I tried a bit of Digital TV DXing tonight with some tropo about…
I only really tried 2 frequencies… (there only really 5 available anyhow nowadays).
UHF-29 … I was hoping for WIN Far South Coast (Bega)
UHF-50… Hoping for SC10 Wollongong (Southern Highlands)
In both cases, I got good signal levels (according to my Panasonic receiver which has exactly the same display as TV Cynic posted above).
But NO quality!!!
So naturally the receiver couldn’t or wouldn’t scan them in.
I am getting the full suite of channels from Nine Melbourne (VHF 8) booming into Mount Gambier, with strong signal quality and strength.
I haven’t had this happen for a couple of years.
Well done!
I can see that it is your only chance at Melbourne channels due to the Hamilton/West Vic channels occupying VHF 6, 7, 11 and 12…
Do you get the West Vic channels there permanently?
Yes, although the signal quality can occasionally be weak. But most of the time I get a watchable signal for Western Victorian channels.
Good catch. Did the signal quality of the Hamilton stations decrease with potential interference on their frequencies?
Yes, the ABC (VHF 6) and SBS (VHF 7) stations from Hamilton were so weak that they didn’t tune in, even though they are usually watchable.
WIN (VHF 10), SC 10 (VHF 11) and Prime7 (VHF 12) seemed unaffected.
While setting up the antenna to receive the Channel 7 Gold Coast broadcast I was very surprised to receive TVQ 36 from Currumbin one night. It is just a 1kw relay at 85km and is vertically polarised. The antenna I needed for 7 at Mt Tamborine is horizontal and had to be kept quite low to avoid interference from co-channel stations to the north. Currumbin isn’t there all the time, so must have been a bit of tropo.
7, 9 and 10 from Mt Tamborine for comparison
Thanks for that!
I like seeing these kinds of graphics.
My Panasonic DVD HDD recorder has the same graphics as these, and also gives me the same “no new channels found” whenever I try to do a rescan. Which is very irritating when trying to update LCN names, meaning I have to do a full wipe and rescan 
Anyhow, here are some screenshots of my NSW Central Coast TV “DX”, which is 53kms from my place from Wyrrabalong with a $60 indoor digital Antsig antenna. Tx is 1,250 watts.
Sorry about the ordinary quality, and it doesn’t look to be in the order I’d hoped (RF channel order).
It’s easy for much of Sydney to receive regional TV (either from Knights Hill or for those in the Northern Beaches, from the Central Coast) – I was wondering how hard it is for people in Melbourne and the other metro markets to get TV from adjacent regional markets.
In the late 1970s we used to get very patchy (often B&W only) reception of GLV10 from the northern part of Melbourne with just an ancient rooftop antenna. Probably helped because we lived in a fairly elevated area. But when GLV changed from 10 to 8 we lost its reception altogether - it was probably drowned out by local channels 7 and 9. Once aggregation came we could get snowy reception of some UHF channels from Gippsland but we’d never watch anything on them.
I used to be able to get Channel 4 from Gippsland on my FM radio but could never pick it up on TV.
I did occasionally manage to view TVQ0 from Brisbane sometime around 1986 (after SBS had vacated the Channel 0 frequency) and also TV One from New Zealand which came through on our Channel 0 frequency remarkably well, in colour and with little static. But that was a one off…
Where I am now we don’t get any regional signals at all. Before the closure of analogue I did once or twice manage to pick up WIN television from Launceston but it was barely watchable. But now it’s all digital I’ve not been able to get anything other than the main Melbourne signals.
With the right equipment and a good line of sight to the Glasshouse Mountains, you can get the Sunshine Coast regional TV translators across the Northside of Brisbane from Redcliffe north. The Brisbane retransmissions on UHF boom into the Northside.
Someone got Launceston digital from Geelong in late 2015.
I’d believe that.
I remember one night probably in the 1980s or early 90s we were on holidays down at Aireys Inlet, south of Geelong. We had just a portable TV with a rabbit ears antenna. We could get almost clear reception of TNT9 from Launceston if we pointed the antenna in that direction. If we pointed the antenna north we got GTV9 from Melbourne. Very bizarre but that Geelong/surf coast area must be good for picking up TV from across Bass Strait.
@Moe also got WIN from Victoria.
I’m yet to receive any DX broadcast from geelong tho.
If you love DX, you will love WIN SCA etc!
The main candidates in the Brisbane area would obviously be Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, both with moderate power levels. Ipswich and further west would potentially get Darling Downs.
The biggest obstacle to TV DX in this area is the congestion of channels with very few unoccupied ones. The two “least occupied” channels are 10 and 36. On 10 I’ve received Wide Bay (at the time it was WIN) and on 36 I’ve received Rockhampton (SC10 at the time). So the potential is there if the channels are vacant.
In the old analogue days, UHF from the north and south coasts was possible and prior to that it was 6 and 8 from Lismore and 10 from Darling Downs and Nambour. For more distant reception the FM band was always interesting with ABNT 3, WIN 4, NBN 3 and GTS 4 all received. With the TV, New Zealand 1 and Melbourne 0 were probably the furthest south received.
I assume that Mount Alexander will be another condenter with its high power.
I think Mt Macedon blocks the signal south
Bummer.
Someone did say that it could be received from Geelong but I dont really believe that.
I lived in the inner north west of Melbourne in the late 1990s and early 2000s and found i got occasional reception of Channel 8… but it was actually GLV8 from way over in Gippsland from over the opposite side of Melbourne rather than from BCV8 from Bendigo which would have been closer.
This was during a very strong opening to Victoria with the antenna pointed south - co-channel reception of TVQ 0 and SBS 0 from Melbourne
