Notification of long wave shutdown
RÚV's long-wave broadcasting at Gufuskálar in Snæfellsnes has been discontinued. This is the end of long wave radio broadcasting in Iceland. Longwave broadcasts from Eid were suspended on February 27, 2023.
Margrét Magnúsdóttir - October 17, 2024 at 15:37 GMT,updated at 3:44 p.m
• All RÚV radio broadcasts on long wave have been stopped.
• RÚV's safety broadcasts on the radio will go on the FM distribution system.
• The FM distribution system has been greatly tightened in recent years.
• The long wave tower at Gufuskálar, which is the tallest structure in Iceland, has been decommissioned.
RÚV's distribution system is an important link in the country's civil defense. The role of radio safety broadcasts is to ensure communication throughout the country and in the near future. Rásar 2's radio broadcast on FM has taken over RÚV's safety radio broadcast.
In recent years, the FM distribution system has been built up and a number of transmitters have been added in order to consolidate the system. Backup power stations have been installed at all large FM transmitters, and backup power needs are solved for short periods of time with batteries or portable power stations on the smaller ones. Transmitters have been placed on the highlands as well as large transmitters at key locations for seafarers. In places where the FM distribution system does not reach, other means of communication must be used, for example via satellite systems such as Starlink.
Radio safety broadcasts have been on the airwaves for decades. During that time, a lot has changed in the technological environment. The biggest change is that very few people in the country now have a radio that receives longwave transmissions. There is generally no long-wave reception in vehicles and has not been for a long time. The long-wave broadcasting system, not least the mast at Gufuskálar, is old and the reconstruction and other technical upgrades of this system are expensive.
The long wave tower at Gufuskálar is the tallest structure in Iceland, 412 meters. It was built in 1963 for the British and American LORAN-C positioning system and was taken over by RÚV's long-wave transmitter in 1997.
https://www.ruv.is/um-ruv/i-umraedunni/2024-10-17-tilkynning-um-lokun-langbylgju-424925 via Mauno Ritola on MW-List io group 18 October (translated from Icelandic by Google)
(Alan Pennington/BDXC)