Moombil can cover from Cane Toad City to Cockroach City on a good day.
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Coffs Harbour nationals are receivable full time at my location in Brisbane with a south facing antenna. There is competition on most of the frequencies depending on propagation on the day 99.5 is probably the only clear channel.
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Getting ABC New England North West on 99.1 From Mount Dowe at Bonville Headland on the car radio via aircraft scatter (282 km). I have had it via tropo before and itās the only spot on the Coffs Coast where I can hear anything from Mount Dowe.
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Yes, the terrain west of Coffs cuts off most of the inland signals.
Though itās a bit easier down at Kempsey where Armidale signals can be regularly received, as the Dividing Range is a bit further inland. I have even DXed FM92.9 Tamworth from there during summer.
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No RDS, the RDS is generated by a DEVA unit and sent up the STL to the site
Thanks RFBurns, yeah the antenna it is back on its there main array up the tower further on the NBN Site.
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Though we are still waiting for NEW to match the other commercials with Song Info on its RDS. Itās still just a generic positioner scrolling info with ā1053 Newcastleās Best Musicā or something like that.
Definitely easier at Kempsey; thereās a path through the GDR there as you say. The Armidale majors are usually quite clear on the Kempsey Bypass. Oddly enough, though, 2ARM 92.1 comes through OK at Bonville Headland (Sawtell) despite even the Armidale ABCs being absent there.
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A bit of ducting about tonight.
I was out most of the evening, but I caught a bit in the car on the way home.
Got SWR999 from Blacktown with RDS on the main road here at Charlestown, also had solid in car reception of the Port Macquarie commercials with RDS on 100.7 and 102.3.
Did a quick check when I got home, Wollongong ABCs at 46db, Triple M Sydney at 52db, only a couple of db behind the local stations.
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I had 2SEA (104.7) and 2EC (105.5) [Eden] quite well on the car radio from Stanwell Tops yesterday afternoon but nothing to speak of from the north. 2EC 105.5 is often strong half way down Bald Hill going towards Stanwell Park on Lawrence Hargrave Drive.
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I had some ducting last night too. For me it was the Central Coast communities which were enhanced. KO Fm was in stereo, but the other Newcastle commercials had minimal enhancement. Newcastle tv killed Wollongong tv reception.
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Why is this not an election issue? Restack and remove the 6th channel allocations if necessary.
Probably because
A. More people are watching internet TV services like Netflix.
B. People can get VAST.
C. It only happens intermittently and not enough people are affected (though I am one where Wollongong TV kills the local Newcastle channels, but I can also get Sydney. Though I did lose local reception for 4 days straight last summer when some intense ducting was occurring).
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I cannot complain because I am well outside the licence area in Sydney, Wollongong tv is fortuitous as ACMA defines it. I choose to watch the Illawarra channels because the audio on my tv seems to better then receiving it from Sydney.
A soloution if the Central Coast channels wonāt restack move Kurrajong Heights to be in a SFN with SW Sydney.
Move Illawarra to band 4 (28-33) but then people in the Illawarra will need a new band 4 antenna and In Sydney a band 5 antenna.
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A Q for @RFBurns possibly (or anyone else that knows).
I seem to recall that you stated that SCA and ARN stations sometimes broadcast from an alternate site (not Artarmon). Where is that?
I ask as I note, for some weeks, 2DAY and 2MMM will be stronger here than WS and KIIS, and then later they will seemingly switch around as WS and KIIS will be stronger for a few weeks. Sometimes they will all be the same strength.
I assume this is to do with that switching between sites. I assume the reason for that is to allow for maintenance to be done on each
Alternate site for SCA & ARN Sydney is Gore Hill.
Gore Hill is slightly less power output than Artarmon for SCA & ARN, due to limitations with the antenna system at Gore Hill, but within the licence area, it is very minimal, that coverage will change with the site change, yes, where youāre located, at a distance on the fringe, well outside the licence area, it may be noticed as a signal strength difference.
Yes, your reasoning for switching sites is generally correct.
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Great response, thanks.
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Does anyone know if there will be any movement with the homebush? Will 2gb and 2ue join together on the transmitter? Are there any longer term plans to move/close down homebush for am radio due the land value. The stations get move to FM or go down to Prestons and/or Blacktown.
My own thoughts:
There isnāt enough room left on the FM band for the AM stations to move there.
Prestons and Blacktown are a bit too far west to provide adequate coverage for the rest of Sydney at current power levels. Homebush is a good location because it is close to the geographic centre of the Sydney metro area.
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I agree there isnāt enough room on the FM band for AM stations to convert in markets like Sydney but at the same time, I wouldnāt be overly surprised if the AM broadcasters express a desire to be on FM in the future.
The Homebush AM transmitters are also a strategically good location for 2GB/MSR (both stations currently transmit there, right?) to be broadcasting from for sports coverage purposes, being located not that far from Olympic Park. 
Iāve mentioned on here before that I like what Japan is doing - expanding the FM band and using the expanded zone for AM conversions. While they officially only expanded the band from 90 to 95MHz at the top end, most radios designed to support up to 95MHz are full band 76-108MHz ones, which would be appropriate here.
As far as Iām aware thereās no other usage of that band in Australia, and it would largely be just a software change to support tuning across that full range on many radios.
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