The Athlone transmitting station is a decommissioned

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transm ...

transmission site in the townland of

Moydrum Moydrum is a townland near Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. The townland is in the civil parishs of St. Mary's and Ballyloughloe (Clonlonan). The townland stands to the east of the town. The Athlone to Mullingar Cycleway cuts through the ...

, near the town of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The site is notable for being displayed on European valve radios at the time.

History

The Athlone transmitter was brought into service in 1932 for that year's Eucharistic Congress in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

as Radio Athlone (later

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

). It was switched off after the event to allow for completion of the site and reopened on 6 February 1933 at 60 kW ERP with a water-cooled Marconi transmitter; later uprated to 100 kW. A

T-aerial A T-antenna, T-aerial, flat-top antenna, or (capacitively) top-loaded antenna is a monopole radio antenna with transverse capacitive loading wires attached to its top. T-antennas are typically used in the VLF, LF, MF, and shortwave bands, a ...

was used, which was suspended between two 300 ft masts. The Marconi transmitter was replaced around 1958 with an air-cooled

Brown Boveri Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 ...

transmitter, also rated at 100 kW ERP. In 1975, a new site near

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

replaced the Athlone transmitter. The transmitter at Tullamore was capable of up to 500 kW ERP. Athlone was brought back into service from 1979 to carry RTÉ Radio 2, now known as

RTÉ 2fm (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. This used a pair of

Continental Electronics Continental Electronics is an American manufacturer of broadcast and military radio transmitters, based in Dallas, Texas. Although Continental today is best known for its FM, shortwave, and military VLF transmitters, Continental is most signific ...

317 transmitters at 50 kW each, to achieve the same 100 kW ERP. Transmissions ceased on 12 April 2004 and the site has been out of use since then. One of the masts was demolished in the early 2010s as it was in poor condition.

Transmission frequencies

Athlone operated on 725

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

(413

metres The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

) for its first few years. It then moved to 565 kHz (531 metres) until 1950 when it was changed again to 566 kHz (530 metres) as part of changes introduced in the 1948

ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

Copenhagen convention. When it reopened for RTÉ Radio 2 in 1979, the frequency was changed to 612 kHz (490 metres).

Future

All three generations of transmission equipment remain in situ at the site, which has resulted in calls for the site to be preserved as a museum exhibit. A feasibility study was approved in 2013 and plans were announced in 2018 for a €7.5 million science centre to be incorporated into the site.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in County Westmeath Radio masts and towers in Europe Mass media in the Republic of Ireland Transmitter sites in Ireland