Call for wideband AM recordings during the closure of BBC4 on LW
Dear friends of AM radio,
As reported in several postings (e.g.https://mediumwave.info/2026/06/24/united-kingdom-590/) the legendary Droitwich LW transmitter on 198 kHz will go silent on June 27 in the early morning.
The COHIRADIA team (www.cohiradia.org) will make broadband IQ recordings during he last hours of the LW band to preserve the LW signal for playback in the future. However, there is no member directly located in UK, so the signal quality will depend on atmospheric conditions. We would therefore be glad if a volunteer who possess an adequate high-quality SDRs and who is located in or close to UK could help us capture broadband AM recordings in or near the UK. If you’re able to assist—or know someone who can — please reach out to me hermann.scharfetter@gmail.com
To avoid confusion: We require full wideband recordings in IQ file format, say 130 – 300 kHz LW at least or, even better, say 100 – 1800 kHz for capturing both, LW and MW at the same time. We do not look for audio recordings of individual stations. Ideally, these recordings should be made at a site with low QRM using a high-quality SDR with at least 12-bit resolution.
Closure will be at 1am BST, but we would appreciate a recording over several hours, starting maybe tomorrow, on 26th of June around 19:00 UTC.
Best regards, Hermann Scharfetter (2026-06-25)