BBC Singapore to close down on July 16,2023, news from monitor Jose Jacob Via AWR Wavescan
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BBC Singapore Transmitter Site To Close
- Thread starter SomeRadioGuy
- Start date
Nothing official from the BBC yet, but the Singapore closure appears to be a done deal. Rumors of the impending shutdown started circulating on SWDX forums in late May.
Some replacement transmissions from different sites have been registered with the HFCC to start on July 16, but there are many others that are still uncertain, and perhaps will be dropped, particularly English to East and Southeast Asia.
The “BBC Far Eastern Relay Station” goes back to the late 1940s at the original Tebrau, Malaysia site, which is about 12 miles from the current Kranji, Singapore facility. The Tebrau transmitters were moved to Singapore in the mid-1970s (political reasons, I forget the particulars.) Most of the current transmitters are reported to be Marconi units from the early 1970s along with a newer (~2008) RIZ unit.
A few of the Singapore transmissions make it here in Texas, and the East Asia beams can do quite well.
Some replacement transmissions from different sites have been registered with the HFCC to start on July 16, but there are many others that are still uncertain, and perhaps will be dropped, particularly English to East and Southeast Asia.
The “BBC Far Eastern Relay Station” goes back to the late 1940s at the original Tebrau, Malaysia site, which is about 12 miles from the current Kranji, Singapore facility. The Tebrau transmitters were moved to Singapore in the mid-1970s (political reasons, I forget the particulars.) Most of the current transmitters are reported to be Marconi units from the early 1970s along with a newer (~2008) RIZ unit.
A few of the Singapore transmissions make it here in Texas, and the East Asia beams can do quite well.
i can hear the english on 12025 and korean on 12095 form Kranji so strong they overload my radio some days
Should note that the 24/7 broadcast of BBCWS on 88.9 FM in Singapore will continue, as that is operated by Mediacorp Radio Singapore, which owns about a dozen FMs there.
This is going to make hearing them a little more challenging at my location in southern California
Shortwave is dying a slow and painful death. Its only purpose is for ham radio and China, it seems. A far cry from the 1980s. Their 9740 (or 9745, I can't remember) English broadcasts from this area were very strong in the early morning hours in western North America.
Is ARRL Field Day even as possible now as it was 10 yrs ago? Far fewer reports in the ARRL 'soapbox' from this year's Field Day, just as nearly all of them were back to in-person gatherings, compared to 2013. I was in Missoula on Field Day and due to other plans, I wasn't able to visit the setup that W7PX (local amateur radio club) had near the Fort Missoula site, they even had a GOTA station where visitors could make contacts.
Is ARRL Field Day even as possible now as it was 10 yrs ago? Far fewer reports in the ARRL 'soapbox' from this year's Field Day, just as nearly all of them were back to in-person gatherings, compared to 2013. I was in Missoula on Field Day and due to other plans, I wasn't able to visit the setup that W7PX (local amateur radio club) had near the Fort Missoula site, they even had a GOTA station where visitors could make contacts.
Some of us old timers still believe in shortwave
I think Amateur Radio is becoming yet another relic of the past, partly as a result of the rise of the internet and cell phones. Many used communications outlets like ham radio and even CBs as the "chat rooms" of a few decades ago. Once the internet opened up new worlds, those bands have gone more and more silent. Beyond that, but related - Singles bars and "pickup joints" have largely given way to internet dating sites and smartphone apps. The world in general is also a much smaller place. Flights and plane travel were considered mostly for business travelers and the wealthy. Now it's not uncommon for many to fly across the country and sometimes the globe for a holiday visit or vacation. One no longer needs to listen to broadcasts originating from a certain place and dream about what it must be like - it's more accessible and affordable to just go and visit. On the flip side, of course, it seems many folks have more obligations and less free time, so things like fraternal organizations and amateur radio clubs aren't as popular or well-attended as they were decades ago.
I stopped beleiving around 1967 and threw my SW transmitter down a ravine, cancelled the license and moved the AM to a bigger city and rebuilt it.
I think you can still see it if you zoom in on the Google Earth images of Ecuador…🤭🤣
Given the over 300% growth of Quito since then, I think I am more likely to find condos built in that ravine!
Don't bury Amateur Radio or CB quite yet. There are still over 750,000 hams -- about half are Technicians, most of the rest are split between General and Extra, with still a small percentage of Advanced guys (like me) around, even though that class went away other than renewals over 20 years ago.
With the sunspot cycle now really taking off, I've also noticed a lot more CB activity, both within the official 40 channels and outside of them.
So don't bury us quite yet. We may be getting old, but we ain't dead. Ham radio will be around for quite some time, mainly because there is so little commercial interest in the frequencies below 108 MHz. Especially below 30 MHz.
But shortwave broadcasting? Time to schedule the funeral, at least outside of China.
I just never could get into it. I can't explain why, but it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
I don't think anyone is "burying" either CB or amateur radio, but one must admit the number of active users isn't anywhere close to what it once was. I haven't had a mobile CB rig in more than 30 years, but about 8 years ago when visiting my parents, I fired up 2 base stations I had in storage and the band was eerily quiet vs. years previous. Last I chatted with a few buddies who are hams, they were struggling to find newer, younger members to join them. That doesn't mean the ones who are still active aren't amazing, dedicated people.
I'm licensed but inactive. I doubt young people find crackling signals full of old men talking about their prostate surgery any more interesting than I do. And I suspect the ham radio community's hierarchal structure and obsession with endless etiquette and rules conformity is also not winning a lot of younger people over these days.
Singapore is under significant pressure for land for housing and commercial use. They have also recently announced the closure of their racecourse so that the land can be repurposed for housing:
www.channelnewsasia.com
The racecourse is also at Kranji, relatively close to the BBC site. I presume the significant need for new housing and industrial land supply in Singapore is at least partly behind the shutdown of the SW site. Things that use a large amount of space for little benefit, like horse racing and SW transmission, are going to be under pressure to go.
Homes, high-tech farms and sports facilities: What Singapore Turf Club site might be used for
Analysts say the number of homes that can be built on the Singapore Racecourse site is between 20,000 and 40,000.
The racecourse is also at Kranji, relatively close to the BBC site. I presume the significant need for new housing and industrial land supply in Singapore is at least partly behind the shutdown of the SW site. Things that use a large amount of space for little benefit, like horse racing and SW transmission, are going to be under pressure to go.
I was referring to listeners, not broadcasters.
You said "oldtimers". I began in radio as an investor in a couple of shares of Storer, and then became a DXer to hear "my stations". That means that before I became an intern and then owner I was, as you say, a listener.
Well that’s fine, to each his own
I occasionally spend an hour or two checking out the HF ham bands, sometimes running the call signs of the operators I hear through QRZ.com to check out their biographies. Some of these hams lead or have led very interesting lives. Many have a military background, a broadcasting background, or both. I've also come across preachers, professors, truckers, authors, engineers, even classical musicians, bluegrass fiddlers and Nashville session players. I've seen all manner of antennas and equipment, every kind of dog, large fish (freshwater and saltwater) held up for all to see. The one thing nearly all of them have in common? Age. Three out of every four profiles I read begin with something like "I caught the radio bug in high school in the '50s/'60s/'70s, got my license but let it expire when life got in the way, and am now retired and back on the air and loving it!"
Just about all these men (and yes, the ham world, at least in the DX pileups on 20 meters and the huge roundtable conversations on 80, is nearly all male) are at least 65 years old, most a lot older. At some point, the reservoir of guys returning to their old high school hobby is going to dry up, but since many schools had radio clubs through the dawn of the internet era (mid/late '90s), that's not happening soon.
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