RTE radio1 LW

14-04-2023 4:43pm

Tuned it in on a SDR http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ in Enschede in the Netherlands and it's still audible on 252kHz, albeit with a bit of a buzz.

Reduce the filter to about set to AM, adjust the filter to about 6.15kHz, and apply noise reduction and it's quite audible that far away.

14-04-2023 4:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120477933#Comment_120477933

The closure of the Eircom speaking clock service got more coverage on Radio 1 than the closure of their own LW service. AFAIK thought LW 252 hasn't really been mentioned on air for years except on Sunday mornings when FM/LW splits for Mass. It is rather shambolic that they put out a closing at 9am notice and it's still on a 5pm

14-04-2023 4:54pm

Did someone lose the keys?

I'd have assumed they'd have maybe played out a package about the end of LW broadcasting and shut down.

dxhound2005 · 14-04-2023 5:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478003#Comment_120478003

I never heard about the Speaking Clock anywhere at the time. But no doubt Radio 1 did cover it. Just hit and miss, unless it was a big story like Biden in Ireland.

14-04-2023 5:09pm

The speaking clock in Ireland was never quite as iconic or as much loved as its counterpart in the UK and a few other countries, possibly because it was launched later, but it never really occupied that national institution status that the British one does.

14-04-2023 5:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478048#Comment_120478048

It was covered twice by the Ray D'arcy show. I don't think the speaking clock was ever much of a "thing" in Ireland compared to the UK https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/21407055/

siezetheday · 14-04-2023 5:12pm

Blows my mind that an organisation packed with content creators, producers, presenters, historians etc etc can't embrace the occasion, tell the history and capture it for posterity even on social media.

Piss poor in every way.

Interesting the number of listeners queueing to listen to 252 Long wave on the Irish SDRs all day from all over the globe.

dxhound2005 · 14-04-2023 5:19pm

I copied this from 2001 in the Humour forum on Boards. There seems to be only one thread in 2018 marking the closure of the Speaking Clock, with just four posts. But searching Boards these days is a bit hit and miss.

Following a night out with a few friends, a man brought them back to Show off

his new flat. After the grand tour, the visitors where rather perplexed by the

large gong taking pride of place in the lounge. "What's that big brass gong

for?" one of the guests asked. "Why, that's the speaking clock" the man replied.

"How does it work?" "I'll show you", the man said, giving the gong an

ear-shattering blow with an unpadded hammer. Suddenly, a voice from the other

side of the wall screamed,

"For ****'s sake, you wan*er, it's twenty to two in the fuc*ing morning

14-04-2023 5:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478069#Comment_120478069

I can Kind of understand them wanting to keep a low profile now that the newspaper articles accusing them of "attacking the elderly" have returned

tinytobe · 14-04-2023 6:04pm

There is a brief announcement at the top of the hour on 252 that the service will end, and other sources to receive Radio 1 are mentioned.

Dan Jaman · 14-04-2023 6:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120477933#Comment_120477933

That's because they give the name 'amateur' a new meaning.

ford fiesta · 14-04-2023 6:47pm

is it the newest transmitter on a green field site in Europe, at just 34 years old?

elperello · 14-04-2023 7:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120476961#Comment_120476961

It's quite normal to describe the problems that affect the people you are campaigning for.

That is not "trashing" the elderly Irish who may be affected by the closure.

I don't know how many survey participants owned a computer 8 years ago and I assume more of them would own one today.

RTE radio1 LW is now closed down and campaigners in the UK are trying to help vulnerable elderly Irish listeners to adapt.

dxhound2005 · 14-04-2023 7:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478069#Comment_120478069

Give it a bit of time. It can be done sometime later online. No point in doing something on Longwave just today. The SDR angle could be used as part of the future documentary. Along with the many recordings of the shutdown, which hobbyists will be making.

But shutting down LW and especially MW transmitters is so common now all round Europe, that it probably does not evoke much interest in this sort of documentary.

14-04-2023 7:52pm

John Waters was an original save 252 supporter but I guess they wouldn't want him around now that he's moved to the "far right" https://m.independent.ie/opinion/comment/rtes-all-too-blunt-message-for-the-irish-diaspora-to-hell-or-the-internet-30628452.html

14-04-2023 8:17pm

I have learned from research reading newspaper archives and old threads that RTE were very lukewarm about ever launching an new LW service post Teamtalk 252, the original plan was to come on air to coincide with the 2003 special Olympics but this was deferred until October 2003 then deferred again until January 2004 until finally launching on Patrick's Day 2004. It seems to me that RTE would have preferred to have rented it to another party but that they was heavily lobbying going on to serve the diaspora. Michael D Higgins first proposed in February 1995 that Atlantic 252 should be turned into a diaspora service. At that time Atlantic was bigger than Virgin radio and making money but D Higgins didn't like a Luxembourg mulit national getting rich of an Irish owned frequency.

Hotblack Desiato · 14-04-2023 8:52pm

Seems RTE just regard LW as an embarrassment and want it to slip away unnoticed. Yet they made a big fuss over having one of the last analogue TV switch-offs in Europe (and Miriam couldn't get the counting from 10 to zero thing right)

L1011 · 14-04-2023 8:53pm

Watched that live in a hotel that hadn't got any Saorview kit in. No Irish stations when I got back from work that evening!

siezetheday · 14-04-2023 8:59pm

How is it possible nobody mentioned the Long Wave closure once on air today? Not even Dobbo or Creedon who would have a drop of Anorak in their blood? Was the subject banned officially?

Pelvis Parsley · 14-04-2023 9:01pm

I'm playing Creedo on it now.

I know why it's happening, but I feel a little sad.

It's a shame RTE couldn't mark it somehow-but sure they don't care.

Welsh Megaman · 14-04-2023 9:50pm

Anybody know what time it’s going off?

Still broadcasting, Creedo has just given way to some Leo chap chuntering on.

siezetheday · 14-04-2023 9:57pm

The yankee arse kissing is nearly finished, they'll just turn off when he (1) says something incredibly stupid or (2) kisses the last baby in Ireland or (3) Hunter Biden takes over the mic.

rathfarnhamlad · 14-04-2023 10:03pm

@siezetheday on point number one, I find it hilarious that I couldn't remember the name of a band called The Coronas of all people. Also, who are The Imaginetics?

tinytobe · 14-04-2023 10:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478824#Comment_120478824

It was mentioned close to the top of the hour on 252 that they would go off air and there was a brief information about the alternatives.

tinytobe · 14-04-2023 10:38pm

Even the SDR in Cork has the mix with Arabic music from 252 in Algeria. That's how weak the signal from Ireland is by now due to the power reductions of the transmitter.

RINO87 · 14-04-2023 10:47pm

I've Algeria coming in here and I'm in the bloody midlands!!

SPDUB · 14-04-2023 11:00pm

No Algeria here in Dublin

Hotblack Desiato · 14-04-2023 11:05pm

Listening right now to T.Rex on LW. Seems appropriate...

dxhound2005 · 14-04-2023 11:05pm

When I tried the Cork SDR at 10:40 it was poor. But better now at 11 oclock. He might have done some antenna switching. I think LW stands for Long Wire in his information.

I can make the Algeria signal equal to RTE in Dundalk, or I can peak RTE to completely overcome it with my Wellbrook loop. People need to use the directional quality of Long Wave signals to get the best out of them, even when there is only one station on a channel. The Cork receiver has no signal from Poland on 225. With a different antenna, he could get it like a local station.

KiwiSDR: Software-defined receiver. ON WELLBROOK LOW NOISE HOMEMADE COAX LOOP ANTENNA. DIAMETER 2M. RUNS 24/7/365. SYS EXPERIMENTAL. YOU ARE WELCOME & ENJOY.

EI7II, Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland | Grid IO51lt, ASL 157m, [map], SNR 27:24 dB Antenna: Hyendfed 8 Band LW and Wellbrook Loop home made

Hotblack Desiato · 14-04-2023 11:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120479303#Comment_120479303

In fairness it depends on where the nulls are pointed on your antenna (for 99.99% of people that means rotate your radio until you get the best signal)

RTE radio1 LW

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