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Ireland’s RTE shutting down 252 kHz longwave

M

Mediafrog+

Latest chapter in the demise of longwave broadcasting will happen April 14: RTÉ RADIO 1 TO CEASE BROADCASTING ON LONG WAVE – About RTÉ

This follows the closure of a large number of longwave transmissions over the past decade or so. 2023 alone has seen 207 Iceland and 234 Luxembourg shut down.

The BBC has announced that it will close 198 kHz, but no date has been given yet. And the other Iceland longwave station on 189 is slated for closure in 2024.

Longwave stations still active for now: Romania on 153, Morocco on 171, Iceland on 189, BBC on 198, Poland on 225, and Algeria on 252. Also recent reports have the Mongolian stations on 164, 209 and 227 as still active. Status of Turkmenistan on 279 is uncertain, no recent reports, likely gone.

Lots of history in longwave broadcasting going back to the beginnings of radio, but its time has passed.
 
RTÉ Radio 1 isn't a long-standing user of longwave - it only came onto the frequency in 2004. This 252 signal was previously used for Atlantic 252, a "border blaster" (or sea blaster?) pop music station aimed largely at a UK audience. For its final couple of years on the air (2000-2002 or so) it was a Dance format. Yes, a Dance format. On AM.

Here's the station's original launch from 1989. The crackles are how it sounded day-to-day to the listener for the most part: Station Launch (Gary King) Sept 1st 1989 (4'12) - Atlantic 252

And here's an aircheck of the Dance format, complete with good old LW whistle: Simon Hardwick Jul 2000 (6'20) - Atlantic 252
 
Last edited:
Miss Tuned said:
RTÉ Radio 1 isn't a long-standing user of longwave - it only came onto the frequency in 2004. This 252 signal was previously used for Atlantic 252, a "border blaster" (or sea blaster?) pop music station aimed largely at a UK audience. For its final couple of years on the air (2000-2002 or so) it was a Dance format. Yes, a Dance format. On AM.
Click to expand...
A refresher: Atlantic 252 - Wikipedia

And we shouldn’t overlook the short-lived TeamTalk 252: TEAMtalk 252 - Wikipedia
 
Mediafrog+ said:
A refresher: Atlantic 252 - Wikipedia

And we shouldn’t overlook the short-lived TeamTalk 252: TEAMtalk 252 - Wikipedia
Click to expand...
A shambolic station remembered mostly because it was opened by a presenter called James H Reeve and then closed a few months later by the very same Mr. Reeve, with the words "my dad always used to say, don't start something you can't finish, and he'd be proud of me now".

audioboom.com

TEAMtalk 252 - Closedown

TEAMtalk 252 was based in Leeds. Its huge Irish transmitter and facilities were bought from RTL for £2m, having been used by the influential Atlantic 252 until December 2001.
audioboom.com audioboom.com
 
I've never heard a Longwave broadcast station, except when using a foreign, online SDR (the one in Northern Norway).

I used to hear a lot of beacons back in the day. And sometime around 2016 or so I rediscovered Longwave on my Realistic DX-398 and gave the Longwave section a spin. The local beacon had been taken down, but some from across the Puget Sound were still on the air, as well as several in BC Canada. I even heard the NDB in the Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as DGPS FSK stations here and there over the LW dial, including one in California and another one somewhere in the US West.

This was all just off the DX-398's internal ferrite loopstick.

The other evening I gave the DX-398 a spin through the LW band. Nothing but static.
 
boombox4 said:
I've never heard a Longwave broadcast station, except when using a foreign, online SDR (the one in Northern Norway).
Click to expand...
They were useful for me in Europe, especially once the BBC World Service shut down on 648. That said, finding a portable radio with reasonable longwave reception was surprisingly difficult. Through eBay, I finally got a Roberts 925 (made by Sangean) that works well. That said, longwave definitely is on the decline.

I'll also note that most DSP-based radios made in the past 10 years or so are quite deaf on longwave. This apparently can be fixed somewhat but I haven't wanted to open up those radios just for that purpose.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Longwave stations still active for now: Romania on 153, Morocco on 171, Iceland on 189, BBC on 198, Poland on 225, and Algeria on 252.
Click to expand...
Carrier is still on for the former France-Inter facility on 162 in order to continue with phase-modulated time signals. But there's no audio program.
 
boombox4 said:
I've never heard a Longwave broadcast station, except when using a foreign, online SDR (the one in Northern Norway).
Click to expand...
Same here. Except in my experience, it was my first trip across the pond more than 20 years ago. I had a Gtindig Yacht Boy with me and wwhen I first tried longwave in my room at the London Grosvenor Square Marriott, I heard at least a half dozen LW stations from all over Europe. 252 from Ireland was one of the better signals and one of the better formats. Pop music with a nice blend of currents and oldies. Reception was similar at stops in Manchesterr, Edinburgh, and Paris.

Betweeen my working for a British company and my daughter living in Lonfon, I was in thr UK once or more for the next 11 years. The number of LW signals gradually fiminished over each subsequent visit.
 
Thread bump: Apparently RTE has announced that the closure of 252 will happen in a few hours at 0800 UT, April 14. That would be 4am Eastern, 1am Pacific here in the U.S. Originally had thought they would stay on until 2300 UT.

RTE still going with RTE Gold on 252 as heard on an online SDR in Ireland a short time ago.
 
Looks like the 0800 UT shutdown announcement from RTE was wrong, or at least premature. 252 still going at 1300 UT when checked via an SDR in Ireland.
 
It is 4:06 pm IST (1506 UTC), and I just listened to a newscast in the Irish language. That was a pleasant surprise. I can now say that I listened to the Irish language on longwave.
 
It is now 11:30 pm IST (2230 UTC), the beginning of the final half hour of April 14 in Ireland. Could this be the final half hour of RTÉ Radio 1 on 252? I am staying tuned.
 
RTÉ Radio 1 ended its longwave broadcast on Saturday, April 15 at 12:03 am IST (2303 UTC), immediately after the hourly newscast.

On 252 kHz, you will hear the RTÉ interval signal followed by an announcement that RTÉ Radio 1 is no longer available on longwave. The announcement then lists the various ways through which people can continue to listen to RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ's other radio services.
 
Checking an Irish online SDR around 0215 UT 4/15 you can hear the redirect announcement on 252 along with Algeria fading up and down underneath the signal. Wonder if RTE reduced power on 252 after normal programming ended?

I suspect the redirect announcement will run for several days before the final shutdown, as we recently saw with Absolute Radio in the UK for their mediumwave closure. On the other hand, Iceland’s RUV only ran a redirect on 207 for a day before pulling the plug earlier this year.
 
The old 567 kHz mast at Tullamore was also taken down in the last few days. I wonder if 612 in Athlone is going, too?
 
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