1989 - Any demand for Medium Wave ?

Nokia 2630

I was wondering was there any demand from local rural stations back in 1989 to have a MW frequency ? Considering that as recently as 2008 there was a bit of a hoo ha about RTE closing MW, with some politicians and lobby groups claiming that people in rural areas and over 65s would struggle with FM.

L1011

Apparently the western seaboard stations mostly did request it but it'd be a newspaper archives dive for proof.

Century got MW licences of course

Infoanon

Nokia 2630 wrote: »

I was wondering was there any demand from local rural stations back in 1989 to have a MW frequency ? Considering that as recently as 2008 there was a bit of a hoo ha about RTE closing MW, with some politicians and lobby groups claiming that people in rural areas and over 65s would struggle with FM.

There was indeed - most car radios were still AM only - Capital 104 went as far as buying an AM transmitter

Enjoy Heroin Responsibly

Didnt one of the applicants for the Kerry licence pull out stating that it would be impossible to cover the county on FM ?

One of the Dublin applicants claimed there was no FM coverage in Howth ??

Losty Dublin

Enjoy Heroin Responsibly wrote: »

One of the Dublin applicants claimed there was no FM coverage in Howth ??

There still isn't albeit in just a few random spots.

marno21

Kerry still isn't completely covered by FM, indeed parts of the Dingle peninsula get better coverage of Clare FM than they do Radio Kerry, although their coverage is at its best in the last 10 years with the addition of Slieve Mish and Lispole TX's.

Their Mullaghanish (97.0 - 20kW) transmitter is similar to RTE's 252 transmitter, covers most of the county (and indeed Munster!) but indoor coverage can be less than satisfactory.

Antenna

Infoanon wrote: »

Capital 104 went as far as buying an AM transmitter

Where were they planning to locate it? (if they had got the go ahead)

Declan A Walsh

In 1989, Radio Dublin, which was the longest running pirate station in Ireland, still had its 253 MW transmitter in operation, as well as being on FM. They got rid of it at some point in the early '90s. That had been its MW frequency since at least 1978 (but not its first)!

neris

Enjoy Heroin Responsibly wrote: »

Didnt one of the applicants for the Kerry licence pull out stating that it would be impossible to cover the county on FM ?

One of the Dublin applicants claimed there was no FM coverage in Howth ??

Parts ofHowth the radio signal is poor to non existent especially driving into howth and along the harbour. Bit of a minor issue with a hill

Antenna

Enjoy Heroin Responsibly wrote: »

Didnt one of the applicants for the Kerry licence pull out stating that it would be impossible to cover the county on FM ?

The licence was initially not awarded to any of the groups that had applied and then readvertised due to some such controversy (I do not know the details). The eventual station (Radio Kerry) never went on MW anyway though and was FM-only as with all other independent local stations.

Anti Anorak

Nokia 2630 wrote: »

as 2008 there was a bit of a hoo ha about RTE closing MW, with some politicians and lobby groups claiming that people in rural areas and over 65s would struggle with FM.

I really couldn't understand why because 567 was off air for the entire summer and autumn of 2004 and nobody complained.

Antenna

Seemingly LM-FM in Louth-Meath had plans to go on MW in addition to FM a number of years after the station launched (never materialised) according to this letter on the website of a German DXer who managed to hear the station on FM during 'Sporadic-E' Skip

http://www.repage.de/memberdata/abo/lmfm001.jpg

Mr Sea Wolf

I think it's funny how the Brits talk about switching off analogue radio yet not a single domestic BBC MW or LW transmitter has been closed down.

Infoanon

Mr Sea Wolf wrote: »

I think it's funny how the Brits talk about switching off analogue radio yet not a single domestic BBC MW or LW transmitter has been closed down.

A number of local MW services have been switched off, despite the huge efforts put into DAB, FM remains king.

thejuggler

Would it be feasible or worthwhile for a pirate to go on medium wave these days?
I suppose a lot of factors would be against it -
Most people don't scan the MW band so would be unlikely to discover a new station.
The equipment is more expensive and bulky than an FM rig.
Higher power is required to generate a decent signal so operating costs increase.
Interference on the MW band has increased massively over the years.
There is a lack of engineering expertise to set up MW TXs
Audio quality is never going to be as good as on FM.

The only positive may be that you might be less likely to be raided by comreg as you could be perceived to be no threat to existing services.

L1011

Mr Sea Wolf wrote: »

I think it's funny how the Brits talk about switching off analogue radio yet not a single domestic BBC MW or LW transmitter has been closed down.

Other than handing over R1/R3s frequencies to Talksport/Virgin and hugely cutting R4s mediumwave, of course...

thejuggler

thejuggler wrote: »

The only positive may be that you might be less likely to be raided by comreg as you could be perceived to be no threat to existing services.

If you're well behaved, yes. If you started impacting on international broadcasters then they may be forced to act. Stuff like turning down the TX output power at night would have to be followed.

Infoanon

thejuggler wrote: »

Would it be feasible or worthwhile for a pirate to go on medium wave these days?
I suppose a lot of factors would be against it -
Most people don't scan the MW band so would be unlikely to discover a new station.
The equipment is more expensive and bulky than an FM rig.
Higher power is required to generate a decent signal so operating costs increase.
Interference on the MW band has increased massively over the years.
There is a lack of engineering expertise to set up MW TXs
Audio quality is never going to be as good as on FM.

The only positive may be that you might be less likely to be raided by comreg as you could be perceived to be no threat to existing services.

Not forgetting the complications with the antenna system and the high ESB costs.

Energy 1395 were never raided so the logical re comreg does hold true.

Greenman

Infoanon wrote: »

Not forgetting the complications with the antenna system and the high ESB costs.

Energy 1395 were never raided so the logical re comreg does hold true.

Is Energy 1395 still on?

david23

Infoanon wrote: »

A number of local MW services have been switched off, despite the huge efforts put into DAB, FM remains king.

FM is still the dominant platform in the UK but it's decreasing, it now only accounts for 50.6% of listening (from 56.4% in December 2014).

Digital is 41.7% (from 37.9% in December 2014), but this includes TV & online as well as DAB. DAB is about 66% of the digital figure.

(The other 7.7% is unspecified or don't know).