End of Teletext Service in Ireland

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The Irish broadcaster RT is to turn off its teletext service which has been live in some form continuously since 1986.

In an internet-connected world it seems quaint that a limited set of curated pages could once have been such a big deal, but it's easy to forget that for many the teletext system provided their first ever taste of online information.

As it shuffles away almost unnoticed we won't miss counting through the page numbers cycling by in the top corner as we waited for our page to load, but its worth marking its final passing from one of the few places it could still be found, Ireland.

Saved by 2 Metres

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Saved by 2 Metres

Think twice before leaving that HT home! So many of us have mobile phones in our cars or even have an overhead button (in newer cars) that will summon help in case of an accident or if the vehicle gets disabled. But what happens if you are in a rural zone without internet service or any service at all - even the outback of Australia in your utility vehicle? Well, one ham driving in a very rural part of New Jersey found out how his dual band mobile radio could help after he discovered a single-car accident on a rainy road, the airbag deployed on the driver’s side……and no way to get the call for aid through except by local repeater.

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Broadcast Celebrates 80 Years for UK Shortwave Site

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One hundred people turned out on Tuesday, the 17th October 2023, for an 80th anniversary celebration at the UK's last remaining shortwave radio transmitting site. Countless others attended the party from a distance -- as shortwave listeners who later sent in reception reports.

The Woofferton Transmitting Station, which was built by the BBC during the Second World War, is owned by Encompass Digital Media. Its celebration broadcast was transmitted to listeners in Europe as an analogue broadcast on 17.785 MHz and as a DRM broadcast on 11.725 MHz.

In a rare turn at programming, the station also used its oldest transmitter - a Marconi BD272 built in Britain in 1963, to send programming to North America on 15.245 MHz.

To hear the anniversary broadcast, click on the link that you can find in the text version of this week's Amateur Radio Newsline Newscast -https://www.mixcloud.com/EDMRadioOnline/woofferton80/