BBC LONG WAVE HASN'T GOT MUCH LONGER

As with many a Saturday before, my morning has become a victim of 
unrestrained internet browsing. Today's trigger was discovering 
that the BBC announced on Sunday the planned closure of their Long 
Wave transmitters, including the main 500Kw Droitwich transmitter, 
in March 2024. Long Wave radio broadcasts use frequencies lower 
than regular broadcast AM radio on Medium Wave, and cover the 
bottom end of the radio frequency spectrum.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2023/bbc-radio-4-long-wave-transition

Why this matters to me, I've got no idea, I've litterally never 
been within reception range of these transmitters in my life 
(although I am rather curious whether reception from Australia with 
a large antenna on the right day is theoretically possible or not). 
Nevertheless something about Long Wave broadcasts facinate me, 
possibly just because there never have been any in Australia, or 
even anywhere remotely nearby if this Wikipedia list is accurate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longwave_radio_broadcasters

But beyond its unobtainable aspect, I am interested in the 
technical side of being able to transmit over distances and 
terrains that higher frequencies don't reach, and without some of 
the electrical complications of good shortwave receivers. It's also 
just suitably antiquated that most of the information about it is 
interesting from a historical perspective. The giant radio towers 
and transmitter buildings that were built for it are also just 
downright cool, and in fact these photos of the Droitwich site are 
a fine example of why I find it facinating in particular:
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1454

Huge towers, monolithic yet crumbling transmitter buildings, rusty 
iron gates saying "BBC", and a way down on this page there's a 
great shot of the transmitter hall looking very 1930s-cool in 1963:
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1454&pageid=2072

Some pics from the 80s here:
https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/droitwich.htm

Today I also discovered a film from 1935 about the original 
construction of the Droitwich site:
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-bbc-droitwich-1935-online

(youtube-dl didn't like that website, so I actually watched this 
lower-quality copy on YouTube):
https://youtu.be/7hr4xwpZYJ0

There's actually a whole bunch of old BBC radio tech films on this 
webpage, which I'll be working my way through ("Rampisham HF 
transmitting station in 1961" is another gem):
http://www.bbceng.info/videos.htm

 - The Free Thinker