[retrotecchie]

@WizzyWigg

Let me just throw in a technical nugget, just for gag value.

RTS uses a really slow data rate and a data packet length which means it takes a whole minute to transmit one RTS message. The Droitwich transmitter on 198kHz Long Wave can not only reach virtually the whole of the UK but can also be received in much of Europe.

The Radio 4 broadcast uses amplitude modulation (AM) and the RTS signal is superimposed using phase modulation (PM) to generate the digital data using Manchester encoding and error correction. You can't hear the RTS signal on Test Match Special or the Shipping Forecast, but you can modify an old Radio Teleswitch receiver to listen to cricket or The Archers quite easily if you have a bit of electronics knowledge, a spare germanium diode and a crystal earpiece!

I need to get out more...

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

While I'm happy enough to dabble in mains electricity - I can do a bit of wiring! - I've never really got to grips with oscillators, resistors, capacitors and the like. Swapping out valves and going to Tiny's shop in Dalston Lane for them to be tested and replacements sought was about the limit of my efforts. I've never used a multi meter.

I'm full of admiration of those that understand this stuff. I take comfort in logically accepting that we can't be good at everything.

[WizzyWigg]

@retrotecchie

Love it, love it, love it. I've put it in my book of Useful Things to Know. 😂 . It's the book I've been using around the Christmas dinner table. 😂 . Strange thing is I've notice fewer come to us for Christmas now. 🤔. Strange that!?

[meldrewreborn]

@WizzyWigg

My Mother, who lived to 101, always complained about funerals. My stock phrase was "do you want to be in the congregation or in the coffin".

[WizzyWigg]

@meldrewreborn

Good one. Anyone seen an EV hearse yet? Seen plenty of the fossil fuel types recently. 👴

[retrotecchie]

@WizzyWigg

I went to a former colleague's funeral last week. The hearse was an EV.

That's the perfect use for an EV in my opinion...very quiet, only need to carry one passenger and they don't need much range or much in the way of acceleration or top speed. To be fair, the environmental credentials of EVs are actually pretty poor, but I have to concede they have lower carbon emissions than the actual crematorium itself. Unless of course, waste heat from the crem is used to heat a swimming pool or municipal building.

[theunknowntech]

It probably is also worth mentioning that Arqiva really is on the VERY LAST set of glass valves for the transmission equipment used for the RTS Service. All the existing spares have already gone bang and no-one makes replacements anymore. retrotecchie speaks the truth that once they go pop, it's game over - there is nothing else on the planet that'll work.

It's actually amazing they've held out this long, but I can confirm they will not last forever. As a short term workaround, RTS Meters might be able to run as local timeswitches in some cases, but please don't rely on this as over time, they'll fall apart anyway.