Mal,

> I have also been told if you go to Church in Germany you must PAY and have
> no option, the money is deducted from your pay. In the UK its a free

No, that's not quite correct

It is deducted when you belong (sort of being a member) to a church, no matter 
if you attend a servive or not.
But you can "unsubscribe" from it and pay nothing, I did it more than 30 years 
ago.
With a TV license fee it is not *that* easy, even if I only watch foreign 
channels

--
Back to BBC-WS
Ask yourself: who listens to its MW signal nowadays. I don't know *anybody* 
around me. Only DXers, and they don't count. I even don't know anyone tuning to 
MW. 

Times have changed, Germany (as any W-EU country) has many TV channels, radio 
(news) channels, so that noone looks elsewhere. Via sat you can get  BBC-WS& TV 
as well. Wonder how many use them? With internet you spend so much time that 
only little time is left for radio & TV.

So why should BBC heat the ionosphere? I suffer already Lux-Effect all 
over LW & MW  from other high-power tx
Think green, turn it off.
The anoraks will survive it. :-)
And should there ever be an unrest, you turn it on again, or hire a tx nearby. 
There are plenty around now. But should that occur people can't listen with 
their iphone to MW :-)




Jurgen Bartels  Suellwarden, N. Germany
hor. Antennas: 11-ele 45-87MHz 13-ele Band-III, 48-ele UHF, FM: 15.11 
TV: Winradio G305 / Fly2000 + video noise filter & variable IF BW
FM: Downconverter + Perseus + Speclab as WFM demod.
MW: staggered 300m Beverage 320°,  30 x 4m EWE 320°, Winradio & Perseus
http://dx.3sdesign.de/tv_offset_list.htm
http://dx.3sdesign.de/station_list.htm

http://fewo.3sdesign.de  - Vacation home: DX right at the Northsea coast