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Message started by Administrator on Oct 10th, 2011, 9:24am

Title: Death throes of LW
Post by Administrator on Oct 10th, 2011, 9:24am

This is taken from the Guardian:

Radio 4's long wave goodbye
Last pair of valve transmitters signal end of 198kHz, home of BBC's Test Match Special and Today in Parliament
Dan Sabbagh
Sunday 9 October 2011 18.58 BST


A handful of specially crafted glass valves each measuring one metre high are all that is stopping the historic home of Test Match Special, Yesterday in Parliament and the Daily Service going suddenly and permanently off air.

BBC Radio 4 long wave, which transmits on the 198 kilohertz frequency, relies on ageing transmitter equipment that uses a pair of the valves – no longer manufactured – to function.

The valves, at Droitwitch in Worcestershire, are so rare that engineers say there are fewer than 10 in the world, and the BBC has been forced to buy up the entire global supply. Each lasts anywhere between one and 10 years, and when one of the last two blows the service will go quiet.

Last week, Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, signalled the beginning of the end for the 198 long-wave service, which is still used by 90,000 homes in Britain to receive Radio 4 in areas where short-range FM does not penetrate.

Aware of the public sensitivity – the service fought off a closure threat in the early 1990s – Thompson promised that Radio 4 long wave would "find a new home" on both analogue FM and digital radio once suitable frequencies could be found.

Denis Nowlan, the network manager for Radio 4, said: "This is technology that is becoming obsolete. Digital radio now reaches 97% of the population, and there is plenty time to find new homes for long wave-only programmes."

Radio 4 was traditionally broadcast on long wave, using frequencies used by the BBC since the 1930s, but the station has long been aired on FM and digital radio and online. More recently, the long-wave service has been used to carry a handful of traditional programmes deemed unsuitable for FM, while the range of the long-wave signal also ensured that ships could pick up shipping forecasts.

The best-known programme broadcast on long wave is Test Match Special, which would otherwise dominate vast chunks of the Radio 4 schedule. Yesterday in Parliament airs when Westminster is sitting at 8.30am, cutting out the last 30 minutes of Today on FM, while Radio 4's Christian worship programme, the Daily Service, is carried every weekday at 9.45am.

So antique is the transmission equipment that the BBC does not believe it is possible to manufacture new valves because slightly faulty replacements could cause a catastrophic failure of the other parts of the transmitter. Whenever the valves fail a dangerous "arc of power" surges through the 700ft Droitwitch transmission masts.

Building a new long-wave transmitter for Radio 4 would cost "many millions of pounds", according to BBC insiders. Part of the problem is that pumping the signal so that it can cover England, Wales and lowland Scotland requires 500 kilowatts of power, far more than other long wave transmitters, which makes the kit both unique and expensive. Meanwhile, modern mariners use other technology and services to get forecast information.

Highland Scotland is covered by two smaller transmitters and Northern Ireland does not easily receive Radio 4 long wave. However, the signal is strong enough to be audible in parts of the Netherlands, Ireland, France and Germany.

The BBC began national transmission with the National Programme, the predecessor of Radio 4, in 1926. Transmission moved to 200 kilohertz in 1934, when the BBC moved its transmission to Droitwitch, and has remained at that frequency, allowing for a slight shift to 198Khz ever since.

Built under the leadership of Sir John Reith, his last act as director-general after being forced out in 1938 was to personally close down the National Programme at Drotwitch before signing the visitors' book and leaving.

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Administrator on Oct 10th, 2011, 9:25am

PS Pity they can't spell Droitwich

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Roundabout on Oct 11th, 2011, 5:25am

Of all the turning points in the BBCs history the news of the slender thread that keeps Droitwich on the air must be the most sobering  reminder that the old days are finally over and there really is 'no turning back'!

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Russell W. Barnes on Oct 14th, 2011, 9:19pm


Administrator wrote on Oct 10th, 2011, 9:24am:
'A handful of specially crafted glass valves each measuring one metre high are all that is stopping the historic home of Test Match Special...'


Would these be the CAT27 glass valves that were last used in 1984 (and, incidentally, could be rebuilt) and were replaced by modern hypervaportron pyrobloc ceramic enveloped valves that could still be manufactured (if demand was there) and, in any case, can be refurbished?


Administrator wrote on Oct 10th, 2011, 9:24am:
So antique is the transmission equipment that the BBC does not believe it is possible to manufacture new valves because slightly faulty replacements could cause a catastrophic failure of the other parts of the transmitter. Whenever the valves fail a dangerous "arc of power" surges through the 700ft Droitwitch transmission masts.


The antiquity of the transmission equipment goes all the way back to 1984.  Hardly 'time-team' stuff, now, is it?  Transmitter valves (new and re-furbished) are still available for ye anciente Marconi B6122 / BD272 transmitters installed in the Year of Our Lord 1966.

I've never, apart from one exception, read such a load of absolute bollocks in my life from the pages of Guardian.  Written to evoke warm memories of the past, when we all gathered around the wireless, dad with his pipe, mammy with the baby on her knee.  Oh, OK, then, the other article was published in the Observer a couple of years ago, a solecism about a made-up place in Cumbria called 'Honiston Pass', which exists nowhere else other than in cyberspace.  And, of course, everything on t'Internet is true, isn't it?



Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Roundabout on Oct 15th, 2011, 9:56am

So where was our magnificent BBC Publicity Machine to set the record straight right from the outset??????

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Peter_Neill on Oct 15th, 2011, 12:54pm

I suspect that they are quite happy to have an excuse to close Long Wave that doesn't involve "cuts" and "painful decisions"

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Peter_Neill on Oct 16th, 2011, 3:28pm

In fact, an item on "Feedback" last Friday went some way to setting the record straight.

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Roundabout on Oct 17th, 2011, 6:42am

I don't think the dreadful Dennis Nowlam from Radio 4 management will ever convince me with his 'Publicity speak', he still did not specifically  say where the LW only programmes like Morning Service will actually be homed.......just 'will be made available'.......if that means just on line that is not acceptable.

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Administrator on Oct 21st, 2011, 3:21pm

Reports of the death of BBC Radio 4's long wave broadcasts may be a little premature, it seems. They could continue for at least another 10 years, according to Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams.

Williams told the Church and Media forum on Thursday that the BBC's recent announcement that Radio 4 LW was to be axed "signalled the beginning of the move away from it", adding that a lot could happen in a decade.

"It is not something I am gagging to shut down," she told the gathering of clergy and media experts in London.

from:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/21/radio-4-controller-reassures-future

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Russell W. Barnes on Oct 21st, 2011, 4:58pm

No mention of investing in a new, efficient digital-capable valve-less solid-state long-wave transmitter, then?

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by double-vision on Oct 22nd, 2011, 11:46am

"Gagging", a fine choice of word!
Dave

Title: Re: Death throes of LW
Post by Paul White on Jan 12th, 2012, 10:17pm

A small point of interest about the range of Radio 4 Longwave...While I was a Marconi Radio Officer back in the 1960s I happened to be in Trinidad for Christmas Day.  Radio 4 Longwave was coming in just fine with no fading or static...a good 5 5 & 9 !  

Mariners were eternally grateful to the BBC for their forecasts and of course cricket fans for their 'ball by ball' commentaries.  I enjoyed good unbiased authoritative BBC news and eventually when I 'swallowed the anchor' joined  broadcasting with the  NZBC in New Zealand.  In 1972 I became a studio director in BBC News & Current Affairs at TVC in London...I am sure my Longwave Radio 4 listening days inspired me to become a part of that, then, great department.

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