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Old 1st Mar 2020, 8:44 pm   #17
Ian - G4JQT
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Reading/Fakenham, UK.
Posts: 1,320
Default Re: Some BBC local radio MW Tx closures

It might be interesting to know what percentage of vintage radio enthusiasts are not technical, just using them to listen to what ever stations are left, and what percentage restore them to listen to what's left, but also use them to tune in to some home built or bought 'pantry' or low power home transmitter.

There will be a proportion of non-technical collectors who listen to R4, 5Live, Classic Gold, etc. but how many of those bother with the faff of rebroadcasting from FM, DAB, or the internet to continue to enjoy their old sets? Will the owners of those sets put them on a shelf until they get thrown out? The value of vintage radios has fallen as, sadly, collectors die off, collections become available, but many of us remaining collectors already have what we want. Presumably their value will fall even more sharply once there's nothing to listen to.

Will the hobby shrink to the remaining few of us who can be bothered to build or operate a pantry transmitter? How will this affect the BVWS? What has happened in other countries where AM broadcasting has already ceased?

How much did the closure of 405-line TV rip the guts out of vintage TV collecting? That's maybe not quite the same since standards converters are much more expansive than a little MW transmitter, and were unobtainable until the 90s. Maybe interest in vintage TV was minimal prior to the system closing.

Anyway, does our hobby have a 'Plan B'?
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