The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

Quackster · 11-03-2017 08:23PM

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

What I don't understand is why should Manchester & Liverpool get terrestrial carriage of RTE but not Boston or Sidney ? At least LW can be used by Irish listener's too

Why would anyone use LW when then can get FM though? Majority of radios don't even have LW capability these days.

The argument for Manchester & Liverpool is that they have traditionally had access to some form of (non-internet-based) reception of RTE Radio 1 and their large Irish communities have come to take that for granted. Taking it away would be poor form.

Mickey Mike · 11-03-2017 08:25PM

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

What I don't understand is why should Manchester & Liverpool get terrestrial carriage of RTE but not Boston or Sidney ? At least LW can be used by Irish listener's too

Are you joking, listen to LW, such poor quality, no I listen to FM. Boston and Sydney are too far away, they rely on the Internet

The Parish Priest. · 11-03-2017 08:32PM

Double post delete

The Parish Priest. · 11-03-2017 08:36PM

Are the very elderly people who the campaign has heavily focussed on likely to go out and buy dab+ sets tho ? Dab+ will likely only benefit younger listeners who are already listening via the app etc anyway

Gerry Wicklow · 11-03-2017 08:52PM

You mean the younger listeners who couldn't be a**ed listening to RTÉ1 anyway?

dxhound2005 · 11-03-2017 09:18PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Even putting in place a few infill FM transmitters in the north and a few here in the south should bring about full coverage, and hopefully hear the end of it. I agree with freeview coverage in the UK.

RTE are claiming 98% population coverage on FM. Would a few infill transmitters make that 100% and where would they be located?

There are no RTE radio transmitters in the North, only RTE and TG4 TV relayed by a Freeview site. So you would be starting from scratch there and the first thing needed would be an agreement between this country and the UK to allow it to happen.

The whole point of the campaign is that listeners in GB want to continue receiving a RTE long wave signal, so it would not suit them to have it on Freeview. I cannot see any advantage to the UK in allowing Irish radio stations on Freeview terrestrial transmitters in GB seeing as they are already Free to Air on satellite there anyway.

Mickey Mike · 11-03-2017 09:29PM

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

Are the very elderly people who the campaign has heavily focussed on likely to go out and buy dab+ sets tho ? Dab+ will likely only benefit younger listeners who are already listening via the app etc anyway

The best thing you can do at this point is to say Mass, a prayer or two will never go astray.

11-03-2017 09:47PM

FM works, so there's no point reinventing the wheel. LW, MW also works and SW is fascinating. Pity more radios don't have SW.

Anyway, no point investing in DAB when the quality is usually crap and they have to build a whole new infrastructure, Analogue works just fine and people don't have to go out and buy brand new radios.

The Parish Priest. · 11-03-2017 11:03PM

Double post delete

The Parish Priest. · 11-03-2017 11:06PM

Protest tomorrow http://talkofthetown.ie/dundalk-woman-behind-push-to-save-rte-longwave-252/

kazoo106 · 12-03-2017 12:38PM

Simple solution - close it and put 567 back on from the CLARKSTOWN site on full 500kW. This will provide excellent coverage across most of Britain where MW is widely used.

The Parish Priest. · 12-03-2017 01:06PM

kazoo106 wrote: »

Simple solution - close it and put 567 back on from the CLARKSTOWN site on full 500kW. This will provide excellent coverage across most of Britain where MW is widely used.

Even if they wanted to, RTE/2rn can't just rock up to clarkstown tomorrow twiddle a knob and move to an new Frequency, Moving to 567 from 252 would be a MAJOR project which would take months

kazoo106 · 12-03-2017 01:37PM

The wavelength at 567kHz is 529.1m - the wavelength at 252 is 1.195km
The mast height at clarkestown is 248m (just under 1/4 wavelength)

The mast is closer to a 1/2 wavelength for 567 than it is to 1/4 wavelength for 252

The Parish Priest. · 12-03-2017 01:53PM

If things are that simple, one wonders why they didn't put clarkstown on 567 back in 2004

kazoo106 · 12-03-2017 01:57PM

They were infatuated that LW travelled further - no consideration given to the high power TX in Algeria.
Even from Tullamore 567 was brilliant in the UK, imagine what it would be like 55km closer to the coast.

Quackster · 12-03-2017 02:24PM

kazoo106 wrote: »

Simple solution - close it and put 567 back on from the CLARKSTOWN site on full 500kW. This will provide excellent coverage across most of Britain where MW is widely used.

I presume the cost of the required electric is the issue for RTE here. Vastly more economical to cover major UK population centres via a slot on a network of low-power DAB transmitters.

Quackster · 12-03-2017 02:33PM

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I cannot see any advantage to the UK in allowing Irish radio stations on Freeview terrestrial transmitters in GB seeing as they are already Free to Air on satellite there anyway.

Unlike satellite, very close to every household in the UK likely has a Freeview-capable TV or set-top box at this stage so after DAB, it's the next best way of getting RTE Radio 1 to everyone, regardless of internet access.

12-03-2017 05:17PM

You can't bring the telly around the house or into the garden.

DAB forces people to buy new radios, internet only radios , forces people to buy pretty expensive radios and again, you need a signal all over the house and into the garden.

MW, LW just works, if it's not broke , why fix it ?

burnsey1987 · 12-03-2017 06:11PM

Deleted User wrote: »

You can't bring the telly around the house or into the garden.

DAB forces people to buy new radios, internet only , forces people to but pretty expensive radios and again, you need a signal all over the house and into the garden.

MW, LW just works, if it's not broke , why fix it ?

Actually, a lot of people had to buy new radios in 2008 when Tullamore closed so that they could pick up LW. The circuitry in most radios built within the last 20 years or so is rubbish as far as AM reception is concerned. I have a Panasonic set which cost about 50 quid and it's crap when I try to listen to Radio Wales from Washford on 882 kHz in Limerick. My old Roberts transistor portable does a much better job

nosilver · 12-03-2017 06:15PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You can't bring the telly around the house or into the garden.

DAB forces people to buy new radios, internet only , forces people to but pretty expensive radios and again, you need a signal all over the house and into the garden.

MW, LW just works, if it's not broke , why fix it ?

DAB is not internet radio.

DAB radios can be had from about €25

dxhound2005 · 12-03-2017 07:23PM

Quackster wrote: »

Unlike satellite, very close to every household in the UK likely has a Freeview-capable TV or set-top box at this stage so after DAB, it's the next best way of getting RTE Radio 1 to everyone, regardless of internet access.

But that requires Freeview to put RTE Radio 1 on dozens of terrestrial transmitters. Whereas one transponder on satellite covers all of the UK and many other parts of Europe. What is the incentive for UK Freeview to put any Irish radio stations on their service?

And again, this is not what the campaigners want. They claim that many Long Wave listeners cannot figure out how to listen to radio on their televisions, and they want the radio signal to continue.

12-03-2017 07:30PM

nosilver wrote: »

DAB is not internet radio.

DAB radios can be had from about €25

I know DAB isn't internet radio , read my post again , I edited to make it clearer what I intended to say in the first place.

The point being old radios work absolutely fine.

Quackster · 12-03-2017 07:45PM

dxhound2005 wrote: »

But that requires Freeview to put RTE Radio 1 on dozens of terrestrial transmitters. Whereas one transponder on satellite covers all of the UK and many other parts of Europe. What is the incentive for UK Freeview to put any Irish radio stations on their service?

And again, this is not what the campaigners want. They claim that many Long Wave listeners cannot figure out how to listen to radio on their televisions, and they want the radio signal to continue.

Clearly it's not what the campaigners want. But RTE isn't planning to shutdown LW just to piss these people off. It's because they consider it not to be economically justifiable/sustainable to keep it going.

As to Freeview, what I'm saying is that IF RTE can't provide an alternative (DAB) which provides comprehensive coverage of the UK, then they should at the very least be on Freeview, IF it's affordable (and there's a slot available), in addition to the limited DAB coverage that they're planning.

I'm not saying it's ideal, rather that it's the minimum that's acceptable.

The Parish Priest. · 12-03-2017 08:27PM

Freeview is an non runner, very expensive and limited space available anyway. I don't really know either why RTE now hate longwave so much and keep giving dates to close it, June 2019 is what, the 5th closure date in 3 years ?

dxhound2005 · 12-03-2017 08:28PM

Quackster wrote: »

Clearly it's not what the campaigners want. But RTE isn't planning to shutdown LW just to piss these people off. It's because they consider it not to be economically justifiable/sustainable to keep it going.

As to Freeview, what I'm saying is that IF RTE can't provide an alternative (DAB) which provides comprehensive coverage of the UK, then they should at the very least be on Freeview, IF it's affordable (and there's a slot available), in addition to the limited DAB coverage that they're planning.

I'm not saying it's ideal, rather that it's the minimum that's acceptable.

It would make far more sense in that case to put RTE Radio on every FM radio transmitter in GB. That way people could listen on their radios, which is what the campaign is all about.

12-03-2017 08:47PM

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It would make far more sense in that case to put RTE Radio on every FM radio transmitter in GB. That way people could listen on their radios, which is what the campaign is all about.

I'd doubt they'd have the spectrum there for another national radio station on FM ? And the Brits might Object to an Nationwide Irish station in GB.

Stations like these belong on MW/LW where they don't take up any part of the FM spectrum and probably why there are so many stations on MW in the U.K.

RTE are probably wanting rid of 252 because it's old tech and some people don't seem to like this.

ITV2 · 13-03-2017 11:38AM

http://www.a516digital.com/2017/03/rte-confirms-small-scale-dab-plans-for.html

The Parish Priest. · 13-03-2017 03:29PM

Is it true that RTE have reduced the power below 100kw recently ?

galtee boy · 13-03-2017 04:59PM

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

Is it true that RTE have reduced the power below 100kw recently ?

Must be, all I know is that my brother who lives in South West London area, tells me it used to be very listenable both in car and portable radio, but over last 6 months or so, reception is very poor now.

13-03-2017 05:10PM

100 kW by day and 60 kW by night was reported on here a while back.

The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

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