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The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

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    #2072
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,121 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    For some reason the very idea of a (legal) station broadcasting "mindless pop music" was seen as highly controversial, and still is, to the extent that the BAI still prevents us from having any proper music stations. Moralising nonsense.

    The availability of Sky Digital across the whole country from the late 90s was a massive liberalising influence, no doubt about it.

    The really bizarre thing is that TE/RTE was completely happy in the 60s/70s to have loads of imported programming, provided it was American not British! Most relaying of British programmes had to wait until RTE2. Of course the permitted US content was carefully curated but given the ultra-conservative nature of their TV networks there was little or nothing to frighten the horses anyway.

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #2073
    RetroEncabulator
    Registered Users Posts: 1,315 ✭✭✭RetroEncabulator


    That being said, in the 1980 and early 1990s I remember some of my UK cousins being absolutely shocked at the Gerry Ryan Show on 2fm and saying it would never have been allowed under UK regs at the time, especially that early in the day.

    RTE could push the envelop quite far sometimes, more so from the 1990s onwards, but it wasn't entirely stuffy.

    It was swings and roundabout here.

    I agree thought the BAI regulations are a bit stifling, when you look at what could have been. In many ways the Internet will just side step all of it now anyway and it's a world of streaming and podcasts.

    I grew up with access to full cable, so probably had more channels available to me than most UK households at the time. In Irish cities in the 80s and 90s cable was totally ubiquitous, so we'd access to a lot of content that came later in England to most people, as well as all of their terrestrial tv content.

    It's a mixed bag though and very much depended on which part(s) of Ireland you grew up in and when.

    MMDS was pretty limited, but Sky Digital really blew rural areas' access to TV wide open and removed that urban/rural divide.

    Plenty of rural houses had Sky Analogue though too. Sky Multichannels launched in 1993 and there were less organised satellite lineup on Astra from about 1989.



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    #2074
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120746837#Comment_120746837

    2007 rigs are already life expired.

    Won't find an FM station using something over ten in most circumstances - some exceptions for lower power kit that doesn't get as stressed, although a lot of those get replaced for power consumption reasons and other stuff like having remote telemetry, which is very useful at a relay site. But sixteen is hugely pushing it for those too.



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    #2075
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,121 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    It doesn't matter what questions are asked in the Dail.

    It's not coming back.

    Ever.

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #2076
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 305 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120748149#Comment_120748149

    Maybe if Tubbs gets the boot!



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    #2077
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 305 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    Algeria on 252 is off again. Nothing on any of my receivers or any of the web SDRs



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    #2078
    Mickey Mike
    Registered Users Posts: 781 ✭✭✭Mickey Mike


    There's only a short time in that too, one of these days it will go off, only to return no more.



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    #2079
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 305 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    I have read unconfirmed reports that while the rig itself is sound, there are issues with the mast and associated hardware. Wouldn't be surprising given that it's only a short distance from the sea and has been in place since the early 1970s.

    Anyway, I'll stay tuned and see if it comes back on...



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    #2080
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 305 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    Algeria is back on now but with a weak signal. Playing a Bebe Rexha song.



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    #2081
    Oscarziggy
    Registered Users Posts: 597 ✭✭✭Oscarziggy


    Not LW but interesting read.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crg3pd1qpe9o



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    #2082
    icdg
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,531 Mod ✭✭✭✭icdg


    Plenty of threads on Boards to talk about that, this thread isn’t it.



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    #2083
    Oscarziggy
    Registered Users Posts: 597 ✭✭✭Oscarziggy


    Ok ,sorry



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    #2084
    Mickey Mike
    Registered Users Posts: 781 ✭✭✭Mickey Mike


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771219#Comment_120771219

    You might as well "Close it" RTE Long Wave is gone.



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    #2085
    rathfarnhamlad
    Registered Users Posts: 305 ✭✭rathfarnhamlad


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120774435#Comment_120774435

    There's another more general LW thread in the radio forum. I've no problem posting updates on non-RTE LW stations there instead?



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    #2086
    Tax The Farmers
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭Tax The Farmers


    "There simply wasn't the allocated bandwidth available on the MW band for a lot more services than there already was in much of Europe from the end of WWII until shortly after the end of the Cold War"

    This was certainly the case in Central Europe (particularly Germany) not so much in the UK (which had dozens of BBC and ILR local transmitters -most of the pointlessly duplicating FM services but that's another story) and especially Ireland (nothing but thousands of kilometres of Seawater to the North South and particularly west of us) the daytime mediumwave band was practically empty -especially in the West)



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    #2087
    Mickey Mike
    Registered Users Posts: 781 ✭✭✭Mickey Mike


    The knocking of the Tullamore Medium Wave mast is scheduled for the 25th July. They was some activity going on at the Clakstown Long Wave mast yesterday. So does that mean that both could be coming down.



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    #2088
    CoBo55
    Registered Users Posts: 8,848 ✭✭✭CoBo55


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865156#Comment_120865156

    That certainly marks the end of an era, makes me kind of sad thinking about it, the emotionless path of progress I suppose 😕



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    #2089
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,542 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    Why does Dr Beeching and the decimation of the rail network in 60's UK keep coming to mind?



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    #2090
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,274 ✭✭✭Tork


    Care to elaborate on why you feel this way. Do you think Longwave is going to make a comeback just like vinyl and railways in Donegal?



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    #2091
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120868363#Comment_120868363

    False associations?

    These masts are not suited to other uses and AM isn't going to come back



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    #2092
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,542 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    They said that about trams too. I don't know why but it just feels like an awful waste. Who knows what technology is just around the corner. Perhaps the mast could be used by telco(s) for example. It somehow seems like RTÉ is putting all it's eggs in one basket by removing alternatives. Streaming is hit and miss at best and I'm certainly not putting on a TV just to listen to radio which just leaves the FM network.

    OK, my head says this is the march of progress but my heart says... ouch.

    Now, time to find a good cloud to shout at.



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    #2093
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    The mast is the actual antenna / radiator for AM. They are not strong enough to be used as a general tower. They are completely and utterly obsolete once no longer used for AM

    There is no technology around the corner that could possibly need that type of mast

    They're also both life expired anyway. As is the transmission kit despite people constantly talking about how comparatively new it is - it's still well over a decade old and would be due for replacement in the FM world.



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    #2094
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,121 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Wonder what sort of data rate one could get with a 252kHz carrier and no audio 🤣

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #2095
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120869833#Comment_120869833

    Assuming the 9khz available:

    DRM gets 24kbit/sec using 64QAM and a 2/3 FEC.

    More modern tech would get maybe 250kbit/sec before FEC.



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    #2096
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,357 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120869710#Comment_120869710

    Not totally obsolete. One of the MW masts in Athlone lives on as a network hub, it's well populated with microwave dishes. In the right place, a tall mast does have some use.

    The two Athlone towers in 2009 ... https://goo.gl/maps/K6wPieP2uR5ChmE87

    The surviving tower in 2021 ... https://goo.gl/maps/muFbWfWAqLpk8uzu7



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    #2097
    Glaceon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,020 ✭✭✭Glaceon


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120869710#Comment_120869710

    Considering that Arqiva have kept a near 40 year old valve-based transmitter running for BBC Radio 4, I wouldn't think of RTE's transmitter as life-expired. That said, I'm not suggesting that it should have stayed on.



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    #2098
    marclt
    Registered Users Posts: 844 ✭✭✭marclt


    How much is the land worth???



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    #2099
    marclt
    Registered Users Posts: 844 ✭✭✭marclt


    It’s being kept on to dish out the time signal for various old school devices. Can’t remember what the time line is on that now though…



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    #2100
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871247#Comment_120871247

    This is why I said comparatively new. The valve kit is absolutely life expired and being held on to by a thread.

    The Clarkestown kit is life expired, despite the constant references to it as 'new' just because people remember it being installed.



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    #2101
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,357 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    The BBC has begun an information campaign to help transition listeners of Radio 4 Long Wave (LW) to alternative BBC platforms. 

    This follows the announcement in May 2022 that the BBC is to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 LW in anticipation of the closure of the LW platform, owned and operated by a third party, which is coming to the end of its life as a technology.

    ....

    The BBC is working with key organisations so that specific audiences will be notified how they can switch to other BBC platforms to hear programmes between now and the end of Radio 4 LW separate scheduling in March 2024.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2023/bbc-radio-4-long-wave-transition



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