RTE Radio 1 to leave MW in March

rlogue · 19-01-2008 11:00PM #1

It's been inevitable since the launch of Radio 1 on 252 kHz, however the announcement by RTE that the MW version of RTE Radio 1 is to close in March seems to have taken some Indo journos and politicans by surprise...

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/anger-as-rte-to-switch-off-medium-wave-band-1269254.html

Fine Gael communications spokesman Simon Coveney said shutting down medium wave transmissions has implications for people in rural parts of the country and at sea.

"This is a public service broadcaster and this shouldn't be abandoned," he said.

Labour communications and marine spokesman Michael McCarthy said the decision would have the biggest implications for fishermen working 50 or 100 miles off the coast and relying on the broadcasts for weather reports and for farmers.

For a start the LW version of Radio 1 has a more robust signal and must be able to travel further at sea?

Foggy43 · 19-01-2008 11:27PM

Thank you for the info!
What is happening with DRM?
OK! It was only a test which seems to have stopped or else I keep missing the transmissions at night. Can RTE use 252khz for both DRM and analogue simultaneous transmissions, I think not?

mike65 · 20-01-2008 12:26AM

Need a radio with LW band of course. Many don't these days.

Mike.

watty · 20-01-2008 01:52PM

No only one or the other. They will change entirely to DRM soon on LW & MW.

So a LW car radio unless it does DRM is not going to be much use soon for RTE in England.

DMC · 20-01-2008 04:47PM

No mention of the Friday night Eircom League of Ireland action on MW and LW, cute considering they've just signed a long-term deal with the FAI.

L1011 · 20-01-2008 05:02PM

Suspect that'll be shoved on to LW and the digital outlets for the AM service and they'll claim that you can just get a DAB if you've no LW tuner. Ignoring the 38% or whatever DAB coverage...

Antenna · 20-01-2008 05:16PM

watty wrote: »

No only one or the other. They will change entirely to DRM soon on LW & MW.

So a LW car radio unless it does DRM is not going to be much use soon for RTE in England.

There are no LW DRM car radios or portable radios on the market as of now

Only a few enthusiasts are equipped for DRM as of now, and they are using it only at fixed locations (not mobile/in car) where FTA satellite would be a more effective and cheaper to run option than using a PC to decode...

A bit premature to convert it to DRM totally. Even if the RTE LW went DRM tomorrow, it isn't going to stimulate manufacture of DRM MW/LW radios when it hasn't taken off elsewhere in Europe.

Antenna · 20-01-2008 05:18PM

MYOB wrote: »

Suspect that'll be shoved on to LW

they are on LW as well as MW already.

It is only the weekend repeats ('second helpings') which are MW only (on analogue)

mike65 · 21-01-2008 02:38PM

RTE are going to give "50% off" vouchers to the needy who require a new radio!

Its being discussed on the lunchtime news right now.

Mike.

rlogue · 21-01-2008 02:45PM

And what about the nerdy who want a new radio? Is there a discount for us too!??

watty · 21-01-2008 06:35PM

It will be intersesting to see if there is typical Irish Short termism, or if recommended radios do FM, AM, DAB and DRM.

It seems daft to subsidise radios that will be obsolete fro LW in a year or two.

zilog_jones · 21-01-2008 10:46PM

The only portable consumer DRM radio I know of is that Morphy Richards one which costs over €200 - I'm sure there's a lot of people not willing or not able to afford that, even with a 50% subsidy. Also, I've never seen this for sale outside the internet. I think it's going to take a lot longer for DRM to take off...

L1011 · 21-01-2008 10:51PM

zilog_jones wrote: »

The only portable consumer DRM radio I know of is that Morphy Richards one which costs over €200 - I'm sure there's a lot of people not willing or not able to afford that, even with a 50% subsidy. Also, I've never seen this for sale outside the internet. I think it's going to take a lot longer for DRM to take off...

I don't think thats what was meant by "portable"! I've got one here and its GIGANTIC, and doesn't take batteries.

Theres also Sangean, Starwaves and Himalaya receivers. And a Roberts I've never seen on sale thats the same as the Sangean (ironic as Morphy and Roberts are the same firm)

zilog_jones · 21-01-2008 11:45PM

MYOB wrote: »

I don't think thats what was meant by "portable"!

Well it's not a PC, at least

L1011 · 21-01-2008 11:55PM

zilog_jones wrote: »

Well it's not a PC, at least

Its bigger than a Mac Mini

Well, so is my standard Pure Evoke 1XT DAB... and most of my FM radios too!

Zaphod · 22-01-2008 07:14PM

RTÉ report here:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0121/6news.html

Why would MW technology be "environmentally unsound"?

L1011 · 22-01-2008 09:44PM

Zaphod wrote: »

RTÉ report here:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0121/6news.html

Why would MW technology be "environmentally unsound"?

Power output. Burning 500kW compared to, ooh, only 300kW in Summerhill

They claim MW broadcasting is going to become a "thing of the past" despite a new MW licence having been issued last year...

marclt · 23-01-2008 01:26PM

MYOB wrote: »

Power output. Burning 500kW compared to, ooh, only 300kW in Summerhill

They claim MW broadcasting is going to become a "thing of the past" despite a new MW licence having been issued last year...

RTE should have used the coming off of MW as an opportunity to promote the launch of DAB services... Ditch your old fuzzy MW with a new stereo DAB signal etc etc... But they have missed out on that one... !

It would be interesting to know if more people actually tune in on LW over MW? Does RTE think LW is superior to MW? After all, every radio in my house has MW but only two have LW. I've noticed that recently LW is no where near as strong as the old Atlantic signal and I often listen on MW when in Wales - especially at night because the signal is more stable.

DMC · 23-01-2008 01:49PM

RTÉ have botched this. They are maybe doing the right thing, but they don't have the new technology in place. I would like to know what happened when they turned Athlone off for 6 or 8 months a couple of years ago to "upgrade" and see what listener reaction there was.

marclt, hammer > nail > boink.

They should've waited until DAB was approved, get the tx's ready and then, it would've been reason to change to DAB. With Mass and Service on Sundays, it would've been a great way of getting them to upgrade.

Also, it should be noted, that a lot of rural elderly listen to local radio, and how many ILR's broadcast religious services on Sunday? LMFM and Northern Sound certainly do, can we build a nationwide picture of what happens?

Zaphod · 23-01-2008 01:58PM

MYOB wrote: »

Power output. Burning 500kW compared to, ooh, only 300kW in Summerhill

Ah! And there was me trying to figure out what the power consumption of a standard radio would be in comparision to a DAB one.

Has the LW output always been 300kW or was it higher during the Atlantic 252 days?

zilog_jones · 23-01-2008 05:51PM

The Wikipedia article says Atlantic 252 was 300kW as well although they do not cite this claim. Reception this side of the country doesn't seem any worse than back in the good ol days

L1011 · 23-01-2008 07:57PM

Atlantic was 500 at day, 100 at night. Many sources to prove this from.

DMC · 23-01-2008 10:15PM

As MYOB said, WRTH 1997 ftw.

Propellerhead · 24-01-2008 11:04AM

Half a minute, it might be well RTÉ's techies' intention to convert to DRM on MW and/or LW, but what justification would there be if virtually no-one anywhere has a DRM receiver?

They might as well switch off LW while they are at it as well. :mad:

watty · 24-01-2008 12:57PM

Oh there ARE DRM receivers. And PC adaptors for radios to receive DRM on PC.

Expect some more this year. DRM is going to abolish AM shortwave very soon.

FM to DAB is no significant change and can be worse or better.

AM (LW,MW,SW) to DRM is almost like changing from AM to VHF, very marked of course for HF (shortwave).
DRM+ can even do better than DAB or FM (in lower bandwidth) at nearly CD quality. (It's for VHF, rather than LW/MW/SW)

I saw a nice portable evoke DAB/FM radio in HMV, €139. Now when it has DRM too I'll bite.

L1011 · 24-01-2008 01:11PM

Propellerhead wrote: »

Half a minute, it might be well RTÉ's techies' intention to convert to DRM on MW and/or LW, but what justification would there be if virtually no-one anywhere has a DRM receiver?

They might as well switch off LW while they are at it as well. :mad:

I've a DRM receiver....

rlogue · 24-01-2008 02:47PM

So do I - for my laptop. However if I could get a DRM car radio then I would be very interested...

Zaphod · 27-01-2008 12:00PM

The shutdown ads have started on MW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBycKEJR_CU

The glitch in audio at the start is at RTÉ's end when they cut into the FM output - you can hear where they rejoin again at the end. The background whine is interference from some box or another.

fm_radio · 27-01-2008 04:20PM

watty wrote: »

Expect some more this year. DRM is going to abolish AM shortwave very soon.

FM to DAB is no significant change and can be worse or better.

AM (LW,MW,SW) to DRM is almost like changing from AM to VHF, very marked of course for HF (shortwave).

DRM is dead in the water.

Here are some comments by Nigel Chapman of the BBC World Service in the 2007 WRTH

"I'm not very optimistic about DRM, to be perfectly honest"
"We should keep a toe in the water, but I wouldn't want to invest more in DRM at this stage"
"As you've probably already gathered, we're members of the DRM sceptic's club in Bush House"

So, I doubt if RTE will be using DRM fulltime on 252 khz anytime soon.

SPDUB · 28-01-2008 10:09PM

Zaphod wrote: »

The shutdown ads have started on MW.

The glitch in audio at the start is at RTÉ's end when they cut into the FM output - you can hear where they rejoin again at the end. The background whine is interference from some box or another.

They also have Larry Gogan doing the ad .He was on the one I heard before the 8am news last thursday ,24th.

Zaphod · 29-01-2008 01:09AM

SPDUB wrote: »

They also have Larry Gogan doing the ad .He was on the one I heard before the 8am news last thursday ,24th.

Haven't heard that one but did hear another with Ronan Collins.

Will Cork also be shut down on 729 kHz?

RTE Radio 1 to leave MW in March

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