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Thanks for your reply STx. As I said in my original post, 's' points on a radio signal meter are not an exacting science but do make a useful reference for comparison between know reference points.
as you say, it's unlikely Brookmans park has been reduced to 12 KW but based of what Freddie posted about Droitwich, it's possible they could have dropped it to 50 KW. On my very old Grundig Yacht boy radio, 5 Live on 909 sits between S7 and S8 when previously it was a needle bender between S9 and S10. Talk sport on 1089 is now the same strength having originally been an S9 on the same receiver at the same location and rotated for maximum signal. This means that when hopefully 648 returns to full power this week it will be the strongest signal on Medium wave where I am near the Essex/Suffolk border as that normally gives slightly over S8 again on the same receiver.(648 is currently giving just about dead on S8 which is good for the backup TX from Orford). As you say, these old power guzzlers are being wound down for sure. It's interesting from a radio anoraks point of view that these large land based transmitter sites are pretty poor on efficiency for power in versus signal out as comparing with the good of radio ships of days gone by you would expect say a 200 KW Medium wave transmitter to cover the whole of the British isles on it's own but that was not even close to being the case. I know it's down to sea path and all that.
As a closing thought, isn't it ironic that after all these decades that Radio Caroline gets to be the last strong signal on Medium wave for a good few listeners and may well be the station to turn the lights out on the band in this part of the world.