# Long wave radio?



## Clunegapyears (Mar 13, 2017)

We really miss Radio 4 whilst on our mainland Europe travels.  The cost of wifi makes internet streaming prohibitive.  Thinking about a long wave radio so we can pick up BBC World Service.  My father had one for camping about 12 years ago and it was rubbish, but technology moves on.

Questions:  
-  has anyone used a long wave in Eurozone?
-  what was the reception like and in which countries?
-  any radio brands recommended?

Many thanks 
Katherine


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## witzend (Mar 13, 2017)

Yes have a AIWA radio with long wave in van fitted prior to us When I've tried I've got BBC WS  over most of Europe but reception has been a bit iffy but I put this down to the van only having the small original aerial.


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## VanHaver (Mar 13, 2017)

Most modern vehicles interfere terribly with am/lw receivers.
Try a freestanding one rather than a 12v one, possibly one with an external ariel jack point?


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## Canalsman (Mar 13, 2017)

BBC World Service isn't broadcast on Long Wave. Radio 4 is broadcast on LW.

Reception of Radio 4 isn't great in Europe in my experience. I have a relatively sophisticated portable radio that struggles so don't expect anything useful from the cab radio.

World Service is broadcast on Short Wave but not to Europe. This service was cut as part of BBC budget cuts some years ago.

I have found that the World Service for Western Africa is quite listenable but some of the content is focused on African topics.


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## carol (Mar 13, 2017)

Haha, this is so relevant! I'm a radio 4 freak too. Chris, I didn't realise it had stopped being broadcast in Europe? Why can I get it in the middle of the night in Bradford? Everywhere I stop I try my radio with 12 shortband, looking for BBC world service. Yesterday I got something for the first time, which was an African station selling bible classes!


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## Pauljenny (Mar 13, 2017)

Long wave in France, Spain and Portugal. We have a 42 year old large transistor radio.

We get good LW signal strength, only at night.I can listen to Test match special when they are playing in Oz, NZ and Asia...but only until dawn.

In the van, you need to connect the aerial to the earth... Again only at night. It's voodoo.
We now listen to Radio 4 on the internet.


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## Canalsman (Mar 14, 2017)

carol said:


> Haha, this is so relevant! I'm a radio 4 freak too. Chris, I didn't realise it had stopped being broadcast in Europe? Why can I get it in the middle of the night in Bradford? Everywhere I stop I try my radio with 12 shortband, looking for BBC world service. Yesterday I got something for the first time, which was an African station selling bible classes!



This BBC page lists the target areas, frequencies and broadcast times:

BBC - Global Short Wave Frequencies

Short wave transmitters are often directional but for example here in Portugal I can pick up the West Africa transmissions because the transmission 'beam' is in the same direction.

The broadcast schedule can be found here :

BBC World Service Online - Schedules, Tuesday 14 March 2017


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## TJBi (Mar 14, 2017)

*How about Satellite?*

If you have a satellite dish and TV on board, have a look at the radio stations (including R4 and R4 LW) that you should be able to tune into here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/reception/pdfs/satellitefrequencies.pdf
Of course, it will be subject to satellite reception footprint.


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## Clunegapyears (Mar 14, 2017)

*Will keep £40 in my pocket*

Thank you all.

No tv so no satellite. Was thinking of a portable radio ...

Interesting to look at where the transmitters are.  My father was head of Insurance for the BBC quite some time ago.  He travelled on military planes to the Ascension islands.  

Can live with African content, one of the joys of the BBC is enjoying programmes that would not normally be on your radar.  Can not live with fuzzy reception though.  

We will be travelling to the Balkans and Greece from October for best part of a year, so will have to stock up on podcasts. And James and I will have to talk more!


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## Pauljenny (Mar 14, 2017)

Clunegapyears said:


> Thank you all.
> 
> No tv so no satellite. Was thinking of a portable radio ...
> 
> ...



We don't have TV either.

Two packs of cards will provide an evening's entertainment  with music and wine
Look up the game of Rummy Cub.
You don't have to buy the kit.. The cards will do the job.
Then there's double patience...
That can keep us up til God awful o'clock.


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## 5andy (Mar 14, 2017)

We bought a SW/MW/LW/FM radio for our travels last winter. Couldn't get anything worth listening to signal wise. Discovered BBC World Service on television all the way to Benidorm. Footprint probably bigger we but we didn't get any further.


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## Byronic (Mar 14, 2017)

Over the years I've regularly tuned in to LW 198 BBC R4 here in southern Spain, as said a bit hit and miss and only late at night and early in the morning. But for the last 2 years I've just used internet via 3 FeelAt Home. Don't even need a proxy server, sometimes the connection buffers depending on exact location and also the provider that 3 utilises (Yoigo or Movistar here in Espana), manual selection of which sometimes helps, that and picking a low streaming  bitrate.


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