The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

Gerry Wicklow · 03-10-2018 09:23PM

I thought they were warning lights I could see on the mast from miles away. Turns out it's just polished to death

Oscarziggy · 12-10-2018 02:12PM

I'm not around in the middle of the night but is 252 carrying RTE Gold through the night please?
Regards

Mickey Mike · 12-10-2018 09:33PM

Oscarziggy wrote: »

I'm not around in the middle of the night but is 252 carrying RTE Gold through the night please?
Regards

Yes it is, quality of reception is not great as Algerian radio is butting in on 252.

Oscarziggy · 12-10-2018 09:54PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Yes it is, quality of reception is not great as Algerian radio is butting in on 252.

Thanks

Mondo from Dublin · 18-10-2018 08:51PM

Prediction -.RTE LW 252 to cease next Easter Monday

Mailcoachinn · 18-10-2018 09:30PM

Mondo from Dublin wrote: »

Prediction -.RTE LW 252 to cease next Easter Monday

Any particular reason to suggest that? Not trying to be smart, just wondering...

Mickey Mike · 18-10-2018 09:33PM

Mondo from Dublin wrote: »

Prediction -.RTE LW 252 to cease next Easter Monday

What makes you say that? I thought it was the 30th of June.

Mondo from Dublin · 18-10-2018 09:38PM

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

Any particular reason to suggest that? Not trying to be smart, just wondering...

Both the RTE radio 1 & 2fm Medium Wave services closed on an Easter Monday

Mondo from Dublin · 18-10-2018 09:39PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

What makes you say that? I thought it was the 30th of June.

Actually the press release at the time said BY June 2019:D

Mickey Mike · 18-10-2018 09:40PM

Its nearly gone as it is with constant power reductions, its now uncomfortable listening.

Mailcoachinn · 18-10-2018 09:48PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Its nearly gone as it is with constant power reductions, its now uncomfortable listening.

I still listen to it on my USSR receiver here in County Clare, believe it or not. Perfect signal.

Can still get it in much of the UK when I’m back there no problem, although admittedly not quite as strong as back in the Atlantic 252 days

Mickey Mike · 18-10-2018 10:10PM

If the Irish in Britain kicked up another row, RTE might have to keep it going for another couple of years, what are the chances of that?

Mailcoachinn · 18-10-2018 10:16PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

If the Irish in Britain kicked up another row, RTE might have to keep it going for another couple of years, what are the chances of that?

Hmm... I know a few people in Kilburn. Must ask them to phone Joe Duffy...

225LongWave · 23-10-2018 03:35PM

heard RTE Gold on 252 00:45 60% audible in Willesden
Ray D'arcy promoting national join club week at 15.25
& talking with woman about Tuam babies memorial
Perhaps Algeria 252 is having identical outtages with little
Support from Ampegon, who promised ongoing service
after TRANSradio ?

225LongWave · 25-10-2018 07:42AM

612 closed end December 2004
RTE replaced the Atlantic252 500kw transmitter in 2007 maintenance contract (12th year) expires 30June2019
In 2017 29th May was the closing date for the extensthr , following the survey of 3100 respondents, Department Foreign Affairs funding has kept daytime transmission at 150kW emrp DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale)
can be transmitted to maximum of 160kW
7th September & Friday 5th October

Dacia1300 · 02-12-2018 01:47PM

RTE Radio 1 now announcing that they broadcast on FM, DAB & online. No mention of LW as was the case until very recently. So it’s probably not going to get another reprieve which is a pity. Very little left on LW compared with a couple of years back

Mickey Mike · 03-12-2018 05:00PM

Dacia1300 wrote: »

RTE Radio 1 now announcing that they broadcast on FM, DAB & online. No mention of LW as was the case until very recently. So it’s probably not going to get another reprieve which is a pity. Very little left on LW compared with a couple of years back

RTE don't want to hear of Long Wave, they are done and dusted with the AM band wave and God knows if FM will be around in another 10 or 15 years, technology is changing all the time.

Dacia1300 · 03-12-2018 09:45PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE don't want to hear of Long Wave, they are done and dusted with the AM band wave and God knows if FM will be around in another 10 or 15 years, technology is changing all the time.

That’s what I suspected alright, particularly considering the fact that they have a perfectly serviceable MW transmitter which has been idle for the last ten years.

Wonder if the BBC will keep R4 LW for much longer...

Mickey Mike · 04-12-2018 02:01PM

Dacia1300 wrote: »

That’s what I suspected alright, particularly considering the fact that they have a perfectly serviceable MW transmitter which has been idle for the last ten years.

Wonder if the BBC will keep R4 LW for much longer...

BBC R4 long wave uses the old valve tubes which are not manufacturer anymore, so once they blow and that can happen anytime, it will be the end of BBC Radio 4 long wave. The BBC wants to end long wave as well.

Dacia1300 · 04-12-2018 02:06PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

BBC R4 long wave uses the old valve tubes which are not manufacturer anymore, so once they blow and that can happen anytime, it will be the end of BBC Radio 4 long wave. The BBC wants to end long wave as well.

As was mentioned in this Guardian article from 2011? https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/09/bbc-radio4-long-wave-goodbye

If I'm not mistaken a couple of ex-BBC engineers subsequently refuted that article as nonsense...

04-12-2018 10:11PM

RTE are a joke, they got a digital first agenda going now as well as an anti-male agenda but that's another story.....

I was driving all over Wales in the Summer and could get 252 clear as a bell everywhere stronger than many local MW stations , booming into Birmingham city. The Outlander had LW rare for a modern car these days.

I can't even get DAB here in Carlow, these Muppets in RTE don't understand radio or how it works, they just think that a newer technology is automatically better, it won't be cheaper to maintain , hardly going to be cheaper to maintain many , many smaller transmitters over 1 solid state ultra reliable 500 Kw transmitter that is DRM capable.

Gerry Wicklow · 04-12-2018 10:29PM

Deleted User wrote: »

RTE are a joke, they got a digital first agenda going now as well as an anti-male agenda but that's another story.....

I was driving all over Wales in the Summer and could get 252 clear as a bell everywhere stronger than many local MW stations , booming into Birmingham city. The Outlander had LW rare for a modern car these days.

I can't even get DAB here in Carlow, these Muppets in RTE don't understand radio or how it works, they just think that a newer technology is automatically better, it won't be cheaper to maintain , hardly going to be cheaper to maintain many , many smaller transmitters over 1 solid state ultra reliable 500 Kw transmitter that is DRM capable.

RTE (and our government) can't see beyond Dublin 4. They seem to believe everyone has super fast cabled BB, Sky subs and perfect 4G coverage. They can get their DAB and online content and that's all that counts. Outside the M50 doesn't exist or at least doesn't count.

04-12-2018 10:48PM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

RTE (and our government) can't see beyond Dublin 4. They seem to believe everyone has super fast cabled BB, Sky subs and perfect 4G coverage. They can get their DAB and online content and that's all that counts. Outside the M50 doesn't exist or at least doesn't count.

RTE want us all on apps, then they won't have to support a radio network.....

Relying on the internet for more and more is a disaster waiting to happen and the worst of it all is there's no backup plan.......

Dacia1300 · 04-12-2018 11:28PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

RTE want us all on apps, then they won't have to support a radio network.....

Relying on the internet for more and more is a disaster waiting to happen and the worst of it all is there's no backup plan.......

Totally agree. Look at what’s happening in the Ukraine at the moment. FM transmitters being taken over, websites being blocked, etc. yet a so called obsolete and irrelevant technology MW can get messages across not a problem

Dacia1300 · 04-12-2018 11:35PM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

RTE (and our government) can't see beyond Dublin 4. They seem to believe everyone has super fast cabled BB, Sky subs and perfect 4G coverage. They can get their DAB and online content and that's all that counts. Outside the M50 doesn't exist or at least doesn't count.

I used to work in the holiday home rental business. You would not believe the number of people who would normally never venture outside the M50 boundary into the vast unknown who couldn’t believe that TV reception through an aerial was still possible - “sure that was done away with in the early 1970s???”

Gerry Wicklow · 05-12-2018 12:08AM

Deleted User wrote: »

RTE want us all on apps, then they won't have to support a radio network.....

Relying on the internet for more and more is a disaster waiting to happen and the worst of it all is there's no backup plan.......

That's all well and good until you consider how erratic the RTE player is now. Gawd know what it would be like if everyone was trying to access it.
During the last big storm we had a few months back, the first thing to go was mobile coverage followed by ESB so no router. Only for a small battery powered FM radio, I was completely out of the loop. Down here DAB is something to do with paint.

elperello · 05-12-2018 11:45AM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

That's all well and good until you consider how erratic the RTE player is now. Gawd know what it would be like if everyone was trying to access it.
During the last big storm we had a few months back, the first thing to go was mobile coverage followed by ESB so no router. Only for a small battery powered FM radio, I was completely out of the loop. Down here DAB is something to do with paint.

You make a good point about the little battery powered radio.
That in essence is the USP of radio.
It's that accessibility anytime, any place, any where.
Tying radio reception to internet connectivity makes it expensive, unwieldy and unreliable.
Decision makers in Dept. of Communications and RTE should wake up to what they have and maintain it.
They have abandoned the older emigrants in the UK. Who will be next?

Ger Roe · 05-12-2018 01:04PM

"Only for a small battery powered FM radio, I was completely out of the loop."

You should improve on your disaster prep facilities and get a wind-up radio - no batteries needed

Gerry Wicklow · 05-12-2018 01:15PM

Ger Roe wrote: »

"Only for a small battery powered FM radio, I was completely out of the loop."

You should improve on your disaster prep facilities and get a wind-up radio - no batteries needed

I have a large box of AA batteries and a small petrol gene if all else fails. Two AAs lasts for weeks. Show me a DAB that can say that.

stephend2000 · 05-12-2018 07:32PM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Ger Roe wrote: »

"Only for a small battery powered FM radio, I was completely out of the loop."

You should improve on your disaster prep facilities and get a wind-up radio - no batteries needed

I have a large box of AA batteries and a small petrol gene if all else fails. Two AAs lasts for weeks. Show me a DAB that can say that.

Out of interest, what kind of disaster in Ireland would need you to have a radio with battery life of a few weeks

The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

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