on now. Shortly before these recent outages started to occur on a regular basis, Radio Romania said they had "no plans" to close 153. I'm thinking they meant - "no plans yet, but we'll randomly turn it off now and again to see who complains".

    @RetroEncabulator As for other uses, well ALS162 from France will be around for a while yet plus a new time signal recently launched on 225 from Poland, so I guess the default usage will be timing and frequency standards when there are no broadcast stations left. I can't see a bidding war going on for <150 kHz of spectrum with a very high noise floor.

    After RUV from Iceland, BBC R4 and Antena Satelor from Romania leave LW we will be left with the following -

    171 - Medi 1 (Morocco), 225 - Polskie R1 and 252 - Chaine 3 (Algeria) plus the 3 to 5 LW transmitters in Mongolia which are allegedly falling apart...



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    #191
    Tax The Farmers
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭Tax The Farmers


    Part of the LW band is shared with navigation beacons used by ships/aircraft although I'm not sure how reliant they still are on such technology given the availability of GPS and wotnot.

    In North America (where there are no LW broadcast stations) parts of the band are available to amateur radio while other parts are open to "Part 15" (basically open to all comers but with power/bandwidth restrictions) applications. A few decades ago there were proposals to use LW for emergency warning systems but nothing ever came of it.

    Australia briefly considered putting ABC stations on Long wave in the early 1930's but the band was deemed too prone to thunderstorm static.



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    #192
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 302 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    @Tax The Farmers that's right, still plenty of NDBs left in the space between the top of the LW broadcast band and below the start of the MW band. Navtex is still used very extensively.

    I believe the US emergency warning system was called GWEN (Ground Wave Emergency Network) which I think was proposed in either the Carter or Reagan administration era. I can't recall if it just never got off the ground or there were initial test transmissions before the project was abandoned.

    Had forgotten about the LW trials in Australia during the early days of broadcasting.



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    #193
    tinytobe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,208 ✭✭✭tinytobe


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121862788#Comment_121862788

    Thanks for that. I didn't know Australia ever considered the LW.

    I would presume that thunderstorm static would be more in the North of Australia, Darvin, etc....



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