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Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

economist.com

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Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#141

Post by ErroneousBosh »

aeonik wrote: post #120
microgpt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does stapling it to your neighbours' fence lines and painting it like the wood count as creative? I wonder if you can couple to your local distribution grid, and not get arrested.

I just string the antenna across my attic. Coupling into my power upstairs is a bit of a problem sometimes though. Pirating power is something I've heard that happens, but I looked it up, and couldn't find an actual cited example of someone doing it via induction. Plenty of people doing it via extension cords and device tampering though.

> Coupling into my power upstairs is a bit of a problem sometimes though.

I haven't worked with my end-fed on 40m for a couple of years. We've recently all had our crappy old aluminium-cored BT lines replaced with shiny new fibre though, so this time I am unlikely to lift the coveted Worked All DSLAMs trophy ;-)

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#142

Post by ErroneousBosh »

toxik wrote: post #40
bilegeek wrote: post #29

IMO, when the last LW transmitter shuts down, the whole band needs to be reallocated to hams. Realistic small-ish antennas are shockingly doable with a capacitance hat, loading coil, and counterpoise.

I hate to rain on your parade, but a lot of interests want the low-frequency spectrum. It will absolutely never be allocated to amateur radio.

It's not really much use for anything. What "interests" would you think are interested in it?

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#143

Post by ErroneousBosh »

gerdesj wrote: post #20
cjs_ac wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, their operation relies on enormous vacuum tubes that the BBC can’t get replacements for any more.

We do spend out quite a lot here in the UK for the BBC. They could easily dump a couple of expensive presenters and use the savings for vacuum tubes, if that is what is needed. No idea where vacuum tubes were invented but I'm sure the BBC could find someone to make them.

> They could easily dump a couple of expensive presenters and use the savings for vacuum tubes, if that is what is needed.

I bet they're kicking themselves over not just renewing Jeremy Clarkson's contract.

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#144

Post by cogman10 »

dotwaffle wrote: post #137
cogman10 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I imagine that today they'd probably use something like Opus and a fountain code or similar, yes... But you can't expect everyone to replace their radio every 10-15 years ;) Certainly not, which is why I believe DAB (no plus) is still floating around. And I'm not really suggesting that they made a bad choice. I'm mostly pushing back on the notion that digital means all or nothing audio. If broadcast audio stays ali…

I could be wrong, but I think DAB uses DQPSK (which can be thought of as a special version of QAM 4 if you squint a bit) and not anything like the higher QAM constellations because it's deliberately designed for mobile (road, train etc) where you don't have a steady signal, it can vary a lot with motion, so QAM 64 wouldn't really be possible. Though I did a quick check and apparently DRM+ uses QAM-16, so perhaps my k…

LTE and 5g both use QAM 256 and higher. Wifi 7 can use QAM 4096 (though not a lot of motion there).

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#145

Post by jhoechtl »

Peanuts99 wrote: post #37
jimnotgym wrote: post #33

I'm very sad to see this go. I was listening to DAB in the car, not so far from here last weekend, and it kept cutting out. Whereas you could get LW everywhere! I developed a love of cricket on Test Match Special from a very young age. A tiny inexpensive radio could get it anywhere. I actually never minded the interruptions from the Shipping Forecast, the real reason they kept this service up for so long. I know ther…

Digital radio was always going to be crap, it doesn't degrade gradually as signal gets worse They should have just put all the money into a better 4G network and ran radio through that.

They do its called 5G broadcast. No, this doesn't require point to point connections.

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#146

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

BBC Radio 4 is moved to the inactive chart of the Longwave Broadcaster List (153kHz-279kHz)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longwave_radio_broadca...

Seven stations remain; they're in Algeria, Mongolia (x3), Morocco, Poland, Romania.

Apparently, public longwave radio broadcasters were never a thing in the Western Hemisphere. Too bad.

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#147

Post by jhoechtl »

yakkers wrote: post #30
ggm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wave skip? (Naieve question)

HF propagates through skywave (most reliably from 5-30MHz), which is where the signal bounces off the ionosphere. In the MF (AM broadcast) band, you can observe this at night - in Australia I can pick up the 50kW Melbourne ABC station (public broadcaster) at 774kHz with a good radio, just about across the entire country. In the LF (longwave) band, the earth’s surface and the ionosphere start to behave more like a wav…

Everyone is talking about the massive power of Radio 4 - it wasn't. Radio poland or algeria have much stronger LW broadcast.

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#148

Post by eichin »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #136

Droitwich uses two metre-high ceramic and metal valves, which are no longer made. said valves: https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/images/1983027.jpg https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/images/1983023.jpg from: https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/droitwich.htm https://i0.wp.com/www.richardmudhar.com/blog/wp-content/uplo...

"valves" being british for vacuum tubes (though there's an entire generation of scifi where future computers are built around miniaturized valves even among american authors for some reason, Asimov in particular)

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#149

Post by Saydin »

There's something beautifully democratic about Long Wave that we're losing. No subscription, no data plan, no app updates—just a piece of wire and a germanium diode, and you're connected to the world.

The Droitwich transmitter has been a quiet workhorse for nearly a century. Those valves in the photos are practically artifacts now, but they've been doing their job reliably, day in and day out. There's a certain poetry in that—technology that just works without needing a firmware update.

I grew up listening to the Shipping Forecast on Long Wave, and there's still something magical about that litany of sea areas—"Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire..."—broadcasting to fishermen, sailors, and insomniacs alike. It's the kind of public service broadcasting that feels almost alien in our targeted, algorithm-driven media landscape.

And yes, the irony that we're shutting down the same technology that would be our last link to civilization in a nuclear scenario isn't lost on me. Progress, I suppose.

But I'll miss the hum.

Re: Long Wave radio era set to end with switch-off

#150

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

gorgoiler wrote: post #42
jimnotgym wrote: post #33

I'm very sad to see this go. I was listening to DAB in the car, not so far from here last weekend, and it kept cutting out. Whereas you could get LW everywhere! I developed a love of cricket on Test Match Special from a very young age. A tiny inexpensive radio could get it anywhere. I actually never minded the interruptions from the Shipping Forecast, the real reason they kept this service up for so long. I know ther…

Some things in life happen for the very last time and we never realize it. Where were you when Jim Maxwell interrupted the test match coverage, for the final time, to declare that “listeners on long wave will now hear the shipp-ing four-cairst”? :) With apologies to Affabeck Lauder

> when Jim Maxwell interrupted the test match coverage for the final time...

     Jim Maxwell has thrown to the shipping forecast for the last time
     -- July 31, 2023
ref: https://xcancel.com/abcsport/status/1685999353712848896
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