# BBC World Service



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

On the local news tonight were pictures of the demolishing of the BBC World Service transmitter towers at Rampisham Down in Dorset. Interestingly a few of the locals were saying they would miss seeing them on the skyline.

Although primarily focussed on Europe, world wide coverage was also available from that site. 

Another piece of broadcasting history fading away into the ether.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampisham_Down


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

One of the towers will be left in place - as a nesting platform for peregrine falcons. 

I hope that someone asked the falcon family which one they preferred to use.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Mad Landsman said:


> One of the towers will be left in place - as a nesting platform for peregrine falcons.
> 
> I hope that someone asked the falcon family which one they preferred to use.



Ahhh they didn't mention that on the news programme (which seems a pretty glaring error to me.) I suspect the birds will make the best of a bad job.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Sad. They need to bring back the original news theme...


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

This one?


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Complete with fading.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

So this is where that wiz and crackle came from in the early 1940's when my dad tuned into the nine o'clock news.
Those pips, then This is London calling, here is the news read by--
One of my strongest childhood memories is of my dad crouched down in from of our Patterson mulitiband console radio with its eight inch speaker as the flaring and fading words came through. It was more than your life's worth to make a noise while this ritual was in progresss.

Bob


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Mad Landsman said:


> This one?
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SISjSXsb1xU


Looked like the soldiers were marching with a white ensign - would they have done that or is it just one of the many furphies to be expected in a film like that?

John T


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

#7 - The good old 'Luxembourg effect'. 

#9 - Yep, I spotted that and wondered who would be the first to comment. 
The Ensign is the pre-1800 version, of course, but the St George cross is maybe a little too broad. It would probably have been carried by His Majesty's Marine Forces at Bunker Hill.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

It that's Barry Lyndon I doubt any of that is set anywhere near North America from what I remember of Thackery's novel.


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

It is from Barry Lyndon.


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Our new bedside clock "radio" has no rf circuitry at all, apart from wi-fi, you just configure preset stations off the internet. I can hear Radio Caroline any time of day or night crystal clear, better than I ever heard them in the UK on AM, and I'm the other side of the planet.
I do however fondly remember my old HAC regenerative receiver with the plug-in Denco coils, SG-Brown headphones and the delicate touch it required to tune in and copy that weak station between Radio Tirana and the BBC, hearing it squawking in and out of oscillation as the station faded in and out and it is a shame that future generations won't get to experience using such simple equipment to achieve such satisfactory results again.
We have an internet streamer on the main hi-fi too but at least there we have a turntable as well as push-pull EL34s driving the loudspeakers, and that kind of gear will thankfully still be around for a very long time = Adrian +


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

The BBC relay station in Singapore is still going. It is very impressive to drive past and have a look. The operation has been contracted out to another company so all the Brits have gone. You were once able to call them up and make an appointment to view the transmitter halls. Alas not possible any more.
But at least the site is still functioning. 

http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.sg/2015/06/bbc-far-eastern-relay-station-return-to.html


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Came across a BBC world service radio station recently in Shropshire. Wooferton, which I believe is the last of the type. Plenty of aerials and a lot of sat dishes as well. Info on the web.

Neville


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Looked at Wooferton on Google Earth and Wikipedia. (Great name for a radio station ..  .. although I think it's spelt Woofferton.)

Apparently it's the last SW broadcasting station in the UK !! (How sad is that?)

Twenty or so miles to the East is Droitwich, whose name graced many a commercial receiver dial back in the day. Those masts are still there, a landmark for M5 drivers.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

BobClay said:


> It that's Barry Lyndon I doubt any of that is set anywhere near North America from what I remember of Thackery's novel.


I was taking my cue from R651400 - That's my excuse anyway.

I was trying to think of the only possible justification for the carrying of that flag. It does not work. 

In the novel he does take part in the American War of Independence but not as part of His Majesty's Marine Forces. 

According to imdb the film also makes a mess of the Prussian flags. 

I wish I hadn't bothered now.....(Sad)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Well I read that book while at school studying for O levels, (so over 50 years ago) and I don't remember him serving in the army in North America, although the War of Independence may have been mentioned in his dealings with family in laws (which is mostly what the book is about.)

I never saw the film because although a Kubrick fan, I wasn't that impressed with the book, so the film didn't have much appeal.

Should watch it I know, some think it has cult status now, but that just might be Kubrick's name on it.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

BobClay said:


> Twenty or so miles to the East is Droitwich, whose name graced many a commercial receiver dial back in the day. Those masts are still there, a landmark for M5 drivers.


Still thundering out on 198!

Rare to get a hire car with LF rx in the UK, but when you do it is great to listen to, complete with noise, etc.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Many years ago after I had left the MN, I was working for REME and one afternoon I heard the strains of Lillibulero. Took me back to the pre news tune.


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## Dickyboy (May 18, 2009)

This is the temporary replacement for Big Ben, which is going silent for around four years, except on special occasions......


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

sparks69 said:


> Many years ago after I had left the MN, I was working for REME and one afternoon I heard the strains of Lillibulero. Took me back to the pre news tune.


That _Lillibulero_ was one of the many anthems/party songs of the Orange 
marchers in Northern Ireland, renamed by them as _The Protestant Boys_, it was and is offensive to many Roman Catholics.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Pat Kennedy said:


> That _Lillibulero_ was one of the many anthems/party songs of the Orange
> marchers in Northern Ireland, renamed by them as _The Protestant Boys_, it was and is offensive to many Roman Catholics.



Can't blame the music for that Pat, only those who hi-jack it for their own purposes. 

I often think of for example the swastika, which is an ancient symbol from long ago with no particular evil intent. Yet, it is offensive to many the world over these days, me included. But it is the people we associate with it who were the true evil.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

BobClay said:


> Can't blame the music for that Pat, only those who hi-jack it for their own purposes.
> 
> I often think of for example the swastika, which is an ancient symbol from long ago with no particular evil intent. Yet, it is offensive to many the world over these days, me included. But it is the people we associate with it who were the true evil.


No, I didn't blame the music, just pointed out the fact.(Pint)


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## twogrumpy (Apr 23, 2007)

5TT said:


> I do however fondly remember my old HAC regenerative receiver with the plug-in Denco coils, SG-Brown headphones and the delicate touch it required to tune in and copy that weak station between Radio Tirana and the BBC, hearing it squawking in and out of oscillation as the station faded in and out and it is a shame that future generations won't get to experience using such simple equipment to achieve such satisfactory results again.
> +


Been there, started with assorted crystal sets then a 1 valve regen receiver, with the if I remember correctly color coded Denco coils, and a cigar box sized Ever Ready battery providing the HT & LT.
Going down to the local radio shop in Gillingham to buy my OC71 transistor, in a very early Radiospares box.
Then one Sunday morning switching on the set to be blasted with pop music spreading all over the bands, the first day of Radio Caroline, just off the coast from us where we lived in Kent.

There is this, 



 extended version of the Radio Newsreel theme.


Loads of ex government kit on the market, mainly left over from the war, and the big find in a Gosport scrapyard by a friend, boxes of brand new RACAL receivers.
Ended up with a Marconi CR100/B28 liberated from Ascension Island.


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## Samsette (Sep 3, 2005)

Thanks for that, 2grumpy! Rousing sort of music, very uplifting.

As a young lad I would hear Lillibulero played on a BBC program, followed by the announcement "Into Battle, the Fighting Spirit of Britain."

P.S. Marche Lorraine is another fine piece of music.(Thumb)


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

As the 'older' technologies are gradually being replaced the replacements are far from simple and sometime totally lack any discrete components. 
It is being said that sometime in the not too distant future all AM public broadcasting will be discontinued. FM and digital are the future. 
Television has already changed over and huge numbers of perfectly good receivers became obsolete - I still use an STB on one receiver with which I was mightily miffed when the future-proof digital set turned out to have the 'wrong' technology which was not supported by the current standard. 
As mentioned, many of us (probably all if you are on this particular forum) built, and often experimented with, crystal sets. I could still throw one together but the next generations have absolutely no interest in such things. If AM 'disappears' they wont be much good anyway. 
All very sad...


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

And even what we think of as modern technology has its equivalent _'sell by'_ date. Getting on for two decades ago I purchased a Winradio Card. HF right through, fully synthesised that plugs into a slot on your computer motherboard and utilises the computers sound card for the AF part of the receiver, and software for the radio receiver interface.

Variable software, that could give you a modern looking comms receiver on the screen, or a radio not unlike the one above, (with a sneaky little digital counter lurking in the corner.) 

In fact you could code up your own radio on the screen, and make it look like anything you want. From a crude one valver with a big condenser and a paper dial to a Redifussion single knob box if you wanted. That coding facility came with the card. (EEK)

Sounds the bees knees doesn't it ? .. but the card plugged into a motherboard ISA slot, which has long been replaced by PCI slots. So in order to used it I have to fire up a 550 Mhz Pentium computer with Windows 98 on it (I've just managed to upgrade it slightly to Windows 2000 but that's as far as it will go if I want the card/software to work.)

Works perfectly fine, but would be considered a joke by current sub-teenage computer geeks. [=P]


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

AM radio won't go for a while yet - especially in Australia - we have big distances to cover.

It is a pity that DRM hasn't taken off properly...it works really well. FM (almost) quality on AM...


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## Wismajorvik (Dec 29, 2011)

Mad Landsman said:


> #7 - The good old 'Luxembourg effect'.
> 
> #9 - Yep, I spotted that and wondered who would be the first to comment.
> The Ensign is the pre-1800 version, of course, but the St George cross is maybe a little too broad. It would probably have been carried by His Majesty's Marine Forces at Bunker Hill.


Fading and selective fading is not the "Luxembourg Effect" rather intermodulation between two carriers.Recollect being corrected at college over this.


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## twogrumpy (Apr 23, 2007)

With regards to repairing stuff, while as has been said much today is unrepairable, for that that is, and for those with the ability the internet is your friend.
No doubt like many I have obtained parts from e-bay that I would not have considered searching the backstreets of Portsmouth for, the radio shops that lasted into the 70's are long gone.
Even the infamous Denco coil is available, along with the OC71 transistor and OA70 diode.

The two causes of the "Luxembourg Effect" I was given were that variations in the ionosphere level caused the skip distance to vary causing the fade in and out. The other option was that we received the ground wave and the sky wave, if they arrived in sync we got our music, out of sync nothing.
Anyway, Caroline was better.


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Wismajorvik said:


> Fading and selective fading is not the "Luxembourg Effect" rather intermodulation between two carriers.Recollect being corrected at college over this.


Apparently this "effect" was noticed when superheterodyne receivers were introduced to the radiocommunications world. TRF receivers did not suffer from it. These were the words of Andrew Bogie, Principal Lecturer at Leith Nautical College when I was there in 1960.


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## Wismajorvik (Dec 29, 2011)

King Ratt said:


> Apparently this "effect" was noticed when superheterodyne receivers were introduced to the radiocommunications world. TRF receivers did not suffer from it. These were the words of Andrew Bogie, Principal Lecturer at Leith Nautical College when I was there in 1960.


Digging out my copy of "Handbook of Wireless Telegraphy", 1938 describes the original observation that radio Luxembourg on 230Kz was received in England with a background of radio Paris on 182Khz.
The effect was when the two transmitters and the receiver were on the same great circle bearing and the interfering station was geographically between the receiver and the wanted station. It was shown that a powerful LF station could effect the ionosphere in such a way that any other waves reflected from the affected region would acquire a modulation from the unwanted station.
Not associated with "second channel" interference of superhets or 208metres.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

Wismajorvik said:


> Fading and selective fading is not the "Luxembourg Effect" rather intermodulation between two carriers.Recollect being corrected at college over this.


Thanks for the correction (after so many yeas in mistaken belief), apparently I am not the only one to make the mistake.
Sounds similar though. 

I didn't go to college (Sad)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Mad Landsman said:


> Thanks for the correction (after so many yeas in mistaken belief), apparently I am not the only one to make the mistake.
> Sounds similar though.
> 
> I didn't go to college (Sad)



That's because you spent too much time under pulled up bedcovers listening to Radio Luxembourg on one of these ..... B\)


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

BobClay said:


> That's because you spent too much time under pulled up bedcovers listening to Radio Luxembourg on one of these ..... B\)


Gosh, spot on! - using a little in-ear earphone plugged in the back. 

I might still have it tucked away somewhere - caps have probably dried by now. 
But, I still have the service sheet for it, also filed away somewhere, so all is not lost.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Couldn't resist this ..... 

https://youtu.be/RO5zZ9eT6NQ


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