The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

Sam Russell · 22-08-2018 09:22AM

It is not just DAB, there is DAB + - just to confuse the issue. RTE Radio 1 is available on both.

Mailcoachinn · 05-09-2018 08:47PM

Just seen that Radio Aire 2 in Leeds has had its license extended for another 5 years. Looks like medium wave isn’t quite dead yet.

I would love to be able to have a similar station here in County Clare

05-09-2018 09:56PM

MW is certainly not dead, I was in Germany in the Summer and DAB was sh1t , coverage poor and they turned off all MW transmissions for that DAB pile of muck ? fools !

I was in Wales and Birmingham, and up as far as Tamworth a few weeks ago and had LW 252 belting in all the time even in Birmingham city. Beat that DAB you useless pile of crap !

Imagine that, just one transmitter covering such distance ? and to think car manufacturers wast to make us listen to DAB by removing AM ? scum bags the lot of them, governments included, MW/LW just works, one large transmitter can cover huge distances without a large network of smaller transmitters and LW/MW can penetrate walls and hills a lot easier than DAB.

Have to say I was less than impressed with DAB in Germany of all places, it's amazing the way the powers that be decide a route we should travel. Even go into Currys and low and behold you'll be hard pressed to find a radio with AM which is ridiculous because DAM could not take off and it has not taken off in Ireland, why ? because the commercial companies have no interest because FM works and people are not shouting for DAB simple as that so why force DAB upon us ? for what ?

Mailcoachinn · 05-09-2018 10:22PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

MW is certainly not dead, I was in Germany in the Summer and DAB was sh1t , coverage poor and they turned off all MW transmissions for that DAB pile of muck ? fools !

I was in Wales and Birmingham, and up as far as Tamworth a few weeks ago and had LW 252 belting in all the time even in Birmingham city. Beat that DAB you useless pile of crap !

Imagine that, just one transmitter covering such distance ? and to think car manufacturers wast to make us listen to DAB by removing AM ? scum bags the lot of them, governments included, MW/LW just works, one large transmitter can cover huge distances without a large network of smaller transmitters and LW/MW can penetrate walls and hills a lot easier than DAB.

Have to say I was less than impressed with DAB in Germany of all places, it's amazing the way the powers that be decide a route we should travel. Even go into Currys and low and behold you'll be hard pressed to find a radio with AM which is ridiculous because DAM could not take off and it has not taken off in Ireland, why ? because the commercial companies have no interest because FM works and people are not shouting for DAB simple as that so why force DAB upon us ? for what ?

Soapbox time ðŸ˜‚ðŸ˜‚ðŸ˜‚

AM is old technology. That may well be the case. But ask yourself the question - what other method of broadcasting can cover that sort of geographical area and be picked up on a cheap handheld receiver? Answer: none.

DAB is a joke. If anything it’s a step back from analog radio. More transmitters to cover less reach, rubbish sound quality, changing batteries that often can’t be any good for the environment. And yet everyone who wants to kill off AM gives out about the electricity costs of running a transmitter.

I really hope that AM in the UK, Spain, and other countries in Europe where it is still popular survives for at least long enough to prove to the other countries that insisted on killing it off that they really made the wrong call

05-09-2018 11:34PM

AM is old but it works.

All the companies want us streaming on the internet and do not want to maintain any form of transmitters and they will inflict us low bitrate digital noise instead.

Internet streaming also means low battery life.

RTE have a digital first campaign now and want us all on mobile devices thinking sure who wants a radio.

Mailcoachinn · 05-09-2018 11:59PM

My sister’s boyfriend was visiting a couple of weeks ago. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t get radio Scotland on digital radio this far out. He actually believes that it’s all it’s hyped up to be. I tuned the radio in his car to 810 MW. Could hear it no problem. He didn’t know that you could even do that anymore. The guy is a network engineer ffs. Some people just blindly believe everything they’re told

TAFKAlawhec · 06-09-2018 04:17AM

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

Just seen that Radio Aire 2 in Leeds has had its license extended for another 5 years. Looks like medium wave isn’t quite dead yet.

I would love to be able to have a similar station here in County Clare

Pretty much all remaining MW activity in the UK is just a sustaining service right now - if a MW or LW licence & frequency was being offered up by Ofcom it's unlikely anyone would want it. There are odd exceptions like Radio Caroline getting a community radio allowance with a clear frequency & TX power allowance more than flea-powered, but that's an exception to the rule funded by a support group. The commercial groups would have no interest - they're happy enough to pay for the fees to keep current transmissions going as many of them are not hugely powered (Aire 2 as mentioned has an ERP of just 120 watts) but anything out of the ordinary and they'll bail out. Northsound 2 in Aberdeen is one example where they stopped broadcasting on MW when their Nigg TX site was being sold off and decided not to take up residence at nearby Redmoss, while Absolute Radio reducing their MW coverage footprint earlier this year is another.

ATM in the UK it looks like the pieces are falling into place for a general switch off of MW & LW radio broadcasting between 2022 and 2025 as licences expire, audiences listening via these mediums continue to fall with many of them listening to the stations via alternative means and Arqiva think about selling some sites out to property developers.

Other countries in Europe have different development levels, in some cases MW was effectively dead as a mass broadcast medium more than 20 years ago, some others still have stations on the band that have effective listener numbers to keep the transmissions going (TalkSport & BBC 5 Live in the UK spring to mind) and others are still invested in it to certain extents (e.g. Kossuth Radio, which is the main PSB radio station in Hungary, had it's big MW facility refurbished a few years ago) but the general trend worldwide is that it's in decline at varying rates. At best these declines are very slow if at all noticeable for well known "powerhouse" stations, particularly in Australia and the USA but even in those two countries while among the lists of most popular stations there have a good amount of MW (mainly) broadcasters among them, there's a quite large gap between them and most of the remaining stations available on the band compared to that for FM stations outside the top of those audience lists. In Australia several stations in regional areas that have been on MW for decades are now converting to FM, while in the USA many of the MW stations that would have served local areas with general formats, especially on the "graveyard frequencies" are either a pale shadow of what they once were or, as they say over there, "gone dark". If advertiser money isn't coming in for the station then it either gets cost-cut to pieces or gets switched off.

In my unpaid opinion, MW & LW radio broadcasting is entering its twilight years, and wherever it is for general listening or for DX'ing it is best to now make the most of it.

dxhound2005 · 07-09-2018 10:34AM

RTE 252 is off air from 9.30 to 11.30 am 7 Sept. Algeria can be heard clearly on my set up.

Mickey Mike · 07-09-2018 11:11AM

The state should take over this Long Wave transmitter, sell off the existing TX and install a new 500kw Transradio TX, its the only way, but saying that I'd rather by a mile if the state could get the Tullamore MW 567 going (again at full power 500kw) as there is more MW radios than LW.

marno21 · 07-09-2018 09:28PM

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Algeria can be heard clearly on my set up.

aka a normal night for most of Ireland especially areas of the south that have no FM reception.

Mailcoachinn · 07-09-2018 09:48PM

marno21 wrote: »

aka a normal night for most of Ireland especially areas of the south that have no FM reception.

I can get Algeria no problem on my old Soviet Radio. Just turn it 90 degrees.

Mickey Mike · 07-09-2018 09:57PM

marno21 wrote: »

aka a normal night for most of Ireland especially areas of the south that have no FM reception.

If people have no reception in those areas, they will have to resort to Saorsat. RTE have 100% coverage on the Island of Ireland with crystal clear sound, from next June people will have no choice but to install this excellent service.

Mailcoachinn · 07-09-2018 10:00PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

If people have no reception in those areas, they will have to resort to Saorsat. RTE have 100% coverage on the Island of Ireland with crystal clear sound, from next June people will have no choice but to install this excellent service.

Yeh, expecting people to hang a satellite dish off the side of a car isn’t asking too much at all [/sarcasm]

Gerry Wicklow · 07-09-2018 10:10PM

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

Yeh, expecting people to hang a satellite dish off the side of a car isn’t asking too much at all [/sarcasm]

Or they could use the DAB service that doesn't exist on their car radio that doesn't support it either

marno21 · 07-09-2018 10:20PM

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

I can get Algeria no problem on my old Soviet Radio. Just turn it 90 degrees.

If only I could drive my car at 90 degrees

Mailcoachinn · 07-09-2018 10:27PM

marno21 wrote: »

If only I could drive my car at 90 degrees

Drive her like she’s robbed...

Mailcoachinn · 08-09-2018 02:38AM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Or they could use the DAB service that doesn't exist on their car radio that doesn't support it either

Or trade up their car for a newer model so that they can benefit from a failed technology

byte · 08-09-2018 10:16PM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Or they could use the DAB service that doesn't exist on their car radio that doesn't support it either

It's a bugbear of mine, that modern cars generally don't allow you to change the headunit, like was possible years ago with DIN or double-DIN fittings. There are perhaps some exceptions, but generally, the radios seem to form part of the centre console fascia. An awful shame, IMO.

Gerry Wicklow · 09-09-2018 06:33AM

Sadly, I remember the days when a radio was an optional extra. Volkswagon supplied them in a cardboard box on the seat!

Mailcoachinn · 09-09-2018 03:43PM

byte wrote: »

It's a bugbear of mine, that modern cars generally don't allow you to change the headunit, like was possible years ago with DIN or double-DIN fittings. There are perhaps some exceptions, but generally, the radios seem to form part of the centre console fascia. An awful shame, IMO.

I think that integrating the radio into the dashboard was to deter theft?

Johnboy1951 · 09-09-2018 04:23PM

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

I think that integrating the radio into the dashboard was to deter theft?

So we were told.

Antenna · 17-09-2018 01:22PM

It (252 LW) is due to be off the air again on this Thursday 20th September for 6 hours between 9AM and 4PM...

Mickey Mike · 17-09-2018 01:29PM

Antenna wrote: »

It (252 LW) is due to be off the air again on this Thursday 20th September for 6 hours between 9AM and 4PM...

You'd imagine they keep it going between now and the end of next June, what could they be possibly doing to the most maintained transmitter in the country.

Gerry Wicklow · 17-09-2018 03:04PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

You'd imagine they keep it going between now and the end of next June, what could they be possibly doing to the most maintained transmitter in the country.

Trying to prove how costly it is to run?? :rolleyes:

dxhound2005 · 17-09-2018 07:30PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

You'd imagine they keep it going between now and the end of next June, what could they be possibly doing to the most maintained transmitter in the country.

I think that is just perception, because of the campaign. There are lots of FM radio and TV transmitter outages which don't get written about. Kippure seems to have been down more often than Summerhill this year.

https://twitter.com/2rnnmc?lang=en

The Cush · 17-09-2018 09:29PM

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Kippure seems to have been down more often than Summerhill this year.

Probably related to the 700 MHz clearance programme, Kippure is to get an 18m height extension.

Mickey Mike · 17-09-2018 09:34PM

The Cush wrote: »

Probably related to the 700 MHz clearance programme, Kippure is to get an 18m height extension.

That's exactly it, Maghera will be out for a while this week also, guess they'll have to get cracking with this clearance.

The Cush · 17-09-2018 09:42PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

That's exactly it, Maghera will be out for a while this week also, guess they'll have to get cracking with this clearance.

I suspect this has been underway since last year, most of the government funding was allocated last year. Less than 12 months to switchover.

SPDUB · 03-10-2018 02:48PM

Off again this Friday October 5th for 2 hours between 11am and 4pm

They really are taking the piss

Mailcoachinn · 03-10-2018 03:09PM

SPDUB wrote: »

Off again this Friday October 5th for 2 hours between 11am and 4pm

They really are taking the piss

That'll be the second planned outage in just over a forthight!!!

The tinfoil hat-wearer within me would suggest that no work is actually being carried out & that this is just some sort of stunt to soften the blow for the final shutdown...

The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

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