interesting one wonder if they’ve handed it back, the regulator maybe on hoilday at the moment, suppose it means the channel would become clear

you could often hear it fading up with the skywave here at night, sometimes a dutch pirate. with mw it won't be a clear channel though, more likely a kind of brown noise, the noise of a washer in the backround, someone stringing up a 500 meter long washing line aerial unlikely

When I was a student at University to the west of London, our (legal) 'induction loop' radio transmission system was on 1602 kHz. According to the planning rules, 1602 is meant to be a 'low power' channel with any transmitters limited to 1 kW e.m.r.p. That didn't bother Spain though who had several SER transmitters on the channel with 5 to 10 kW and at night this would often swamp our low-power induction loop system so it wasn't the best frequency. Also, BBC Radio Kent were also on 1602 kHz (until 2018) with the permitted 1 kW though their signal never caused any problems.

In around 2000 the loop system fell into disrepair and was switched off and was replaced by a 1 Watt free radiating system on 1350 kHz. It was in 2002, after we switched off 1602 kHz that Desi Radio was able to use it in West London, so they owe our crappy leaky feeder system a debt of gratitude for opening up the frequency for them in the first place.