BBC Radio 4 long wave reception problems etc.

[PaulR]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Problem resolution is always much more difficult where there are lots of contractual relationships as it's in the contractors' interests to deny responsibility. There are lots of cases of this across the public sector, for example where activities like IT have been farmed out to contractors.

Oh yes, I worked in the public sector. It was a nightmare.

[Hybrid tellies]

I think the distortion fault has now been cleared. It has been sounding good for the last hour or so.
I reported the fault to the BBC on this number 0370 901 6789 and spoke to someone in Durham. This line is manned 24 hours as I made the call well past midnight.

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Unfortunately I don't think this is an Arqiva problem. Arqiva own and run the transmitters, but they aren't responsible for the distribution network which is where the problem appears to lie. I don't know who is responsible for that - maybe BT or Siemens Broadcast - but whoever it is, listeners aren't their customer, the BBC is. It's the BBC's responsibility to complain

I nearly suggested the BBC directly but if their hierarchy is as byzantine as it used to be, without the previous benefit of a more-or-less direct technical helpline, you'd be wasting ink.

I'd like to think there was some symbiosis between Arqiva, the BBC and those responsible for the bit in between, and that the issue might be resolved amonghands. At the very least, there'd be some discussion between concerned parties.

[Martin G7MRV]

I had passed this on to my colleagues in radio on Tuesday

[paulsherwin]

If adopting the 'straight to the top' approach, the best person to contact might be the Controller of Radio 4, Gwyneth Williams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth_Williams She won't have a clue about it herself but may delegate a minion to look into it.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the complaint will just be dismissed - "only a few audiophiles / vintage radio nerds have complained", "it's AM broadcasting, what do you expect" etc.

[Junk Box Nick]

The problem has been fixed before so I'm sure it will be again. Thanks must also go to Martin for his help in this regard.

However, it is important to be vigilant and complain if necessary. If the quality of output is knowingly poor and no one complains then they will assume no one is listening. I still use LW on non-vintage gear. In the car FM can be patchy in the hilly terrain around here and in the house I have to be careful where I position the radios to get good FM reception.

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

"it's AM broadcasting, what do you expect" etc.

Perhaps to sound as good as RTE on 252?

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by Martin G7MRV

I had passed this on to my colleagues in radio on Tuesday

Out of interest, Martin, were you aware of any 'official' complaint? Or are your colleagues encouraged to monitor relevant fora (like here and 'Digital Spy') and act upon informal complaints (presumably after verification)?

[Hybrid tellies]

The problem has most certainly been fixed and its now a pleasure to listen to Radio 4 on 198 again.
I use 198, on my old and new receivers, because it is a much more robust signal than FM where I live and this applies to the car radio as well.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

Out of interest, Martin, were you aware of any 'official' complaint? Or are your colleagues encouraged to monitor relevant fora (like here and 'Digital Spy') and act upon informal complaints (presumably after verification)?

We should be careful about asking Martin about internal Arqiva procedures, as it's his day job and the most innocuous stuff can be considered 'commercially confidential' by the men in suits.

[Hartley118]

I agree - the problem seems to have been cleared. For the last couple of weeks, we've been staying in Glenridding, Ullswater, where FM & MW Reception are non- existent. I noticed the disturbing sibilance on Droitwich, but this morning it was much better.

I guess that quality monitoring of LW is a rather rare practice, probably confined to this forum!

Martin

[Martin G7MRV]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

We should be careful about asking Martin about internal Arqiva procedures, as it's his day job and the most innocuous stuff can be considered 'commercially confidential' by the men in suits.

I can only say really that I myself watch a number of web forums for any hint of problems. This is something I do under my own initiative, as sometimes a discussion of an odd occurrence can throw up a real issue long before it becomes severe enough to be detected electronically. A common example is lip sync - humans are far more effective at detecting issues! It also helps me understand the state of my part of the network when affected by factors such as tropo, which can cause complaints from viewers even though theres no actual fault.

In this case, my involvement was no further than mentioning it to the radio team. I know not if they had any other complaints, but I suspect not.

[PaulR]

Is it starting again? It seemed distinctly off during the PM programme yesterday afternoon and again this morning.

[raditechman]

I noticed this Saturday morning, thought my radio was off tune.

John

[Hybrid tellies]

I noticed this just before 6pm last night. It seemed to go bad after some bursts of lightning static. Checking on the lightning chart showed a cluster of lightning strikes over the West Midlands where the Droitwich site is. I wonder if anyone has reported this to our friends at Arqiva or should we do it. As the TMS's are coming up I think they would be interested.
It's interesting to note how different radios respond to this fault, some like my pocket radio the Roberts R984 really hate it and it sounds horrible whereas my old original Bush TR130 tries to make the best of it to make it sound sort of listenable.

[sexton_mallard]

Definitely a bit of sibilance going on at the moment according to my ears. I compared R4 LW to R4 via Freeview and a AM pantry transmitter on a Bush DAC90A and a Ferranti A1016. Once you notice it, it's hard to ignore.

[Andrew2]

Same here, it sounds sort of 'untidy'.

[PaulR]

And I was thinking yesterday morning how good it sounded.

[paulsherwin]

I honestly don't understand why Arqiva can't sort this out permanently. It must be a clearly understood problem by now given how many times it's occurred and been fixed.

My guess is the symptoms are caused by equipment which is at the interface of Arqiva's and another contractor's responsibilities, and nobody can agree who should fix it and how the fix should be paid for. It's a disgraceful state of affairs.

[PaulR]

Martin G7MRV has been helpful about this in the past.

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

*I get a really good radio 4 feed from my set top box!

** not much left on LW, remove the filter, HiFi (as was in the 30's 40's etc.) long wave again.