By us, in Hungary transmitter Solt (540kHz, 2000kW) has been renovated. Instead of the russian 2x1000kW transmitter, a new Nautel 5x400kW transmitter was built. The russian transmitter is spare. The new Nautel transmitter be able to broadcast in AM mode and in DRM mode to. :) This is a great pleasure for us and all lovers of AM radio. :)
It's always sad to me when a transmitter is decommissioned, it's like a part of history ending, a lifeline is cut... Great video, to take a record of it's last days!
The shutdown of AM stations here in northern Canada has really left a huge void. The FM stations that replaced them don't have half the coverage that the AM stations did. MW/LW has a huge advantage in terms of signal propagation compared to VHF (FM broadcast). Audio quality could be vastly improved and made comparable to FM by using digital audio broadcast technologies, but unfortunately this never caught on for whatever reason. Now... you can drive for many hours on the highway without any kind of radio signal whatsoever to listen to (not counting satellite radio of course, since that's a subscription service).
У нас в России радиовещание на коротких средних и длинных волнах ликвидировано полностью из за не рентабельности,а спутниковое автомобильное радио ,мечта не сбыточная
Because the AM broadcast era has come to a end in Norway. It`s only one operational AM transmitter left, the Ingoy longwave facility 153 kHz 100 kW northern Norway.
Recently visited Norway and no analogue radio apart from a very few FM that are on the way out. There must be vast areas of the country with out any service at all, I did not take a DAB set but can not see how the remote mountainous areas would have coverage. Dab performance here in Australia is hopeless and they don't promote it much any more as the internet is the way to go. AM is still big here and some of the highest rating stations are on AM with mainly talk format and such. Our stations on the lower part of the broadcast band can cover 500 miles in the day and thousands at night, so very good for the great outback that is mainly fairly flat so works well, although about a third of the land mass would have no daytime coverage on MW. The inland HF service was closed down in 2017 so some people are left with nothing and it was bit controversial but may be some hope it can be reinstated although some commercial stations have added an HF service to their coverage at around 5 megs. At least at night you can always get something on MW from Australia even if you have to listen through all the Asian stations if you are in the north. Did listen to 153 LW when up near North Cape and good it has been kept. In the rest of Norway listening at night it was only MW and LW from Europe and Gt Brittan that came through. Strange to go to a country where analogue radios are obsolete. Would be interested in any comments as to how well the DAB compares with AM and FM for coverage around Norway.
I suppose it's only to be expected in a country that is 5 years further into the future than the rest of us boobs where they've already all but done away with such relics as cash - money like you can hold in your hand! Be almost a surprise to see them retain something so easily affected by the elements as old - style 'coal - fired' radio! Not that my own, not - especially - futuristic country (in spite of all the tech - based multi~nationals), the Republic of Ireland has been too slack about tearing out the infrastructure of AM radio either, with one commercial, religious based station on the MW band, and a LW station carrying the National broadcaster's "official public service remit" programming (Religious services; important sports fixtures; election counts, etc), while defaulting to the mainstream programme. Intended primarily for the Irish expat community in British cities like London, Luton, Coventry, Manchester and Leeds, RTE, the state broadcaster, would dearly love to shut the service down to save a few Euros in juice, and consistently runs the transmitter underpowered - as little as 50 - 100KW at night, which is not only lacking sufficient power to easily penetrate the above markets in its own right, but means they are effectively _jammed_ by the other party on the wavelength, the Algiers Radio with their beefy signal designed to transcend not only the vast Sahara but also to reach far into the French interior, home to an enormous Algerian expat community. One might almost suspect RTE of acting in the manner of a public transport provider trying to divest itself of a tiresome "public service obligation" route by a process of attrition, cutting the service back in such a way that the regular passenger must find alternatives to a service which cannot get them to work or school on time, and the casual passengers is not prepared to take a chance on being left stranded on the side of the road in the lashing rain, late at night in the middle of nowhere. Then, of course, the transport company (radio station) can say, "It's costing us a fortune to run this service... Why, Look, there was this one particular bus where we carried a mere 6 fare - paying passengers (listeners...) You get the idea, I'm sure! To add insult to injury, I'm particularly sore at RTE for encouraging us all to invest in DAB radios, which I dutifully did... Only for them to pull their digital service. Their having been the sole digital provider, I am now left with a €70, solid - state *brick..!* Nice going guys, thanks a lot!
Thank you for sharing this. I am very saddened to see my favorite mode of communication going by the wayside like this. All due to the Internet. In my opinion, RF radio is still a great means of communications, especially in countries where the computer is still more of a novelty. AM and FM radio are still alive and well, at least for now, but shortwave radio is fast falling behind, as fast, it seems, as officialdom can topple their tall, steel forests. Radio has a great, rich history -- beginning with Heinrich Hertz' discovery of radio waves, to Nikola Tesla's early experiments with the transmission of electrical power in the 1890's, which led him to invent radio (no, it wasn't Marconi, who stole 17 of Tesla's patents! Although to be fair, Marconi did make some improvements). Next is Reginald Fessenden's first radio experiment in 1903, in which he managed to send Morse Code without wires; Fessenden also invented the heterodyne concept. This led to the first wireless stations a few years later, and eventually to the first commercial broadcast station of the 1920's, KDKA in Pittsburgh (I think it was Pittsburgh). Lee DeForest's Audion vacuum tube, an improvement on the Fleming Valve (which required Edwin Armstrong to explain to him!), led to the first plate-modulated vacuum-tube transmitters around 1930, based largely on Armstrong's invention of regeneration and an improvement of an original Fessenden idea, which Armstrong called super-heterodyning. These inventions made higher-power broadcasting possible, resulting in the 500-kW WLW-AM in Cincinnati in the mid-1930's. Soon after was Armstrong's invention of FM and the Doherty grid-modulation transmitter in the 1950's. Finally, there were the first completely solid-state transmitters in the 1970's, and the inductive output tube in the 1980's. Let's also not forget that Amateur Radio made many of those accomplishments possible. Now, however, we are on the cusp of what I consider to be both a leap forward and a step backward -- Internet radio. Already in my community I have seen/heard two radio stations go silent permanently and reestablish themselves solely on the Internet. There is now a shortage of trained broadcast engineers in the United States, according to Nautel. Harris Corp., one of the early leaders of solid-state broadcast transmitters, recently got out of the business to concentrate on two-way military communications. In the 1950's and 1960's, there were literally dozens of transmitter manufacturers. Today, only a handful remain worldwide. Even RCA and GE got out of it years ago. This seems to be, unfortunately, the future of high-power broadcasters. Radio broadcasting is one reason (among many) I became interested in Amateur Radio. I hope I never live to see the day when the last radio broadcast transmitter on Earth transmits for the last time. 😔 73 de NØJAA.
True words Erzahler.When the pirate stations in the North Sea were broadcasting back in the day there AM signals were strong and with great modulation.The few AM stations that are still on air in the UK must be set up by people who really don't know how to set up decent AM because there audio could be so much better. 73.Ian G7HFS.Eastbourne UK.
1, It was taken out of service due to air traffic security reasons. The site is next to Vigra airport, thats the official reason. 2, What happened to the old broadcast gear, I dont know but a group of people are trying to establish a radiomuseum in the old transmitter building. Maybe the gear is still there.
Necroposting, I expect, but -- Sounds like the old "...found to be interfering with emergency services and/or aviation communications" fallback. And yet the Vigra radio had presumably been operating for decades with no problems?!
+Lamba Struja: Nothing wrong with old school. FM has better sound quality, but it doesn't have AM's range, especially at night. That's the real fun in radio, DX'ing nighttime radio stations.
Copy cat idiots shut this facility down. I would have chosen to reequipped it with Nautel transmitters and kept the best technology for reaching the most people going. Today the Tecsun H-501x provides 9 KH bandwidth allowing for a crisp clean sound on AM Radio.
By us, in Hungary transmitter Solt (540kHz, 2000kW) has been renovated. Instead of the russian 2x1000kW transmitter, a new Nautel 5x400kW transmitter was built. The russian transmitter is spare. The new Nautel transmitter be able to broadcast in AM mode and in DRM mode to. :)
This is a great pleasure for us and all lovers of AM radio. :)
It's always sad to me when a transmitter is decommissioned, it's like a part of history ending, a lifeline is cut... Great video, to take a record of it's last days!
Sad that such a thing of beauty is no longer on the air,
The shutdown of AM stations here in northern Canada has really left a huge void. The FM stations that replaced them don't have half the coverage that the AM stations did.
MW/LW has a huge advantage in terms of signal propagation compared to VHF (FM broadcast). Audio quality could be vastly improved and made comparable to FM by using digital audio broadcast technologies, but unfortunately this never caught on for whatever reason.
Now... you can drive for many hours on the highway without any kind of radio signal whatsoever to listen to (not counting satellite radio of course, since that's a subscription service).
HD radio station requires HD receivers and not everyone wants it. Internet, satellite radio and I-pod type players killed AM.
Is it the government shutting AM stations down ?
And yet where I live, the FCC Nazis are going after Part 15 FMs. Real lawbreakers there.
Agreed. Now, 2022, all kinds of wide bandwidth equipment is available.
У нас в России радиовещание на коротких средних и длинных волнах ликвидировано полностью из за не рентабельности,а спутниковое автомобильное радио ,мечта не сбыточная
Because the AM broadcast era has come to a end in Norway. It`s only one operational AM transmitter left, the Ingoy longwave facility 153 kHz 100 kW northern Norway.
As these transmitters are put out of service , I can't help but to wounder if one day when all the internet goes up in smoke what we'll do .
1, why was it taken out of service?,
2, what happened to the old broadcast gear
European built transmitters are of the highest quality...
Recently visited Norway and no analogue radio apart from a very few FM that are on the way out. There must be vast areas of the country with out any service at all, I did not take a DAB set but can not see how the remote mountainous areas would have coverage. Dab performance here in Australia is hopeless and they don't promote it much any more as the internet is the way to go. AM is still big here and some of the highest rating stations are on AM with mainly talk format and such. Our stations on the lower part of the broadcast band can cover 500 miles in the day and thousands at night, so very good for the great outback that is mainly fairly flat so works well, although about a third of the land mass would have no daytime coverage on MW. The inland HF service was closed down in 2017 so some people are left with nothing and it was bit controversial but may be some hope it can be reinstated although some commercial stations have added an HF service to their coverage at around 5 megs. At least at night you can always get something on MW from Australia even if you have to listen through all the Asian stations if you are in the north. Did listen to 153 LW when up near North Cape and good it has been kept. In the rest of Norway listening at night it was only MW and LW from Europe and Gt Brittan that came through. Strange to go to a country where analogue radios are obsolete.
Would be interested in any comments as to how well the DAB compares with AM and FM for coverage around Norway.
I suppose it's only to be expected in a country that is 5 years further into the future than the rest of us boobs where they've already all but done away with such relics as cash - money like you can hold in your hand! Be almost a surprise to see them retain something so easily affected by the elements as old - style 'coal - fired' radio! Not that my own, not - especially - futuristic country (in spite of all the tech - based multi~nationals), the Republic of Ireland has been too slack about tearing out the infrastructure of AM radio either, with one commercial, religious based station on the MW band, and a LW station carrying the National broadcaster's "official public service remit" programming (Religious services; important sports fixtures; election counts, etc), while defaulting to the mainstream programme. Intended primarily for the Irish expat community in British cities like London, Luton, Coventry, Manchester and Leeds, RTE, the state broadcaster, would dearly love to shut the service down to save a few Euros in juice, and consistently runs the transmitter underpowered - as little as 50 - 100KW at night, which is not only lacking sufficient power to easily penetrate the above markets in its own right, but means they are effectively _jammed_ by the other party on the wavelength, the Algiers Radio with their beefy signal designed to transcend not only the vast Sahara but also to reach far into the French interior, home to an enormous Algerian expat community. One might almost suspect RTE of acting in the manner of a public transport provider trying to divest itself of a tiresome "public service obligation" route by a process of attrition, cutting the service back in such a way that the regular passenger must find alternatives to a service which cannot get them to work or school on time, and the casual passengers is not prepared to take a chance on being left stranded on the side of the road in the lashing rain, late at night in the middle of nowhere. Then, of course, the transport company (radio station) can say, "It's costing us a fortune to run this service... Why, Look, there was this one particular bus where we carried a mere 6 fare - paying passengers (listeners...) You get the idea, I'm sure!
To add insult to injury, I'm particularly sore at RTE for encouraging us all to invest in DAB radios, which I dutifully did... Only for them to pull their digital service. Their having been the sole digital provider, I am now left with a €70, solid - state *brick..!* Nice going guys, thanks a lot!
Thank you for sharing this. I am very saddened to see my favorite mode of communication going by the wayside like this. All due to the Internet. In my opinion, RF radio is still a great means of communications, especially in countries where the computer is still more of a novelty. AM and FM radio are still alive and well, at least for now, but shortwave radio is fast falling behind, as fast, it seems, as officialdom can topple their tall, steel forests.
Radio has a great, rich history -- beginning with Heinrich Hertz' discovery of radio waves, to Nikola Tesla's early experiments with the transmission of electrical power in the 1890's, which led him to invent radio (no, it wasn't Marconi, who stole 17 of Tesla's patents! Although to be fair, Marconi did make some improvements). Next is Reginald Fessenden's first radio experiment in 1903, in which he managed to send Morse Code without wires; Fessenden also invented the heterodyne concept. This led to the first wireless stations a few years later, and eventually to the first commercial broadcast station of the 1920's, KDKA in Pittsburgh (I think it was Pittsburgh). Lee DeForest's Audion vacuum tube, an improvement on the Fleming Valve (which required Edwin Armstrong to explain to him!), led to the first plate-modulated vacuum-tube transmitters around 1930, based largely on Armstrong's invention of regeneration and an improvement of an original Fessenden idea, which Armstrong called super-heterodyning. These inventions made higher-power broadcasting possible, resulting in the 500-kW WLW-AM in Cincinnati in the mid-1930's. Soon after was Armstrong's invention of FM and the Doherty grid-modulation transmitter in the 1950's. Finally, there were the first completely solid-state transmitters in the 1970's, and the inductive output tube in the 1980's. Let's also not forget that Amateur Radio made many of those accomplishments possible.
Now, however, we are on the cusp of what I consider to be both a leap forward and a step backward -- Internet radio. Already in my community I have seen/heard two radio stations go silent permanently and reestablish themselves solely on the Internet. There is now a shortage of trained broadcast engineers in the United States, according to Nautel. Harris Corp., one of the early leaders of solid-state broadcast transmitters, recently got out of the business to concentrate on two-way military communications. In the 1950's and 1960's, there were literally dozens of transmitter manufacturers. Today, only a handful remain worldwide. Even RCA and GE got out of it years ago.
This seems to be, unfortunately, the future of high-power broadcasters. Radio broadcasting is one reason (among many) I became interested in Amateur Radio. I hope I never live to see the day when the last radio broadcast transmitter on Earth transmits for the last time. 😔
73 de NØJAA.
True words Erzahler.When the pirate stations in the North Sea were broadcasting back in the day there AM signals were strong and with great modulation.The few AM stations that are still on air in the UK must be set up by people who really don't know how to set up decent AM because there audio could be so much better.
73.Ian G7HFS.Eastbourne UK.
Was the equipment sold/salvaged for reuse or destroyed?
1, It was taken out of service due to air traffic security reasons. The site is next to Vigra airport, thats the official reason.
2, What happened to the old broadcast gear, I dont know but a group of people are trying to establish a radiomuseum in the old transmitter building. Maybe the gear is still there.
+emiversen: Any update on the museum? Was the old broadcast gear ever found?
Necroposting, I expect, but -- Sounds like the old "...found to be interfering with emergency services and/or aviation communications" fallback. And yet the Vigra radio had presumably been operating for decades with no problems?!
The story of AM radios is so sad. There is only one in macedonia 810Khz 1200kW (but works with 1/3 from the power).
Yes , AM is Old-school. And it has bad sound quality too. Why bad , if it can be good ? :) :D
Thank you for informations Rafael.
+Lamba Struja: Nothing wrong with old school. FM has better sound quality, but it doesn't have AM's range, especially at night. That's the real fun in radio, DX'ing nighttime radio stations.
Thank You
It is sad to see the end of AM radio.
I like it! Very nice!
C - Loaded transmitter tower
Better if they build a 120m Tower to send the am
I love radio !!
to smal for 100kw antenna and transmitter
Eric Clapton, my fathers eyes
Muito legal rádio am
Copy cat idiots shut this facility down. I would have chosen to reequipped it with Nautel transmitters and kept the best technology for reaching the most people going. Today the Tecsun H-501x provides 9 KH bandwidth allowing for a crisp clean sound on AM Radio.