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Old 11th Dec 2018, 12:20 pm   #1
Alvin
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Default BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/...8873624819006/ Interesting clip and for me very nostalgic as there are great shots of my former workplace and people I worked with (I left for pastures new the previous year) I doubt the BBC would send young scouts into people's homes these days!


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Old 11th Dec 2018, 4:12 pm   #2
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I enjoyed that, proper technical advice to the masses and they got the units right, no KhZ etc.
 
Old 11th Dec 2018, 10:04 pm   #3
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Quote:
they got the units right, no KhZ
Maybe you meant kHz?

I found the transition from kilocycles per second difficult at first, but I got there in the end.
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Old 12th Dec 2018, 9:56 pm   #4
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

What a fantastically nostalgic clip! How I miss the dulcet tones of the marvellous John Dunn; one of the very best broadcasters in my opionion and the epitome of what Radio 2 should be. Also a young Moria Stuart, no less, in the closing seconds. I didn't realise that Radio 3 took over the old Radio 1 wavelength of 247m.

I used to spend ages trying to remove those almost indestructable diamond stickers from vintage radio tuning dials, but now I leave them in place as they are an important part of radio history.

Thanks for posting the link, Alvin.


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Old 13th Dec 2018, 9:57 am   #5
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Have a listen to the Kings Singer's song Some Enchanted Wavelengths!

It can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ed+wavelemgths

Regards,

Dave.
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Old 13th Dec 2018, 10:48 am   #6
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I meant KhZ to be an illustration of getting it wrong.
 
Old 16th Dec 2018, 11:16 pm   #7
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Many moons ago probably in the 80s I was on duty in the Master Control Room at LBC when our advertising department brought round some clients on the 'Cooks Tour' as we used to call it. Two of them stood by the door talking to the department manager whilst the third was more interested in the equipment then suddenly stopped and pointed at the rack mounted sig gen loudly expressing in mock disgust that the dial was marked in Hertz.........it transpired that the clients were from Avis, a rival car rental company.
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Old 17th Dec 2018, 5:59 am   #8
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

In one of my books of scientific humour there is a comment that the SI unit of angular frequency (2*pi*f, where f is the 'normal' frequency in Hz) should be the 'Avis'
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 12:43 pm   #9
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I remember this very well. What isn't well known, nor given much publicity were the "slight" changes to VHF around the same time in one or two places.

In the Wenvoe area serving South Wales and the West of England they had Radio 4 on 92.125Mhz, Radio Cymru on 94.3Mhz with Radio 3 on 96.8Mhz.

From what I recall Radio Cymru was moved to 96.8Mhz, Radio 3 to 92.125Mhz and Radio 4 to 94.3Mhz.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 5:09 pm   #10
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Interesting that she mentions R4 as being on 200kHz (1500m). I don't imagine that this was an approximation (as in convenient 'landmark' on the dial) so I presume that the broadcasting frequency must have been moved again by 2kHz to its current broadcasting frequency of 198kHz? If so, then what might have been the reason for a shift of just 2kHz?

I still remember helpfully putting those stickers, which I think everyone got through the post, on the dial of my mums kitchen radio!
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 5:14 pm   #11
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

From what I remember, Radio 4 (Droitwich) was on 200kHz. It was moved in the late 1980s to make the frequency a multiple of 9kHz, to meet some (European?) agreement. 198kHz was the nearest multiple of 9kHz.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 5:16 pm   #12
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I'm sure I remember being told at the time that it was something to do with the channel frequencies all being divisible by 9, which is also the channel spacing.

edit - post crossed with Tony's...
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 5:29 pm   #13
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Ah, yes I forgot about the 9kHz spacing we have here in the EU, as opposed to 10kHz in the USA. That makes sense and the change in frequency is so small that I guess most listeners would probably not have noticed beyond a very minor tweak of the dial.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 6:00 pm   #14
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

The LW Frequencies were moved down 2kHz in, I think, 1979. When Atlantic 252 first started transmissions they were actually on 254kHz, but moved to 252 when the revised LW band plan came in. Incidentally there are still a few stations, Europe1 and a German LW one among them, which use 'split frequencies' between the 9kHz channels.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 6:05 pm   #15
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I remember a friend telling me 'Droitwich has moved' when I was at university for my first degree. That would put it between 1985 and 1988.

Wikipedia gives the date 1st February 1988, and gives a link to a BBC document that I have not looked at.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 9:15 pm   #16
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

It was my understanding also that the shift to 198 kHz was made as a result of new European 9kHz channel spacing decisions. I always felt sad about it - 200kc/s, with it's harmonics, was always such a useful marker for the impecunious schoolboy constructor for calibrating homemade rf generators! 198k just isn't as neat!
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 9:35 pm   #17
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I remember a project - possibly in Radio Constructor - where you could build a Droitwich-locked clock (based on 200kHz frequency standard).
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Old 30th Dec 2018, 6:40 am   #18
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

I remember a project (something says 'Elektor' but maybe not) to take the 198kHz carrier. divide it by 99, giving 2kHz, then mixing that with the incoming 198kHz and extracting the sum frequency, giving 200kHz again. To use old 200kHz-referenced clocks and frequency standards after the change.
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Old 30th Dec 2018, 9:55 am   #19
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

Still remember the fun we had putting those stickers over the wavelength glass on our radio at home ! ive got a car radio somewhere with them on too.
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Old 30th Dec 2018, 10:21 am   #20
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Default Re: BBC Nationwide 1978: Radio Wavelengths Changes

The strange thing is that I hadn’t realised that Radio 4, or The Home Service as it’s known in my house, had moved from 1500 metres even though I have read many times the new 198kHz frequency in literature and on here. I obviously hadn’t noticed that the wireless dial indication was slightly off…
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