AM and FM DX

I think it’s 91.6 because of C91.3 (which rules out 91.5), and because of the 91.7 2ST repeaters in the Kangaroo Valley / Jervis Bay areas (ruling that frequency out, and that may be too close to 2MFM on 92.1 anyway).

Not sure what power 91.6 is running at though, but it comes in stronger than 2SER up here near Newcastle.

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I was thinking why not 98.2 for news radio on the central coast.

From what I understand, their Kangaroo Valley translator has never been switched on, even though it had been proposed. If or when 2ST converts to FM, their main FM service from either Knights Hill or Cambewarra Mountain would be received into Kangaroo Valley quite well.

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Although 91.1 MHz was used for a temporary broadcast last year. 91.1 would also cop interference from 90.9 Illawarra in certain areas.

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91.6 for me seems higher powered than the 91.1 service was.

Because the FM bandplan is for stations at odd intervals of 200 kHz. 88.1… 88.3… 88.5 etc

ACMA should not dish out even frequencies unless they absolutely have to. The Sydney station Hope 103.2 should have been changed to 103.3 or 103.1 AFAIK it was allocated that frequency due to an interference issue ages ago that could have been, or has been resolved by now.

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With ATV switch off, it would’ve been resolved.

102.9 was not used in areas where there was a TV service on VHF 2 due to harmonic IF

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I think a better option would have been effectively an SFN with Illawarra on 90.9.

There doesn’t appear to be any issues with the 94.5 SFN in the Sunshine Coast / Noosa-Gympie areas.

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The only issue is beyond the News Radio FM 94.5 service area into the ABC North Coast service area with summer tropo events wiping out the local signal in north facing locations to the north of the Mt Nardi site.

Granted it’s weather related and population is sparse, but with AM 828 ruled out due to NIMBY locals in Valdora (behind Yandina), surely the ABC and its infrastructure partner could’ve identified another frequency thereby keeping ABC North Coast on a mostly clear allocation.

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Bit of shortest type DX around this morning.

99.9 Triple J Mount Dowe rock solid into Toowoomba this morning
99.1 News Radio Mount Dowe- completely wiped out SCA’s 99.1 HPON in the Toowoomba CBD until i got closer to town and could actually see the building it is TXing from.
98.3 NOW FM was in there but I have local noise in my car on 98.3 which made the copy a little harder

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What format is this airing? Is this the old Kids FM stream that also (IIRC) aired in pockets of the Latrobe Valley in Victoria?

IIRC it airs Triple M Country

Yes it is the old Kids FM frequency, it is currently just a test loop as the frequency has just gone back on air from there new studios in the Toowoomba CBD

The Range / Triple M Country is on 91.5 and it transmits from Mount Kynock

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That’s interesting.

I always thought that was 4TAB, well it used to be in the late 90s.

They are on 93.7 from Picnic Point

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Does 98.1 use the Sydney feed or the national feed? 90.9 uses the national feed so 98.1 would have to switch over to the national feed for that to work. But I’d agree that an SFN would be the best option. Potentially the same with 2RPH on FM for the Illawarra/Sydney/Newcastle as the proposed 2RPH frequency for the Illawarra is another Central Coast co-channel from memory.

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Good Q re Syd vs national feed… I’d have to check at the right times to find out.

Yeah, same, but given the ABC Central Coast transmitters are suposedly there for the Sydney Licence Area services, I’d imagine it takes the Sydney feed.

I can’t remeber what it says on the program input equipment at the TX site, & will probably forget to look next time I’m there?

ABC Central Coast does do local programming, but the licence callsign is actually 2BL-T for 2BL Translator, that’s why I’d say News Radio is the Sydney feed?

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Also remember that NewsRadio Gosford was on air long before most of the rest of the regional NewsRadio outlets, so as a legacy of this it may take the Sydney feed. I can’t get NewsRadio Gosford often- it was taking soccer the other night I heard it (though regionals take sport now).

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Yep, that makes sense.