BBC Radio 4 long wave reception problems etc.

[GeoffK]

These are the email addresses to contact Argiva. It took nearly a year of complaining to the BBC about their local medium wave output being faulty before an email to Argiva finally put it right so maybe they can do the same with BBC Radio4 L.W.

enquiries@arqiva.com

david.allatt@arqiva.com

Arqiva Limited. Registered office: Crawley Court, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2QA

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

I agree with Paul, it is only... Audio in*, low pass filter**, and then onto the modulator.

To be fair to Arqiva, it's not that simple by a long way. Radio 4 LW has some very odd programme distribution arrangements dating back to when it was an important part of civil defence arrangements, and that is likely to be where the problems are arising rather than inside the transmitter site. It's understandable that the BBC don't want to expend money and management time on what they see as a legacy technology that they'd prefer to close down.

All that said though, the present position is not sustainable. It's just downright unprofessional. It would be better to take the R4LW internet or satellite stream, Optimod it and then shove it straight into the transmitter.

[Nuvistor]

Not sure about sibilance, it sounds distorted to my ears, which admittedly are not good. Tune to 252 and that stations modulation sounds excellent.
Frank

Optimod it and then shove it straight into the transmitter

I thought Radio 4 was the only (BBC) station not to use Optimod.

[paulsherwin]

No, R4 is very heavily processed, especially on LW. R3 is relatively lightly processed, especially in the evening.

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by Nuvistor

Not sure about sibilance, it sounds distorted to my ears, which admittedly are not good. Tune to 252 and that stations modulation sounds excellent.
Frank

I'd call it 'ragged' or 'untidy', a mix of distortion and sibilance. It's quite unpleasant.

[michamoo]

I was listening to Radio 4 from Droitwich yesterday at 5 PM. Three times it did actually sound as if the transmitter went off air completely. Just hash/hiss with faint audio from the Scottish transmitters I think. When it did come back on it did seem to sound as though my radio was off tune a little (Bush TR82- 97).

[Kentode]

It sounds OK here now but yesterday it was very "spitty".

[MurphyNut]

This is interesting, I was listening to radio 4 yesterday on my Murphy A30 and I was disappointed it didn't sound as good as it normally does. I assumed it was a component gone in the set, this was put to rest when I tried another good set and it also sounded poor.

[Hybrid tellies]

I have reported the fault to Arqiva over the weekend using both those email addresses just to make sure it gets through
I was going to listen to R4 on 198 this morning but my car radio only has medium wave and FM.

[MurphyNut]

Just listened to Radio 4 on LW and it still sound very poor, distorted. It sounds like the station is permanently "off tune."
I hope it's sorted out as Radio 4 the only decent thing left on vintage radios to listen too.

[Hybrid tellies]

It sounded good again on three different radios last night, the earliest I listened was the early evening shipping forecast and the 6pm news.

[PaulR]

Yes, it sounds better to me today

[stevehertz]

I'm not sure if it's related, but as I've mentioned more than once before, in my specific location (Cannock Chase, Rugeley, Staffs) and in the immediate surrounding area, R4 FM suffers from a strange kind of tearing paper distortion which kind of 'bursts' through on peaks. It's not my receiving equipment and it's not my aerial because I get exactly the same symptoms when I'm driving my car nearby. The signal is from Sutton Coldfield and is at 92.7MHz. It could be multi-path problems at this particular frequency as we have Rugeley Power station nearby. That stopped generating last year and is due to be demolished in the next couple of years, so maybe at that juncture I will be a little wiser as to whether it is the cause of the problem.

BTW, isn't this a general category thread as it does not relate to 'specific vintage equipment'?

[Arqiva BOC]

There was corrective work carried out as a result of the reports we received form members of this forum.

Hopefully all should now be well

Martin G7MRV

[PaulR]

Many thanks Martin.

Paul

[Arqiva BOC]

Cheers Paul,

We do monitor the transmitters closely, but artifacts such as sibilance we do rely of listener reports. Sadly the equipment itself is rather elderly now, and is somewhat touchy to maintain!

[Andrew2]

Would it be OK to ask what exactly the problem is? Whatever it is, it seems to come around fairly regularly! I'm just curious, as I suspect most of us are.

[Hybrid tellies]

If memory serves me correctly I think the last case of sibilance was due to a programme feed fault rather than a transmitter fault. But I may be mistaken.

[paulsherwin]

That is my impression too. It's understandable if Martin doesn't want to give a public explanation, as it may be a matter for contractual discussion between the BBC and different suppliers.