Tullamore am site

Tapes

Speaking of the medium wave close down a few years ago, are the mast and transmitters still in place at the tullamore site ?

Trick of the Tail

Indeed they are.

A.

Kevin joyce

I think its a thundering disgrace that RTE got away with spending 400k repairing this site in 04 only to close it down a couple of years later

Infoanon

Kevin joyce wrote: »

I think its a thundering disgrace that RTE got away with spending 400k repairing this site in 04 only to close it down a couple of years later

And that a 500kw clear MW signal was replaced with a 300kw LW signal that suffers severe interferance..........not to mention the lack of LW as a frequency option on many radios....

There was discussions re Spirit renting the facility but that all came to nothing

BrianD

Kevin joyce wrote: »

I think its a thundering disgrace that RTE got away with spending 400k repairing this site in 04 only to close it down a couple of years later

The site is still operational (or can be), it's just that the transmitters were too expensive to operate.

Doblin

Kevin joyce wrote: »

I think its a thundering disgrace that RTE got away with spending 400k repairing this site in 04 only to close it down a couple of years later

RTE are doing the same thing now with the longwave site, only to close it down whenever they get the go-ahead to broadcast on small scale dab in England.

dxhound2005

Doblin wrote: »

RTE are doing the same thing now with the longwave site, only to close it down whenever they get the go-ahead to broadcast on small scale dab in England.

RTE radio on DAB in the UK is not going to happen.

https://radiotoday.ie/2019/05/rte-to-continue-broadcasting-radio-1-on-252-longwave/

Ofcom only allows UK-registered companies to be granted a licence.

david23

dxhound2005 wrote: »

RTE radio on DAB in the UK is not going to happen.

https://radiotoday.ie/2019/05/rte-to-continue-broadcasting-radio-1-on-252-longwave/

Ofcom only allows UK-registered companies to be granted a licence.

In 2017 the UK Government agreed in principle that it would change the 1996 Broadcasting Act to allow stations from Ireland to broadcast on DAB in the UK. The policy hasn't changed but it requires a statutory instrument and there hasn't been parliamentary time to bring this forward due to Brexit. It's anyone's guess when this will now happen but if the UK leaves the EU on 31 October this will free up time for other legislation.

The small scale DAB legislation has also been delayed for the same reason, it was due to get Royal Assent at the start of September.

end of the road

rte could probably set up a uk subcidary to get around that restriction.
comunicorp own stations in the uk and those stations do broadcast on dab as well as their fm outlet i understand.

TAFKAlawhec

end of the road wrote: »

rte could probably set up a uk subcidary to get around that restriction.
comunicorp own stations in the uk and those stations do broadcast on dab as well as their fm outlet i understand.

RTÉ could do that, but the output of Radio 1 on UK based transmitters would then be subject to British laws and Ofcom regulation - things like programming content that might fly in Ireland, like occasional mild swearing, might not in the UK, not to mention any censorship laws or court orders in different jurisdictions. For example, back in the early part of this decade when there was gossip concerning "superinjunctions" in English courts, there was no such block in Ireland reporting what had been covered by the injunction involving Ryan Giggs, and RTÉ along with commercial stations in Ireland were free to report it, as they were not transmitting from the UK. However in a future scenario where RTÉ Radio 1 was broadcast over a DAB ensemble, it would have to abide by the local law from where it transmits if it were a simple simulcast of its "home" service (it could be possible that a separate editorial could be produced for British transmissions).

In Communicorp's case, they have a separate UK arm that is effectively a surrogate for Global's operations in England & Wales, with one exception (XS Manchester), whose stations all originate programming in the UK.

TAFKAlawhec

Infoanon wrote: »

And that a 500kw clear MW signal was replaced with a 300kw LW signal that suffers severe interferance..........not to mention the lack of LW as a frequency option on many radios....

By the time Radio 1 closed down on 567kHz, it was clear it was not running close to 500kW of power although this wouldn't have been noticed much in most of Ireland. 567kHz also suffered from adjacent channel interference in London from Spectrum Radio on 558kHz. The reason given for broadcasting the then unused 252kHz frequency was to help reach Irish listeners in Britain, at a time when Internet streaming was a minority interest, and listening via mobile networks even smaller. Satellite was available, but at that time, outside of enthusiast circles this essentially meant "Sky" even if all the RTÉ radio services were FTA (Freesat was not in service then).

There wasn't much point in simulcasting on 567kHz and 252kHz, especially as RTÉ Radio 1's FM coverage in the Republic of Ireland was essentially "complete". The upgrade to facilities at Tullamore in 2004 is definitely questionable in terms of expenditure, but that's for another post. The decision to keep 252 and drop 567 made technical sense, though there was an argument to have kept 729 on in Cork, even with reduced power, to overcome co-channel issues with Algeria at night.

RTÉ Radio 1 on LW would almost certainly be gone by now were it not for concerns about covering listeners in the UK - especially in areas with a strong Irish diaspora - with a terrestrial service, but political pressure is keeping it going, for now. Though RTÉ bought and put into service new transmitters when they started full time broadcasting on long wave (so around 15 years old) , the mast and most other parts on the TX site are likely to still be in place as they were 30 years ago, and is at an age where some refurbishment is required to keep things going as a sustaining service for now. When it finally does stop radiating for good, I won't expect the mast to remain in the Summerhill skyline for too long after that.

Doblin

TAFKAlawhec wrote: »

RTÉ could do that, but the output of Radio 1 on UK based transmitters would then be subject to British laws and Ofcom regulation - things like programming content that might fly in Ireland, like occasional mild swearing, might not in the UK, not to mention any censorship laws or court orders in different jurisdictions. For example, back in the early part of this decade when there was gossip concerning "superinjunctions" in English courts, there was no such block in Ireland reporting what had been covered by the injunction involving Ryan Giggs, and RTÉ along with commercial stations in Ireland were free to report it, as they were not transmitting from the UK. However in a future scenario where RTÉ Radio 1 was broadcast over a DAB ensemble, it would have to abide by the local law from where it transmits if it were a simple simulcast of its "home" service (it could be possible that a separate editorial could be produced for British transmissions).

In Communicorp's case, they have a separate UK arm that is effectively a surrogate for Global's operations in England & Wales, with one exception (XS Manchester), whose stations all originate programming in the UK.

From what I heard, from someone who works in RTE, they had a cunning plan, it was actually a repackaged version of Radio 1 extra that they were going to put on dab in the UK rather than a live relay of Radio 1, the idea was that it would solve the issues you mention and keep the elderly ex pat's happy with Ceili house and Ciaran McMahuna reruns

end of the road

TAFKAlawhec wrote: »

RTÉ could do that, but the output of Radio 1 on UK based transmitters would then be subject to British laws and Ofcom regulation - things like programming content that might fly in Ireland, like occasional mild swearing, might not in the UK, not to mention any censorship laws or court orders in different jurisdictions. For example, back in the early part of this decade when there was gossip concerning "superinjunctions" in English courts, there was no such block in Ireland reporting what had been covered by the injunction involving Ryan Giggs, and RTÉ along with commercial stations in Ireland were free to report it, as they were not transmitting from the UK. However in a future scenario where RTÉ Radio 1 was broadcast over a DAB ensemble, it would have to abide by the local law from where it transmits if it were a simple simulcast of its "home" service (it could be possible that a separate editorial could be produced for British transmissions).

In Communicorp's case, they have a separate UK arm that is effectively a surrogate for Global's operations in England & Wales, with one exception (XS Manchester), whose stations all originate programming in the UK.

yes, that is a good point actually. i completely forgot about the legal issues, they would certainly make things a bit more difficult, all though not impossible.

Cube98

According to the planning application-
"Within 6 months of the commissioning of the 48m communications tower,the existing 296m high tower shall be dismantled and removed from site at the developer's expense". Wonder if they've started building the 48m tower yet?