This Saturday 27th June at 01:00 BST, the BBC Radio 4 Longwave service will shut down.
The iconic Droitwich, Westerglen & Burghead transmitters will fall silent after nearly a century, closing a chapter in RF history.
Read more:https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/work-warning/news/radio4lw
I hope the government won’t start arresting people for owning shortwave and longwave receivers in suspect of spying. The government’s sudden push to get rid of these stations and the requirement of selfie verification for accessing certain websites makes me feel like this is a preparation for mass surveillance and police state.
The UK is rapidly becoming just like their American “cousins” controlled, dumb and full of hate against anyone and anything not British… Is appalling how in a short number of years the American “think tanks” started manipulating the Brits into copying their racism and hate, it all started with Brexit that was their manoeuvre to destabilise the EU and continued from that into arriving at the present situation when the extreme-right is gaining power… We are living in the Age of monsters now…!
Sorry for my political comment that is completely off-topic but is how I see it from afar…
I agree with you. They will be using this anti-immigrant sentiment to turn the country into a prison. Because the only realistic way to get rid of all immigrants is through a police state. Unfortunately, a lot of people are begging for it.
What is quite stupid is that in reality all European countries need immigrants and will be doomed without them, but the far-right mantra resonates with loads of dumb people simply because they felt on the US racist anti-migrants propaganda the extreme-right used as a dog-whistle blaming migrants for all of the problems… Is NAZI Germany 30’s all over again and more than 80 years latter these “informed” generations have eat it without thinking simply because populism is more accessible than critical thinking, even in my country that had a revolution to kick out a fascist government young people support the extreme right party ideology and repeat the exact same stuff they see on social media… Stupidity is the problem and the oligarchy knows it and use it…!
I’m pretty sure under far-right’s rule, there will be even more immigrants. Because they love cheap labors. Never seen them talking about increasing minimum wage. I think their main goal is mass surveillance and control over the people. I heard Palantir and other data harvesting tech companies are behind this mess.
Does anyone know what is to become of the antennas and the transmitting equipment?
Probably it’s going for scrap… Like other transmitters that where closed in the UK…
But was interesting if they turn the site into a museum… The old story of BBC on LW really deserve it…! There is probably some petition for that to happen but I haven’t search for it…
I would like to propose a “listening party” during the next Saturday the 27th of June on the BBC LW Frequency and to send receiving QSL’s to the BBC, it might make them think about their huge mistake they are doing if they suddenly start receiving loads of SWL listeners QSL’s cards confirming the date and telling them that it would be missed…!
Just an idea but I think is not a bad one… 
Humm…so the entire USA is dumb and hateful? May I suggest that being able to compartmentalize parts of life into different pursuits is a healthy and mature way to live. Can’t we all enjoy SWL without politics? Can musicians on the left and right join a band to make music, etc., etc., or do you only want to define people by what politicians they support?
I’ve never had any luck picking up #longwave transmissions in North America with my Tecsun PL-330. Maybe I need a special external loop antenna to pull those in.
You are not the only one… In my position I only get BBC on LW on very rare occasions… Having a loop antenna also helps a lot but I don’t have one still, It is one of my next projects…
Don’t know if you have noticed but the American people was never mentioned in this off-topic “discussion” the issue was about the end of BBC LW transmissions… It seems that was you that made a connection that didn’t existed and it’s probably right according to the latest years of all the American chaos being the news point every day…
It’s hard to completely separate politics from shortwave radio. However, we need to be respectful of other groups when making political comments. I don’t think American conservatives are dumb and hateful; in fact, I personally agree with them on many things. Unfortunately, social media algorithms and rage-bait content on those platforms amplify people’s opinions about everything. I think SWL is a great hobby to escape that space. We don’t need the media to tell us what to hate and how to think, while putting people into different boxes like right, left, MAGA, or woke.
Totally agree it can be confusing at times
