Scirocco Central

Does anyone know if the RCD-510 does LW?

I've been making do in my car with listening to the Ashes on 5Live online through my phone/ bluetooth but if I'm paying £24k for a car then I want to be able to listen to it properly! So if no LW, then have to get DAB (although I'm sceptical as I've heard in MY2010 cars reception's pretty pants.....)

So any help would be gratefully received!

No LW, sorry!

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Yes, you can pick up R4 LW on the AM on the car. R5 Sports Xtra has uninterupted coverage, but that's only available for us DAB users.

If I recall, it's down at the lower end of the number range.

Formally, Medium Wave is only available in some locations: London 720; Plymouth 774; Hayle (Cornwall) 756; Newcastle 603; Carlisle 1495; Aberdeen 1449; Enniskillen 774; Derry 720; Glasgow 720

and..... although I am usually in the South East, I used to get it on medium wave/AM frequency - 603

It becomes the World Service at dead of night.

sideshow bob wrote:Yes, you can pick up R4 LW on the AM on the car. R5 Sports Xtra has uninterupted coverage, but that's only available for us DAB users.

If I recall, it's down at the lower end of the number range.

Formally, Medium Wave is only available in some locations: London 720; Plymouth 774; Hayle (Cornwall) 756; Newcastle 603; Carlisle 1495; Aberdeen 1449; Enniskillen 774; Derry 720; Glasgow 720

Thanks Sideshow - I just didn't really fancy shelling out the £190.00 for DAB as it appears to be fairly average (at best) on the MY2010 cars.

evil_derboy wrote:Think you might be a bit confused here. In modern radio units you no longer have FM, MW amd LW. You simply have FM (Frequency Modulation) and AM (Amplitude Modulation). AM encompasses MW (Medium Wave) and LW (Long Wave).

All Scirocco stereo units can pick up AM and so to answer your question, yes you will still be able to listen to 5Live without having to splash out on DAB.

Although why the hell anyone would want to listen to cricket is beyond me. It's boring enough watching the bloody thing!

Blame my parents for wanting to get me out of their hair in the summer as a kid lol.

dude - get a Pure Highway DAB radio, I use one in the van for top notch 5live and Sportsxtra, if you invest be sure to buy the optional external antenna tho!!

Well I'm confused - the AM frequency range on my RCD-510 does not extend down to the 198KHz needed to receive Radio 4 LW - It only seems to cover the MW frequency range (down to 530KHz)

Is there an option/setting to extend the reception range?

SHutch wrote:Well I'm confused - the AM frequency range on my RCD-510 does not extend down to the 198KHz needed to receive Radio 4 LW - It only seems to cover the MW frequency range (down to 530KHz)

Is there an option/setting to extend the reception range?

AM isn't just MW, it covers LW, and the AM 720 = the old LW R4 signal. You can get it.

Like I said in my first reply to this, the 510 will NOT receive longwave transmissions. Longwave radio covers the range 148.5kHz to 283.5kHz and the 510 will NOT tune down that low. There are no setiings to change it and it will NOT do it.

It is true that LW uses Amplitude Modulation just like MW but that does not mean you can just keep screwing down the dial till you get there!

sideshow bob wrote:

SHutch wrote:Well I'm confused - the AM frequency range on my RCD-510 does not extend down to the 198KHz needed to receive Radio 4 LW - It only seems to cover the MW frequency range (down to 530KHz)

Is there an option/setting to extend the reception range?

AM isn't just MW, it covers LW, and the AM 720 = the old LW R4 signal. You can get it.

720KHz is a local Medium-Wave relay of Radio 4 LW - it is not the national frequency which is 198KHz - which, as Spinney says, cannot be received on the RCD-510

To be definitive (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmit ... wave.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) there are the main high-power transmissions on 198KHz LW and some local low-power relays on MW (which is what you are getting Sideshow) :

Radio 4 (LW)
Frequency (kHz) Power Grid ref
Burghead 198 50kW NJ125685
Droitwich 198 500kW SO929663
Westerglen 198 50kW NS868773


Radio 4 (MW)
Frequency (kHz) Power Grid ref
Carlisle 1485 1kW NY412526
Enniskillen 774 1kW H232457
Lisnagarvey 720 10kW J258619
Crystal Palace 720 0.75kW TQ339712
Londonderry 720 0.25kW C404176
Newcastle 603 2kW NZ274598
Plymouth 774 1kW SX490589
Redmoss 1449 2kW NJ942024
Redruth MF 756 2kW SW709403

SHutch wrote:

sideshow bob wrote:

SHutch wrote:Well I'm confused - the AM frequency range on my RCD-510 does not extend down to the 198KHz needed to receive Radio 4 LW - It only seems to cover the MW frequency range (down to 530KHz)

Is there an option/setting to extend the reception range?

AM isn't just MW, it covers LW, and the AM 720 = the old LW R4 signal. You can get it.

720KHz is a local Medium-Wave relay of Radio 4 LW - it is not the national frequency which is 198KHz - which, as Spinney says, cannot be received on the RCD-510

I know, I was simply trying to explain that the AM frequency of 720 is the R4 LW broadcast, as opposed to the R4 FM broadcast.

I also like listening to 5Live sports extra for ashes coverage... and its the only time i listen to it.... so I got a £30 DAB personal radio from ebay and plugged it in using the Aux port. Works perfectly for the cricket

Held the setup button on mine to check the radio signals, the DAB signal was stronger than both the FM / AM ones.