RTS signal ceasing

brianposter

Could someone explain why we are expecting to spend something like £100 million just to avoid sending out a very minor radio signal ?

mmmmikey

We're not.

Rodders53

brianposter said:

 just to avoid sending out a very minor radio signal ?

The transmitter and equipment to send the "very minor radio signal" is life expired and costly to run (in electricity consumption)...  It'll break soon then no more signal.  It's been known to be near its end of life for some 20 years, in fact as I recall the warnings of lack of spare transmitting valves when I was working.

The replacement (smart meters) will be able to do all that the old signal does presently (and better in all probability).

tacpot12

Plus Smart Meters stand a better chance of reducing consumption because they display the cost of the energy being used. This saving in consumption is likely to pay for the cost of having the Smart Meter fitted. 

Qyburn

In 2011 it was reported that the transmitter relies on two valves, no long made or ever likely to be made. It was believed that only 10 such valves existed in the whole world at that time.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/09/bbc-radio4-long-wave-goodbye

Ectophile

Minor?  That thing has to be powerful enough to broadcast across the whole country!

And it's obsolete.  They don't makes the valves for it any more.  The BBC has a stockpile, but when those blow, the transmitter is dead.  They want to turn it off in an orderly fashion before that happens.

The BBC is fed up with the thing.  It was supposed to have been switched off years ago.

brianposter

Presumably it is a very high powered signal for a few seconds so it does not use that much electricity. Given that they are apparently proposing to shut down a lot of BBC broadcasting it seems surprising that they cannot repurpose some existing equipment.

matt_drummer

brianposter said:

Presumably it is a very high powered signal for a few seconds so it does not use that much electricity. Given that they are apparently proposing to shut down a lot of BBC broadcasting it seems surprising that they cannot repurpose some existing equipment.

To what end?

Just so people can continue using outdated equipment?

It's not necessary, the world has moved on.

QrizB

brianposter said:

Presumably it is a very high powered signal for a few seconds so it does not use that much electricity. Given that they are apparently proposing to shut down a lot of BBC broadcasting it seems surprising that they cannot repurpose some existing equipment.

The UK ony has one national Long Wave broadcast transmitter, at Droitwich. It puts out 500 kilowatts of Radio 4.

That's the one they're going to switch off.

Qyburn

brianposter said:

Presumably it is a very high powered signal for a few seconds so it does not use that much electricity. Given that they are apparently proposing to shut down a lot of BBC broadcasting it seems surprising that they cannot repurpose some existing equipment.

How long do you think it takes to start up a 500kW valve powered radio transmitter? And what sort of other equipment do you think they might have lying around that would do the job in its place.

QrizB

Qyburn said:

brianposter said:

Presumably it is a very high powered signal for a few seconds so it does not use that much electricity. Given that they are apparently proposing to shut down a lot of BBC broadcasting it seems surprising that they cannot repurpose some existing equipment.

How long do you think it takes to start up a 500kW valve powered radio transmitter? And what sort of other equipment do you think they might have lying around that would do the job in its place.

And how lokg do you think it'll last if you're turning it on and off every day? I haven't done any valve work in ages, but I'm ptretty sure they don't like thermal cycles.