The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

galtee boy wrote: »

What do mean blackout of saved stations ? I use Tunein and BBC Sounds and all stations are there all the time.

Tune in radio use their own database of stations internet radios don’t and the issue is that there is a flood of internet radios that can’t be upgraded, too old , not supported by updates etc so they’re fit for the bin , the only way to save them is to enter the ip address and port number manually, can you just imagine that hassle that would involve ?

BBC player and other apps like RTÉ are updated by themselves and so this won’t be an issue but unfortunately internet radios are very different and rely on a 3rd party service.

Radio stations should take note before they go shutting off analogue services because they are in control of their own network and nothing can stop them getting out if they want and world wide with shortwave if they want too.

the Likes of tune in censors stations now too and there are stations removed because of their left winger liberal politics, they don’t care about free speech as many companies no longer do now either such as google and Facebook who continually remove content because it goes against their agenda and politics.

It’s a sad time because more and more content is being removed daily from these platforms and sooner or later the whole World Wide Web will be like China and North Korea if a stop is not put to this.

Ireland is also a good example of where no free speech exists and we were highly criticized in a recent world wide study the source I can’t remember right now. So it’s even more important we can access material from outside of Ireland another reason I like shortwave radio.

Sorry for going on on a bit of a rant but I’m a believer in radio for many reasons.

galtee boy wrote: »

Ok, you're more passionate about radio than me, I used to use an internet radio, but now I mainly use the radio players/apps on my phone and bluetooth to a good quality speaker and do the same in the car. I just want the BBC stations mainly and Classic FM on a Sunday morning. With the generous data allowances given now by the phone companies, streaming radio for long durations is not an issue anymore. Even the Alexa speaker makes a reasonably good internet radio player now and you can just ask it to change stations without touching a button!!

Yes I am very passionate about radio for several reasons it should coexist with digital platforms and should always be there as a backup especially longwave and medium wave which can cover huge distances with just one single transmitter and doesn’t need a web of cables and 3rd party providers or subscriptions and I’m also a fan of radio technology,

I hold an amateur radio license now since May and just loving transmitting on shortwave , you never know where your signal will end up or who you’re going to hear and I love getting out long distance with low power, today for instance I got from Germany to Belarus , about 1300 kms with just 5 watts of power and an antenna 20 feet from the ground. It just amazes me ! You can get much much further with the right conditions and only 5 watts. I was out in the sticks with my portable transceiver for 5 hrs, so yes I do love the technology but it was a lovely day here in Germany so I had to get out.

I wouldn’t have Alexa anywhere near me lol.

If you like the BBC , they block high quality streams outside the UK but if you use a vpn with a uk ip you can get the high quality streams.

RTÉ are taking the p1ss!

Are they trying their utmost to p1ss people off so they’ll give up on LW ?

Or are they trying to give the impression that this ancient technology is not worth all this maintenance?

oK, sorry to go a bit off topic with this post but Oh My God, I have never received such a stable long distance DRM transmission, this is coming from china, 30 Kw and no break up, amazing stable connection ! 30 Kw absolutely flabbergasted !

Since this thread has some interest and considering LW 252 is DRM capable I thought it was appropriate and considering it was brought up before.

The only real issue I have with DRM is the usual very low bitrate of transmissions and this is no exception only it's worse than normal, 11 Kbps, analogue SW sounds so much better but the thing that impresses me so much is that this signal has produce absolutely no breakup. the quality is woeful though. Surely higher bitrate isn't much more expensive on SW ?

The furthest DRM I received so far is Radio Kuwait which transmits in about 26 Kbps but in Stereo ! yes Stereo on Shortwave, amazing.

But..............no Fading on this transmission, Coming from China, No static .....

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Can we put pressure on the government to launch a Digital Radio Mondiale broadcast? or is there any point.

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Can we put pressure on the government to launch a Digital Radio Mondiale broadcast? or is there any point.

The problem for DRM in Europe is the internet, RTE and most major broadcasters would switch off every single radio transmitter tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it, FM and DAB included and quite a few major MW transmissions/transmitters have been shut down and their antennas destroyed.

DRM came late and due to licensing, made it too expensive. It's only now it's changing and fast but mostly in Asia which is big , very big for DRM because obviously the distance to cover and population mean MW/LW and even SW is just as important today as ever, it's a big deal and more and more new cars are coming with DRM in Asia, which covers MW, LW, SW and FM and more and more companies are pushing DRM.

RTE have a digital first agenda today which means they want us using apps more and more and they will probably look at making everything digital in another few years as FM transmitters age but FM can be made digital if they want using DRM and existing transmitters.

RTE made a good move to make the 252 transmitter solid state which would make it far cheaper to maintain than one with valves. It's also DRM capable , I'm not so sure if they can transmit in Stereo but the technology exists as I've witnessed from radio Kuwait on SW. Imagine 252 in Stereo DRM ?

The only real issue I have with DRM is the sound quality is usually very poor, people are brainwashed into thinking digital is better, and we see that RTE's Digital Radio transmissions are very poor quality MP2 , a technology invented in 1985 !!! But RTE sell it to the Public as better quality just because it's digital.

DRM used a much more advanced compression than RTE's DAB, DRM uses xHE-AAC at up to 38 Kbps for 10 Khz worth of Bandwidth and 72 Kbps for 20 Khz of Bandwidth but the majority use 10 Khz bandwidth. 72 Kbps would be quite acceptable.

According to Wiki DRM can for FM use existing transmitters cutting costs.

The BBC in 2007 tested DRM in FM in Edinburgh and used an existing 10 Kw transmitter at 1 Kw for a claimed same coverage as the 10 Kw on Analogue , if we're to believe that, however , considering the fact I could receive a 30 Kw transmission almost perfectly from China with only 2 x fractions of a second dropout would make me consider this efficiency gain observed in Edinburgh was probably correct.

There are no cheap DRM radio's yet available outside of Asia which is a problem, a new chip available could change this.

I can see the USA and Canada adopt DRM before Europe because of the vast distances covered.

WBCQ have a new 500 Kw transmitter which I think is DRM capable.

DRM can offer superior reception to those suffering from the noise of modern electronic which plagues AM today but this noise may also effect the signal quality.

If DRM is widely adopted I would hope for better than 11-16 Kbps, I would say that 32 Kbps should be the absolute minimum.

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Somehow or other I don't think DRM is going to be the answer for UK-resident Irish OAPs.

Then again, there are people who are OAPs now who were eagerly programming ZX81s when they came out...

If they can actually buy a DRM radio for 20 Euro they wouldn't care and it would be as easy to use as a DAB radio or any radio.

I have a DRM radio made by Gospell , it's the GR-216 and I got it direct from China, it was expensive of course, but as a radio Enthusiast I had to have it as it has DRM.

There's a new DRM chip that has been released which should make the radios a lot cheaper, let's hope.

DRM is gaining huge traction in Asia which is as I said earlier big for DRM as the attraction is efficiency, so , in my opinion there is no stopping DRM now.

Next to adopt DRM will be The USA who have no intentions of turning off MW or SW stations due to the vast areas they have to cover , there are some trials going on there now beaming to Europe and I must see if I can catch them sometime.

Australia, might be next also for the same reasons.

Europe ? who knows, once DRM radios become available for a good price then the countries who have not turned off and demolished transmitters might change to DRM.

RTE ? who knows, I'd like to see some more trials to compare sound quality. The investment in the transmitter tower the last few years would mean closure would be a waste and a shame.

567 Khz would be the better frequency though.

I was impressed how strong the signal was in Wales and up into Birmingham city last year, we listened in the Car at times, it was much stronger than a lot of their local MW stations.

I do believe strongly that we should have an alternative to the internet especially since the company that internet radios get their list of stations from went bust, all my stations gone, all my favorites gone , they can be got back of course but another company had to intervene and it was a serious pain in the ass as I had to re-register again and add all my stations. It highlights how vulnerable internet services can be where as one radio station transmitter can cover vast distances and is not influenced by the internet , unless of course they have uplinks through the internet. But 1 transmitter can cover the entire planet on SW.

Ok so I learned that DREAM DRM decoder does not yet support xHE-AAC codec, interesting, can't wait to try a transmission that is transmitting this codec.