I think the 1134 Khz "Voice Of Croatia" transmitter at Zadar may have been damaged during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
It certainly wasn't as strong in Dubrovnik after the wars as it was before.

looks like Zeewolde 1008 kHz may be closed soon.
http://radio.nl/810899/middengolfzen...elijk-gesloopt

Radio 538 will be closing the transmitter in Limburg on 891 which was on the air due to lack of FM coverage in the area., They now have coverage there using DAB+, the internet and cable. Expected to close within a month.

Full item see 4/08/16 here

http://mediumwave.info/news.html

The situation with the 1296 Orford Nesss frequency, and whether it was still available for use by broadcasters and on what licence, has been unclear for some time. The 648 licence was handed back but there were tests in 2013 from KBC on the frequency.

Dave Kenny and Alan Pennington of the British DX Club visited Orford Ness last month and there's a 3 page report in the latest issue of the clubs magazine Communication.

The path towards the transmitter site when they visited was closed due to construction work but they could see the aerials were still standing. However the transmitter building has been sold by Babcock to a company called Cobra Mist Limited set up in June 2015, nature of business "other telecommunications activities".

They did meet one of the companys directors who told them that prior to selling the site Babcock removed all the transmitting equipment. He's quoted in a local paper article saying there has been interest from a broadband operator and a mobile phone company.

Is Rte LW 252 still planned to be closed in the New Year?

Or do people think another reprieve will be forthcoming?

Sad to hear about Orfordness.
And from a recent tip on the M4 looks like the Bristol AM masts are down.

RTE are saying they will not pay for 252 and only a grant from the Irish Government will save it. Which looks unlikly.

As the Magotsfield site is a few miles up the ring road from where I live I will go and take a look to confirm if both masts are now down. They were still standing when Iast saw them at the end of July.
On a happier note,according to the BBC website, work has started today at the Start Point R5L 693 AM site. The work involves replacing the mast that they had to collapse in February and do some essential maintenance work on the other mast. The work should take until November 18th, weather depending. Until Then a temporary and lower powered service, on 693, will be provided from West Prawle a few miles away.

Sadly you are correct, I drove past the site on the Ring Road and my two masts of hope have been taken down.

I find it amazing they are replacing the fallen mast at Start Point for R5 Live,i thought it would have carried on with just a single mast until AM switch off.

The analogue switchoff date has not been set.
http://www.a516digital.com/2016/09/strong-international-growth-for-dab-as.html
"The industry expects the 50% target on digital listening will have been triggered by late 2017 (it's already at 45%)"
Might be in 2017 or more likely 2018 before a date is set with a shutdown after 2020. So Arqiva have to support R5 live's AM service for at least another 4 years (there is no FM service unless R1 goes digital only early, unlikely!) and they might have insurance to rebuild broken masts?

The Local radio AM services might still be shut earlier. Bristol has now gone, but no date for other stations.

Can see Talksport staying on AM as long as it can. Can't be long before Absolute and Gold closes their AM networks as most of their listeners have gone digital? Not sure whats stopping them?

Maybe they've got a contract with the transmission provider until a certain date, so might as well carry on with AM until they expire?

Summary of Arqiva's analogue maintenance contract with the BBC.

https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Sea...x?ID=AUG005757

By elimination of the 'non-core' requirements:

"...Lot 2A: the provision of BBC Local Radio AM services from a defined and existing network of not more than 47 transmitting stations covering the whole of England and the Channel Islands.

Lot 2B: the provision of BBC Radio 4 Longwave on 198 kHz, from three existing transmission sites, at Droitwich (Midlands), Westerglen (Central Scotland), and Burghead (North Scotland).

Lot 2C: the provision of BBC Radio 4 AM from a defined and existing network of not more than 9 transmitting stations covering primarily Northern Ireland, the south-west of England, London, Cumbria, and the north-east of England..."

from the 'core' requirements of lot 2

"...acquisition and operation of National and Regional AM transmission;..."

that would make Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Radio Ulster/Foyle and Radio 5 Live "core", i.e. not going anywhere any time soon?

Interesting the option reserved vastly to increase the Phase 4 BBC National Mux TXs from the current 190-odd to 600:

"...Lot 4A: an option to increase the number of transmitting stations deployed and operated under this lot to up to 600..."

Deleted

It's only a summary, looks as if details of VHF FM and DAB might have been edited out. There will be a lot more to the contract than that - the system of penalties is very complex to name just one aspect.

I would like to know if the electricity bill for a transmitter is paid by the user,the transmission provider or included in the contract?

Interesting for lots 1 and 2 back in 2013
"the continued transmission of analogue radio services for up to 7 (seven) years to 2020"
Whereas lots 3 and 4 DAB was for 17 years.
Means the local radio AM transmitters can be switched of anytime without penalty.

So if there was also a full analogue switch off back in 2015 there would be no penalty, 50% digital listening could be reached at the end of 2017 which could mean analogue switch off in 2019 so sites which have had damage like Startpoint have to be repaired so they can last for at least 3 more years.
Its possible any analogue switchoff might be after 2021 so there must be provision to extend contracts for lots 1 and 2?

Sites can have many users and transmission providers (eg broadcast, private mobile and public phone mobile). So probably best the to have one managing company who will have one electric bill and seperate meters for each user so they can be billed individually?

Again depends on the contracts, site-sharers tend to have their own metering if they have their room or cabin but if in a common area then the charge will include power which will not vary much.

Remote metering is quite common.

How much to run the Droitwich 198LW transmitter for one year?

Back of a fag packet - the electricity alone will be 600 (output in kW) X 5 x 8760 (hours in year) x 8p = 2,100,000 GBP.

(assuming 20% efficiency)

It might be more efficient than that, they may have a better deal on electricity. Theyĺl also have communications link costs, éngineering costs and site maintenance and security costs.

(My numbers seem high - perhaps someone else can explain if I´ve gone wrong!)

I believe since the mid 80s the efficiency has been about 70%, so your figure would be £600,000. I have no idea whether they have a better deal on electricity.

Edit: found a link;
http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/tr...ch_calling.htm
By late 1985 the new long-wave installation was complete and testing was taking place. The two transmitters, type B6042 and again manufactured by the Marconi Company, were each rated at 250 kilowatts output and used a new method of modulation called the "Pulsam" system. This was a new application of Pulse Width Modulation (P.W.M.). So efficient was this new system that a figure of 70% overall was claimed, 10% better than even the B6034s. The two large valves in each transmitter used a form of cooling known as vapour cooling. Water flowing into the valve anode jacket (known as the boiler) is vaporised by the heat dissipated, fed to a cooler and condenser and re-circulated, the waste heat being removed by an air blast radiator. Only a few gallons of water (purified) are needed compared with the 7500 gallons required by 5XX! Consequently a water leak, although undesirable, is not as catastrophic as in the old transmitter. The two transmitters were arranged to work in parallel with an output of 500 kilowatts using a diplexer combining circuit and automatic switching to reduce breakdown time in the event of a failure of one unit. By the end of 1986 the new long-wave transmitters were in use for Radio 4, still providing a frequency standard using the rubidium drive, and continuing the RDS service. On February 1st 1988, the carrier frequency of Radio 4 was changed from 200 khz to 198 khz. This was the final requirement of the Geneva Plan its deferment until this date was part of the plan. The change was so small (1%) that it was unnoticeable on most receivers but it brought Radio 4 into its new allocated channel.

£600,000 is amazing value to cover pretty much the whole country imo. Especially when you consider it's probably the same amount as a couple of reasonably big names on BBC TV.

Whereas transmitter efficency is 70% the AM system also adds some ineffeciency in that a carrier and 2 sidebands are transmitted. The 2 sidebands are duplicated so the AM efficency is 30%, so the overall efficency is about 20%.
See http://www.radio-electronics.com/inf...efficiency.php
So MFR is correct and the annual electric bill will be about £2 million a year.
With the other sites and other costs the published BBC accounts show the total distribution costs for R4 LW (and MW) as being about £4m a year.
FM being £3.5m a year.
Digital being £1.5m a year.
See https://www.gov.uk/government/public...s-2013-to-2014

The transmitter output is 500kW, that includes both sidebands and the carrier, so the transmitter efficiency (70%) is the important figure here. The fact that AM itself is only 30% efficient in that you could have transmitted the same information using only one sideband and no carrier is irrelevant to the calculation of power consumption because you didn't do that, you transmitted both sidebands and the carrier.

Don't forget that there are three transmitters to supposedly cover the whole country along with a few Medium Wave ones.

It appears to be used by very few people now, I have not listened on Long Wave for years and don't know anyone who does though reception here is very poor anyway.