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Old 11th Feb 2019, 10:37 pm   #1
Scott37
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Smile Long-wave stations (historic)

I was wondering the other night what long-wave stations usually appeared on the dials of old radios. The ones I remember are Kalundborg, Lahti, Oslo and the BBC (*). I lived in Scotland so I wonder if sets sold in Scotland tended to show stations to the north of Europe. I imagine the range of long-wave stations available in the south of England would be rather different. (*) I cannot remember if the BBC was shown as Droitwich, BBC or BBC Light (or I believe it might have been Daventry before it was Droitwich). Anyone old enough to remember?
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:06 pm   #2
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

In the 1950s through to the 1970s or even 80s the principal LW stations were France Inter (shown on some dials as 'Allous'), Europe#1, BBC Light , Warsaw, Lxembbourg (In French) and Kalundborg. On some sets, R. Monte Carlo's LW transmitter was shown, also, IIRC onm 227kHz These were shown on most radio dials. Frequencies were 164, 180, 200, 227, 236, & 245 Khz, changed after the 1978 plan to 162, 180, 198,225, 234, & 243kHz.
The Republic of Ireland was allocated 252kHz in 1978, and Atlantic 252 went on air. This station was marked on some radios, although by then few radios had conventional tuning dials. Older radios did have 'Droitwich' marked at 1500M. The transmitter there replaced the LW station at Daventry, which went on the air either in the late 1920s or early 30s, and originally had the callsign 5XX.
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:15 pm   #3
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Dial scan of an Ekco AW70

https://www.vintage-radio.info/download.php?id=451
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:35 pm   #4
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

I'm not aware of any manufacturer producing tuning scales specifically for the Scottish market, though I guess it's not impossible.
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:46 pm   #5
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Wow how nostalgic is that scan?!?!

I wasn't aware of a MW station in Bournemouth/Plymouth
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:50 pm   #6
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Fidelity still had station names on their tuning scales into the 1980s, my Rad 24 has a few interesting ones labelled.
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Old 11th Feb 2019, 11:52 pm   #7
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

I think Bournemouth/Plymouth were Droitwich relays, but I don't recall seeing them on a tuning scale either.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 12:10 am   #8
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Hi,

We had a Marconi 245 radiogram (1936), and it was marked National for
the 1500m station.
Other LW stations shown were Oslo, Luxembourg, Kalundborg,Warsaw,
Moscow, Paris, Kaunas and Huizen.
By a strange coincidence, I was listening to Kaunas last night, but it
was the airport beacon KUS on 343 kHz!

Kind regards
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 12:45 am   #9
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Atlantic 252 didn’t come on until 1990. The Pirate station Radio Nova from Dublin used 252 for a while in the mid 80s. Although the signal wasn’t great
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 3:55 am   #10
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Its interesting that the only LW stations I get from Europe here in
the central USA are the BBC on 198 and Ireland and Algeria on 252,
seldom interfering with one another. And only in winter and only sometimes.

I have no idea why only those, my only guess is that the transmitters
happen to have a side lobe aimed my way.

We of course never had long term LW broadcasting. I do very reliably
get beacons from all over the USA and CA.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 8:59 am   #11
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald View Post
We of course never had long term LW broadcasting. I do very reliably
get beacons from all over the USA and CA.

why is that?
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 9:29 am   #12
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

dtvmcdonald &/or other members , please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this to do with the international allocations, which, A.F.A.I.K., specify that LW is only used for Broadcasting in Region 1, which is the E.B.U., basically Europe & N. Africa. When I had a short holiday in S. Africa several years ago I could receive nothing at all on LW, as the nearest stations were several thousand miles to the north of there in Algeria.
On the subject of station names, I have a dial saved from a long-scrapped pre-war Philco radio, which shows Plymouth & Bournemouth, plus Aberdeen and other regional transmitters on MW. LW has Droitwich, Luxembourg, plus Tiflis (Tiblisi), Oslo, Radio Paris, Moscow 1, & Hilversum. I'd guess that the radio from which the dial came dated from the early to mid 1930s, though it could be a bit later as it used Octal Valves.

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Old 12th Feb 2019, 10:56 am   #13
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Thanks Livewire
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 11:12 am   #14
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
I'm not aware of any manufacturer producing tuning scales specifically for the Scottish market, though I guess it's not impossible.
Just a random thought: could it be that long-wave works better closer to the polar region than it does further south towards the equator?
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 11:26 am   #15
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

That's a good point- supposedly, the so-called tropical SW broadcasting bands came about as a result of the difficulties with lightning interference on MW frequencies at low latitudes. LW with its wider range would presumably have been guaranteed to have storms affecting it much of the time. (Having said that, there's something oddly comforting about spits and splats on 198kHz- early warning to wind the barbecue down, get the chairs in, check the sunroof's closed....)

It does seem slightly odd that the huge territories of Canada and Australia (say) didn't make use of LW broadcasting with their British influence- presumably a market conditions rather than technical consideration thing. Algeria uses famously powerful and far-reaching LW senders, I imagine this started under French colonial rule and continued on.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 11:28 am   #16
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald View Post
Its interesting that the only LW stations I get from Europe here in
the central USA are the BBC on 198 and Ireland and Algeria on 252,
seldom interfering with one another. And only in winter and only sometimes.

I have no idea why only those, my only guess is that the transmitters
happen to have a side lobe aimed my way.
You are of course relying on sky wave propagation at those distances, while broadcast LW coverage is normally based on ground wave. Many of the truly massive European and Russian LW transmitters have closed during the last decade, and the half of the band below 198kHz is sounding very quiet nowadays. The Icelandic mid Atlantic stations have also left LW, though those were never easily receivable in the UK.

The Algerian station causes serious interference to RTE1 in southern and western England and Wales, because Dublin is more or less due north and Algeria due south so the interference can't be nulled out. The Algerian transmitter is pretty huge, and I suspect it's also beamed north so that it covers France which has a large Algerian population.

France has always been a big LW user. In the era of cheap AM/FM far eastern radios it was normal for those for the French market to have MW (BC) replaced with LW.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 12:18 pm   #17
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

All true, Paul. Of course, at one time there were four French-language stations on LW, France-Inter, Europe#1. Luxembourg and Monte Carlo, AFAIK, the latter three are still broadcasting, almost certainly 24/7, whilst Allouis, I think, still transmits a carrier, for what purpose I know not. No doubt there are still LW stations in Romania, the Czech Republic, and European Russia, but the reason that neither Canada nor Australia have ever used LW is no doubt because of the international agreements covering spectrum use, plus the fact that in both countries, more emphasis is placed on local/regional coverage centered on the major cities in and around which most of the population lives. I assume this is true of vast areas of Russia, too, for that matter.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 12:41 pm   #18
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
The Icelandic mid Atlantic stations have also left LW, though those were never easily receivable in the UK.

(BC) replaced with LW.
Iceland is still on Long Wave. I was listening to both their outlets on 189 and 207 last night. Reasonably clear and playing some nice music.
As well as those already mentioned, other stations still running and can be picked up on a regular basis in the UK are Romania on 153 which can be heard well every evening and plays some crazy local music, Allouis France on 162 now just broadcasting a silent carrier, Poland on 225, again can be heard most evenings with a mix of Polish speech and music and from the Czech Republic on 270 from their historic Topolna site broadcasting their main radio programme. Occasionally from Morocco with a mix of French/Arabic speech and music is Medi 1 from the Nador site on 171, this one is a weak signal at best when it can be heard. The other historic station Kalundborg.on 243 is still used but only a few times a day for news, weather and shipping forecasts.
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Last edited by Hybrid tellies; 12th Feb 2019 at 1:05 pm.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 1:15 pm   #19
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

I stand corrected re the Reykjavik stations, I thought they'd switched off LW a couple of years ago. I'll have a listen this evening on the Yachtie if I can find somewhere without lots of RFI.
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Old 12th Feb 2019, 9:30 pm   #20
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Default Re: Long-wave stations (historic)

Quote:
Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?' View Post
Older radios did have 'Droitwich' marked at 1500M. The transmitter there replaced the LW station at Daventry, which went on the air either in the late 1920s or early 30s, and originally had the callsign 5XX.
1934 according to this (scroll down): http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/radio_age.html
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