I’m pretty sure that the Chinese language broadcast on 1341AM is 3CW.
the old 3GL, still in Geelong under lease from Grants.
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First the good news. 1197 SWITCH lives!
Contrast signal strength to 1053 RADIO RHYTHM (Bollywood Radio), 1116 4BC & 1296 4RPH.
Also heard tonight was the 2.5 kW station 1458 RNZ NATIONAL Westport underneath NEWSRADIO Newcastle, with parallel programming to 567 kHz. As for 1341, for me it seems to be a mixture of 3CW Geelong & 2KY SKY SPORTS Newcastle.
The ERP of 909 CNR-6 Quanzhou might actually be as low as 300 kW according to MWList.org, but 1089 CNR-6 Fuzhou is definitely 600 kW according to both MWList & Asiawaves. In Brisbane, Fuzhou has the potential to obliterate the strong domestic stations in Orange & Horsham, which carry 2SM & 2UE networked overnight programming respectively.
Finally, Simon’s Toolbox is great free software for mediumwave, showing the greyline paths & propagation information.
Yeah, Switch 1197 had a TX failure when switching between the nighttime & daytime radiation pattern on March 31.
This TX is now dead & buried. Don’t know what happened, but was a major failure.
Their backup TX had a cooling fan failure which had to be replaced, got it fixed & it lasted on air about 10 mins apparently before the power Circuit Breaker tripped & wouldn’t reset, wrong size amperage C/B was installed. An electrician went out to the TX site yesterday (Thursday) & replaced it, they got back on air yesterday afternoon.
I think they’re restricted to the 500W nighttime pattern atm though, don’t exactly know why?
Reports I’m hearing is that the signal on the backup is much better than it was on the old main, so maybe they’re not on restriction?
By the sounds of it though, the main TX has been dying for some time, unless it was a signal transfer issue between it & the mast, that’s finally killed it?
I’ve heard they need to do some major TX site works though, including replacing the Earth mat radials.
Chief Engineer from Radio TAB Brisbane & an Engineer from TX Australia helped them get back on air.
They’re looking at funding for a new TX now, around $17,000 they think.
I think they cleaned the site up a bit since I was there last in May 2011, but I’m not surprised at the deterioration & failures, the grass around the mast was about 2-3 foot high.
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A surprising bit of “autumn tropo” with Wollongong stations very strong here this afternoon (and still pretty good right now) - given the coolish conditions here in Newcastle.
Even faint signals from South Coast, Canberra and SW Slopes could be heard at times.
Inspired to try some AM over the last couple of days. 909 from Quanzhou was surprisingly clear, strongest 9-10 pm here. Heard some New Zealanders with 4ZW Newstalk ZB Oamaru on 1395 of possible interest. The 1MW VOA station from outside Bangkok also heard on 1575. It got stronger towards midnight with 2RF easy to null out.
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An opportunity for a half hour listen tonight after 10pm. Last checked AM on Thursday after the NRL. Consistent interference tonight from thunderstorms. Also the regular interference from one neighbour at this time, but that is affecting SW & FM bands primarily. Still using window wire antenna but added a proper balun (worthwhile; an enormous reduction in interference whilst no discernible loss noted).
666 PREMIERE (1ère) Noumea. No IDs heard, presumed reception with French announcers. A difficult & transient signal audible over 4CC Biloela & ABC Canberra. Only audible on north/south facing antenna.
1089 CNR-6 Fuzhou strong parallel to a blistering 6165 Beijing. By midnight (during rain), 909 Quanzhou appeared but was weak by comparison. Quanzhou only audible with antenna facing north-west/south-east as used for NZ. Fuzhou seems best on north/south facing antenna.
1386 RADIO TARANA Auckland at very comfortable levels at midnight. Occasional national ads for NZ with 0800 numbers but mainly Indian music.
1395 NEWSTALK ZB Oamaru parallel to stronger 1035 Wellington.
May be of interest to DXers in the area - the high power Mt Dowe ABCs are off air after midnight from 1:06 am tonight. Also Tamworth ABCFM.
I noticed JJJ was off last night then when it returned there were a variety of (annoying) tones for an extended period 
http://www2b.abc.net.au/reception/maintenance/results.asp
Some of these ABC maintenance works can offer a rare opportunity for DX fans. Last week ABC FM 95.3 to the north of Brisbane was off so I could receive Mt Nardi from the south that night.
I’ve heard those test tones also after 91.7 ABC Gold Coast re-surfaced from the abyss one night last year.
More fun Wednesday night at 10:30 pm:
729 PREMIERE Popoméou. Poor signal dominated by RN Adelaide. Parallel programming to 666 Noumea. NE antenna only.
1575 SARANROM Ban Phachi. Very poor signal with two announcers speaking Thai. Music programming from strong 'Gong ITALIA (parallel to 1539 Sydney & 1620 Caloundra & Toowoomba) dominated. NW antenna only. Signal strength weaker than CNR-6 909 Quanzhou. Parallel to stream. I didn’t know the history; this used to be Voice of Free Asia.
The indoor antenna is fashioned from a 25 metre spool of wire (costs $5 at Jaycar). Impedance matching to the receiver is done using a homemade 9:1 voltage balun. The main ‘ingredient’ is the largest available Ferrite Toroid made of 43 material (costs $4 at Minikits Adelaide). Indoor receiving baluns are easily built in half an hour.
Portables (including the Tecsun PL-300WT) & boomboxes overload here from 612/792 on their internal loopstick antennae. That means even strong stations like 2WEB 585 may be covered in crap from 612 here at nightime. No doubt many here suffer similar frustration, if so I feel your pain… but do persevere!
I was up in Mona Vale (Sydney’s Northern Beaches) this afternoon, where at an elevated spot near Mona Vale Hospital which has a good northerly aspect overlooking Mona Vale Beach, I’ve managed to get a weak to fair signal of 2MC 100.7 from Port Macquarie at around 4pm on my Tecsun. This spot is also good for picking up Newcastle FM stations on a permanent basis, as well as getting most of the ABC FM services from Middle Brother (exc. 96.3 JJJ, which is blocked by Coast FM, which comes in strongly along with all the other Central Coast stations).
Currently out at Forbes which has proven an interesting place for dx. Here’s a bandscan on the Teccy including some Dx I got in about half hour of nigh time tuning;
87.6 - Vision Forbes
88.0 - Tourist Info Forbes
88.3 - Classic Fm Mt Ulandra
89.1 - Rn Mt Ulandra
89.9 - ABC Mt Ulandra
90.5 - 2Rok/t Condobolin
90.7 - JJJ Mt Ulandra
90.9 - News Radio Illawarra (very weak)
91.1 - Unid very weak. Possible Canberra
91.5 - News Radio Mt Ulandra
91.9 - News Radio Canobolas
92.3 - 2YYY Young
92.7 - Zoo Dubbo
93.1 - Starfm Wagga
93.5 - Starfm Dubbo
93.9 - Roccy Young
94.5 - JJJ Shepparton very weak
94.7 - 2MCE/t Orange
94.9 - Powerfm Nowra. Very weak but Id and ad for Nowra heard
95.5 - Rok Parkes
96.1 - Classic FM Shepparton very weak
96.5 - JJJ MIA/Griffith
96.7 - Classic FM Mt Dowe nearly up to stereo at one point
96.9 - Both Nova Sydney and Starfm Shepparton very weak but I’d able
97.1 - RN Middle Brother up to 8db at one point
97.3 - Classic FM MIA/Griffith
97.9 - Valley FM Parkes
98.1 - News Radio MIA/Griffith
98.7 - Classic FM in at same time as 97.1
98.9 - RN MIA/Griffith with JJJ Illawarra in null
99.1 - ABC Mt Dowe in at same time as Classic 96.7
99.3 - Brock Bathurst weak
99.5 - Roccy/the Cowra
99.7 - Starfm Griffith
99.9 - Tab Parkes
100.5 - ABC Local MIA/Griffith
100.7 - 2LF/t Cowra
100.9 - Tab Hpon Bathurst
101.3 - Dead-air - stereo carrier. I think it’s meant to be SBS radio Parkes
101.5 - JJJ Canberra
101.7 - WS Sydney very weak
101.9 - JJJ Canobolas
102.3 - JJJ Cenn-Cruaich/Classic Canberra. Position the radio to which one you want!
102.5 - 2MBS Sydney and Edge Deniliquin both very weak but there
102.7 - Classic Fm Canobolas
103.2 - Brief wave in of Hope Sydney
103.3 - JJJ Albury. Weak permanent
103.5 - Rhema Orange
103.9 - News Radio Canberra
104.1 - Classic Fm Albury. Weak 2Day in a null
104.3 - Rn Orange
104.7 - Hit1047 Canberra
104.9 - Starfm Albury. MMM at one point
105.1 - 2GZ Orange
105.5 - Classic Fm Cenn-Cruaich/SBS Canberra. Classic Fm stronger
105.7 - River Albury
105.9 - Starfm Orange
106.3 - News Radio Cenn-Cruiach. Mix Canberra in null
106.5 - ABC Albury
106.7 - TAB Hpon Orange
107.1 - ABC Cenn-Cruaich
107.3 - Unid Very weak. Possible 2REM Albury
107.5 - 2OCR Orange
107.9 - Rn Cenn-Cruaich
Hey, that’s a very interesting DX report!
I would have to think that there’s some mild enhancement at play there … I wouldn’t have thought that regular reception of Middle Brother, Sydney, Shepparton and Albury would be likely in suburban Forbes, unless you were on a hill (but it’s pretty flat around there from memory).
As for 91.1 - yes, 1CMS Canberaa, as ZOO Dubbo City is very weak and doesn’t even really make it out more than 20 kms south of Dubbo at best.
AM is pretty good out that way, particularly south of town, I remember being able to get both Sydney and Melbourne AM radio reasonably clearly on the car radio in the middle of the day.
I passed through Forbes almost exactly a year ago- SBS Chill Parkes was on then. It’s a shame that it’s joined the “waste of watts” club as it provided something different for the drive.
Some nice DX there, as others have pointed out. Middle Brother certainly wouldn’t be regular reception, though Narrabri/Sydney/Wollongong/Shepparton might be semi permanent via scatter modes.
There’s definitely enhancement involved there. Middle brother waved up once but that’s it, haven’t been able to get it again.
One fade up of Sydney (strong but only brief) was aircraft scatter, otherwise it’s been regular troposcatter from it and Narrabri, Illawarra, Shepparton and Albury. All of which have been there to some degree each night, although last night favoured Sydney and Illawarra with Sydney in over Albury and Illawarra (97.3 & 98.9) about 50/50 with Griffith.
Have not bothered much with Am. Did check quickly in the middle of the day and both 702 & 774 are there but not that great. I did notice at night that 1089 seemed to be dominated by 3WM Horsham and not Orange which I found slightly surprising.
Re. 3WM dominating, it’s not altogether surprising given Orange is fairly close, hence its skywave signal would tend to skip over. Admittedly, the groundwave signal would still be pretty strong though. For the same reason, stations such as 7AD and 2LM get over 2LT at night in Sydney.
Bandscan on the roof parking level of Roselands this evening with signal strengths as reported by my car’s radio (even when the signal reading is 0, it’s often still quite listenable):
87.6 Voice of Islam (Multiple TXs) - 40
87.8 Radio Austral (Multiple TXs) - 26
88.0 Indistinct - 5
88.1 2RDJ (Burwood) - 44
88.3 WSFM (Camden) - 28
88.5 2RRR (Ryde) - 43
88.7 Vintage Radio (Western Sydney) - 17
88.9 Radio Skid Row (Inner Sydney) - 36
89.1 Radio Blue Mountains (Katoomba) - 23
89.3 2GLF (Liverpool) - 30
89.5
89.7 Eastside FM (Waverley) - 34
89.9 Hawkesbury Radio (Windsor) - 6
90.1 2NBC (Narwee) - 46
90.3 Radio Northern Beaches (Manly) - 4
90.5 Alive 90.5 (Parramatta) - 29
90.7
90.9 ABC NewsRadio (Illawarra) - 37
91.1
91.3 c91.3 (Campbelltown) - 32
91.5 Indistinct - 0
91.7
91.9
92.1 Muslim Community Radio (Sydney) - 63
92.3
92.5 ABC Local Radio (Gosford) - 15
92.7
92.9 ABC Classic FM (Sydney) - 62
93.1
93.3 Radio 50+ (Gosford) - 31
93.5 Indistinct - Eagle FM Goulburn, maybe - 1
93.7 Koori Radio (Sydney) - 58
93.9
94.1 Todayscountry94one (Gosford) - 32
94.3
94.5 FBi (Sydney) - 55
94.7
94.9 Power FM (Nowra) - 23
95.1 Indistinct - 0
95.3 Smooth FM (Sydney) - 69
95.5 ABC Local Radio (Manning River) - 0
95.7 ABC Classic FM (Illawarra) - 37
95.9 Indistinct - 0
96.1 The Edge (Katoomba) - 35
96.3 Coast FM (Gosford) - 30
96.5 Wave FM (Wollongong) - 37
96.7 ABC Classic FM (Upper Naomi) - 0
96.9 Nova (Sydney) - 68
97.1 ABC Radio National (Manning River) - 0
97.3 ABC Local Radio (Illawarra) - 41
97.5 2HD (Port Stephens)? (Talkback show was on) - 5
97.7 SBS Radio (Sydney) - 68
97.9
98.1 i98 (Wollongong) - 38
98.3 ABC Radio National (Port Stephens)? - 0
98.5 Radio 2000 (Sydney) - 59
98.7 ABC Classic FM (Manning River) - 8
98.9 Triple J (Illawarra) - 40
99.1 WSFM (Richmond) - 30
99.3 Northside Radio (Chatswood) - 38
99.5 Move FM (Katoomba) - 19
99.7 2SSR (Sutherland) - 36
99.9 SWR FM (Blacktown) - 43
100.1 Triple H (Hornsby) - 27
100.3 2MCR (Campbelltown) - 37
100.5 2RPH (Eastern Sydney) - 30
100.7 WowFM (Penrith) - 12
100.9 2BACR (Bankstown) - 47
101.1 2LT (Katoomba) - 13
101.3 Sea FM (Gosford) - 41
101.5 Great Lakes FM (Forster)? - 5
101.7 WSFM (Sydney) - 59
101.9 Triple J (Central Tablelands) - 7
102.1 Triple J (Newcastle) - 29
102.3
102.5 Fine Music (Sydney) - 65
102.7 ABC Classic FM (Central Tablelands) - 5
102.9 2ST (Bowral) - 25
103.2 Hope1032 (Sydney) - 70
103.5 Multiple stations - 0
103.7 2NUR (Newcastle) - 1
103.9
104.1 2Day FM (Sydney) - 46
104.3 ABC Radio National (Central Tablelands) - 5
104.5 Star 1045 (Gosford) - 39
104.7
104.9 Triple M (Sydney) - 54
105.1 2GZ FM (Orange) - 3
105.3 Kix Country (Wollongong) - 9
105.5
105.7 Triple J (Sydney) - 52
105.9 Star FM (Orange) - 1
106.1 ABC Classic FM (Newcastle) - 26
106.3 ABC NewsRadio (Central Western Slopes)? - 0
106.5 KIIS 1065 (Sydney) - 58
106.7 TAB (Orange) - 0
106.9 Vox FM (Wollongong) - 12
107.1 Highland FM (Bowral) - 18
107.3 2SER (Sydney) - 48
107.5
107.7 2GO (Gosford) - 38
107.9 Move FM (Lithgow) - 7
I have a video which I’ll post later.
thanks for the comprehensive post!
So your car radio has a digital readout signal meter?
What brand/model is it?
Yes, and it’s a Blaupunkt CD30 - but the signal meter is hidden. You have to hold down the Settings button for 15 seconds and then press Tuner before it shows up.
Thanks!
Oh my, for 15 seconds on EACH station, or do you only have to do it once and it stays there?
88.0 - I know that you mentioned that it was indistinct, but were you able to tell what sort of music / content the station aired? Coincidentally, I managed to receive an unidentifiable station on the 88.0 frequency a week or two ago, although I have my doubts that you would be able to receive it in Roselands.
91.7 - 2ST, perhaps?
92.7 - Bay & Basin FM (a Sussex Inlet community station) broadcasts on the 92.7 frequency, although I don’t believe you would be able to receive it in Roselands…
Apart from that, thanks for posting the bandscan tvcl. 