Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK

Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Printable Version

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RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - James2001 - 20-01-2023

(19-01-2023, 11:51 PM)i.h Wrote: listening through one of the websdrs right now (absolute turned off the TXes where I am a few years ago). very echoey (presumably it's picking up several transmitters and they're not all perfectly in sync), and of course its fading in and out.

as much as people malign DAB audio quality, it's much further ahead than this is.

Was an infamous problem even back when Radio 1, then Radio 3 used that frequency. In fact I'm pretty sure it was the reason Radio 1 moved to 1053/1089 and Radio 3 got 1215, and was seen as less of a problem for Radio 3 to have it, as even in 1978 most of their listening was FM.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Dadeki - 20-01-2023

(20-01-2023, 01:02 AM)i.h Wrote:
(19-01-2023, 11:55 PM)London Lite Wrote: Try the Grimsby SDR instead which has Absolute from Boston, Lincs on 1242.

http://grimsbysdr.ddns.net:8073/

didn't see this in time lol. still using the other SDR - seem to be hearing foreign stations in the silent gaps in the retune audio loop. not sure if that's an artistic flair or interference

Interference.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Josh - 20-01-2023

For those who missed it (with tribute to BBC stations/Virgin/Absolute): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8gEaS_Q1bc

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Stooky Bill - 20-01-2023

Here's a better quality version of it, not sure if it's taken from the satellite distribution or whether the uploaded is very near a transmitter. A nice way to mark the end of a historic frequency

https://youtu.be/O7ZIVvJVJII

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Steve in Pudsey - 20-01-2023

Where does this leave TalkSport and 5Live? The three stations typically share transmitter sites from the days when the frequencies were Radio 1,2 and 3.

Presumably at some point Arqiva will be looking to renegotiate the charges it makes for the use of these sites as the common parts are now shared between two rather than three?

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - James2001 - 20-01-2023

(20-01-2023, 10:10 AM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: Presumably at some point Arqiva will be looking to renegotiate the charges it makes for the use of these sites as the common parts are now shared between two rather than three?

Which I guess will just speed up the end of those stations on AM even more.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Dadeki - 20-01-2023

(20-01-2023, 02:53 PM)James2001 Wrote:
(20-01-2023, 10:10 AM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: Presumably at some point Arqiva will be looking to renegotiate the charges it makes for the use of these sites as the common parts are now shared between two rather than three?

Which I guess will just speed up the end of those stations on AM even more.

The BBC has already expressed its desire to cease providing both Radio 4 on LW and Radio 5 Live on MW for several years now, so now that Absolute has gone presumably it will spur the BBC on with its own closure plan.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Keith - 20-01-2023

(20-01-2023, 02:59 PM)Dadeki Wrote:
(20-01-2023, 02:53 PM)James2001 Wrote: Which I guess will just speed up the end of those stations on AM even more.

The BBC has already expressed its desire to cease providing both Radio 4 on LW and Radio 5 Live on MW for several years now, so now that Absolute has gone presumably it will spur the BBC on with its own closure plan.

It'll be interesting to see what the BBC end up doing with 5 Live. Looking at the current bands of FM frequencies according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting_in_the_UK#Frequency_utilisation it looks like they're already fairly well occupied.

If I recall correctly the likes of Radio 2 have an FM band of 88.0 – 90.2 so that it can broadcast from different transmitters at slightly different MHz to avoid signals clashing, which I believe could be a problem. Maybe these days it might be possible to reduce these bandings for each BBC national radio station slightly in order to squeeze in 5 Live, though it would probably require a lot of people to retune their (FM) radios.

Alternatively they could consider moving BBC Local radio onto digital only and putting 5 Live into the 94.6 – 96.1 band. However I imagine this might be politically sensitive, particularly if local MPs feel their constituents can no longer hear them as easily when they were appearing on their local radio station. Additionally I think the likes of BBC Radio Scotland & Wales also use this band.

Another option would be to simply move 5Live onto being digital only. However, once again I imagine that would be deemed likely to have a strong negative reaction, particularly with sports fans and the press.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Larry the Loafer - 20-01-2023

I had no idea how much history 1215 AM had. Even more poignant to see it go.

RE: Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK - Spencer - 20-01-2023

(20-01-2023, 05:13 PM)Keith Wrote: Another option would be to simply move 5Live onto being digital only. However, once again I imagine that would be deemed likely to have a strong negative reaction, particularly with sports fans and the press.

I'd be curious to know what proportion of 5 Live's audience listens on AM. In the case of Absolute, I think they said it was only about 2%, but for a speech station, on which sound quality is arguably less of a concern than for music, I could see it being a little higher.

And Radio 4 LW must have a very low listenership these days given they're on FM too. I can't be the only one who doesn't even have a radio capable of picking up LW anymore.