RTE radio1 LW

When the Norwegian 153 kHz outlet in the Arctic Circle (at Ingøy) was switched off a few years ago, there was a consultation in the few months prior to this happening asking for comments about its proposed shutting down. Not one objection to its closure was received. While the TX was originally set up in 2000 to help cover parts of northern Norway that had unreliable FM reception as well as potentially serving ships in the Barnets & Greenland seas, by the time of the switch off pretty much no one was using it. Even that far north, ships in the area were now using satellite reception from 1 deg. west or (no longer) 5 deg. east for any Norwegian radio reception (with DAB being an option closer to shore) with the likes of Inmarsat & other geostationary satellites, as well as potentially LEO satellites providing two-way IP links for both internet and maritime mobile networks where supplied. Also, while it sounds like a nice idea in theory of say DX'ing on the MW band on a ship at sea well away from any landmass e.g. the middle of the Atlantic, in practice pretty much every ship generator & engine will chuck out a lot of QRM over the LF & MF bands (notwithstanding receiving NAVTEX messages on 518 & 490 kHz where available for which I assume special measures are taken to reduce reception problems because of the ship's own "friendly fire").

When it comes to communications systems for maritime navigation & safety, the current international & regional systems in place have several levels of fallbacks that if it comes to the point that if a ship's captain is having to rely on BBC Radio 4's shipping forecast as they have no other info available, then that ship is in a very bad state to have everything else fail.

A map of public KiwiSDRs that are available (though it also includes the University of Twente SDR in the Netherlands)...

Additionally, a list of online SDR's running WebSDR software (which is the software used for the U-Twente SDR) as also available, but the frequency ranges for each SDR varies...

http://websdr.org/

I don't know what your point is because the Mediumwave service was switched off, long before Forbes joined RTÉ. Indeed, the initial decision to switch off LW was made in 2014; this is also before she became Director General.

In any case, the transmission assets are the property of 2RN; this is run independently of RTÉ itself.

Clever. I get the connection but I wonder how many will!

It's actually the last chance to record any RTE AM radio channel in Ireland. However, you will still be able to record in Ireland non-Irish options from LW such as BBC Radio 4 (for the moment) and possibly that Algerian station on 252, and of course there will still be MW options available, including Spirit Radio and Irish MW pirates.

Rufus and Chaka Khan "Aint nobody" was played early this morning on Radio 1. One of the songs from the test transmissions launch of Atlantic 252 in Aug / Sept 1989

When RTE Gold is relayed overnight on Radio 1, lots of Atlantic songs show up !! Last time you'll hear them on 252.

Declan, Spirit's AM (549) has not been on air for around 6 months.

BTW Speaking of Spirit, I notice Spirit's 90.9fm in Cork suffering a lot of audio dropouts this afternoon. I assume the exposed satellite receive dish is skakin in the high winds

What was the last song played on Atlantic 252?

I suspect that it will go out with a whimper rather than a bang. How many members of the general public paid much heed to the ending of the MW transmitters back in 2008? If anything, even less people are tuned into this event (if you will pardon the pun!).

Sonique and Feel So Good was the last song to be played out by Edna Caldwell just before 5PM on the 20th of December, a day earlier than they initially had announced they were to cease. An hour long tribute show of classic air checks and clip aired and once it was over the station output went quiet for a few seconds, before playing out a Teamtalk ident then moving to automated music with a few contracted ads and the minimal of imaging. All told it was a sombre end to 12 years of export radio on the cheap.

If you don't take the end to be at the end of the Enda Caldwell introduced tribute show but take it to be at the point where the non-stop music was, err, stopped and Teamtalk 252 began, then the last "full" song played was William Orbit's Adagio For Strings (Ferry Corsten Radio Mix), with the last song to be played before being interrupted mid-way and Teamtalk 252's jingles crashing in a few seconds later, I'm not sure whom it actually was but I think it was called "Be Free" and sampled Belinda Carlisle's "Live You Life Be Free". The crash into Teamtalk 252 occurred at midnight some night in early January 2002, can't remember the exact date but I think it might have been the 3rd.

some nice Atlantic 252 songs from late 80s/90s played last night on RTE Gold relay on Radio 1... between 3am and 5.30am

Final time to hear songs again tonight on LW !!

Also Michael Cahill is filling in on Rising Time at 5.30 and he'll probably play a few good ones