Comments on: Closing Down Medium Wave 567Khz – A Grave Error http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/2008/closing-down-medium-wave-567khz-%e2%80%93-a-grave-error/       & The Great Anti-Theft Movement       Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:00:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Brian Greene http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/2008/closing-down-medium-wave-567khz-%e2%80%93-a-grave-error/#comment-27223 Brian Greene Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:19:22 +0000 http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/2008/closing-down-medium-wave-567khz-%e2%80%93-a-grave-error/#comment-27223 Duncan you make many of the arguments in the same way and using similar text that RTE use privately to us, to defend this move. RTE was very lucky that Atlantic 252 closed down ? RTE owned 51% of Atlantic at startup. We were lucky they bought it back. LW 252 does not serve the UK well at night! Radio 5 Live, Talksport, Virgin serves as far west as Leitrim for me (night) no problem. LW 252 has issues in South Wales. On LW radio set ownership - 80% you say please quote your source. Argos are a source to purchase a LW radio sets. Based on sets sold in Argos that have MW or LW, LW is available on 4% of the radios that it sells. MW is on 96%. see.pages 424-443 current Irish catalog, that is a ratio 15:1 in favour of MW. Sample size >150 radios. RTE do not use the same power as Atlantic 252. A252 was 500KW RTE252 same site and antenna uses 300KW max. that is the TX they had installed in 2007. Re. complaints, if its a numbers game RTE will next close the orchestras they have. PSB's should not play numbers games as they will lose. Duncan you make many of the arguments in the same way and using similar text that RTE use privately to us, to defend this move.

RTE was very lucky that Atlantic 252 closed down ? RTE owned 51% of Atlantic at startup. We were lucky they bought it back.

LW 252 does not serve the UK well at night!

Radio 5 Live, Talksport, Virgin serves as far west as Leitrim for me (night) no problem. LW 252 has issues in South Wales.

On LW radio set ownership - 80% you say please quote your source.
Argos are a source to purchase a LW radio sets. Based on
sets sold in Argos that have MW or LW, LW is available on 4% of the
radios that it sells. MW is on 96%. see.pages 424-443 current Irish
catalog, that is a ratio 15:1 in favour of MW. Sample size >150 radios.

RTE do not use the same power as Atlantic 252. A252 was 500KW RTE252 same site and antenna uses 300KW max. that is the TX they had installed in 2007.

Re. complaints, if its a numbers game RTE will next close the orchestras they have. PSB’s should not play numbers games as they will lose.

]]> By: Duncan Hill http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/2008/closing-down-medium-wave-567khz-%e2%80%93-a-grave-error/#comment-27221 Duncan Hill Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:53:54 +0000 http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/2008/closing-down-medium-wave-567khz-%e2%80%93-a-grave-error/#comment-27221 I hope you don't think I'm being funny, but I think you need to get your technical facts straight regarding RTE closing down the 567kHz service in favour of the 252kHz service. I am referring to: "These cuts deny reception to parts of N. Ireland including Falls, Belfast ". In fact, 80% of radios have the capability to receive LW. Domestic services in both the UK and Ireland are transmitted using VHF/FM, MW and LW. So anyone buying a radio that doesn't have one of these bands (normally a cheap unbranded import) is shortchanging themselves. The 252kHz service gives MUCH better coverage outside the Republic than 567kHz ever will. Mainly due to the fact that it's a long wave service. In the same way that 198kHz (BBC Radio 4) can easily be heard on LW in the Republic, but many UK national services on MW (Radio 5, Talksport, Virgin) cannot without difficulty. In fact it may surprise you to learn that 252kHz was used by a station called Atlantic 252 for well over a decade. It used the same power and transmitter site as RTE currently does, and their coverage was not just Ireland, but almost all of Great Britain too (except for the far South East). In fact it was even considered a "British" station at the time by most people! By comparison 567kHz MW is almost inaudible by the time it reaches most of Britain. In a way, RTE was very lucky that Atlantic 252 closed down as it has now gained a better signal at little extra cost. It's also worth noting that in 2004, the 567kHz transmitter was off air for four whole months due to maintenance. I can't remember ever reading or hearing any outrage about people not being able to listen to RTE during that time. -regards Duncan Hill, Hertfordshire I hope you don’t think I’m being funny, but I think
you need to get your technical facts straight
regarding RTE closing down the 567kHz service in
favour of the 252kHz service.

I am referring to:

“These cuts deny reception to parts of N. Ireland including Falls, Belfast “.

In fact, 80% of radios have the capability to receive LW. Domestic services in both the UK and Ireland are transmitted using VHF/FM, MW and LW. So anyone buying a radio that doesn’t have one of these bands (normally a cheap unbranded import) is shortchanging themselves.

The 252kHz service gives MUCH better coverage outside the Republic than 567kHz ever will. Mainly due to the fact that it’s a long wave service. In the same way that 198kHz (BBC Radio 4) can easily be heard on LW in the Republic, but many UK national services on MW (Radio 5, Talksport, Virgin) cannot without difficulty.

In fact it may surprise you to learn that 252kHz was used by a station called Atlantic 252 for well over a decade. It used the same power and transmitter site as RTE currently does, and their coverage was not just Ireland, but almost all of Great Britain too (except for the far South East). In fact it was even considered a “British” station at the time by most people! By comparison 567kHz MW is almost inaudible by the time it reaches most of Britain.

In a way, RTE was very lucky that Atlantic 252 closed down as it has now gained a better signal at little extra cost.

It’s also worth noting that in 2004, the 567kHz transmitter was off air for four whole months due to maintenance. I can’t remember ever reading or hearing any outrage about people not being able to listen to RTE during that time.

-regards
Duncan Hill,
Hertfordshire

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