Pretty much my experience around southern Sydney as well. Re. mono, someone mentioned in the AM conversions thread that they haven’t switched on stereo yet but presumably will do so once 95.1 is out of ‘beta’.
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No sign of 95.1 2BS here near Newcastle. I didn’t expect to hear it as B Rock only makes occasional appearances here, since there is a lot of hilly terrain between Newcastle and Bathurst.
Lithgow only just makes it here also.
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I suspect the slight gap in the Blue Mountains around Lake Burragorang/Coxs River helps reception from the Central Tablelands here. This gap is on roughly the same bearing as Bathurst and Orange from here.
The Newcastle- Bathurst transect has roughly three ranges: the main GDR, as well as the Yengo/Putty ranges and finally the Watagans/Sugarloaf.
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Bit of inland tropo this morning on the way to work at Rouse Hill.
News Radio, RN and Triple J Tamworth on the Tucson car radio.
Eagle fm quite strong too.
No coastal tropo at this stage.
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Yes & 94.3 SkySportsR here as well. Also appearances of 101.5 & 103.9 Canberra.
Better reception of 95.1 2BS.
Maybe better inland tropo tomorrow morning…
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Did the border blasters ever make good listening in Australia?
I used to only ever be able to pick up one in Timaru - XERB…
North of the border, KNX was pretty clear and loud most winter early mornings… and KDAY every so often.
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Big tropo occurring right now between Sydney and NZ. I only have the Tecsun at the moment but nevertheless 91.6 (Kaitaia) and 103.4 (Hamilton) are blasting in. 91.8 Auckland is also there at weaker levels. You should be able to get these anywhere along the coast on a car radio.
Re MW DX from North America- it can still be done, but you generally have to be on the coast with help from a loop or longwire antenna. I get the modern day border blaster XERF on 1570 quite often with a portable and 70 cm PK loop.
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I’m in Narooma and I could pick up quite a few New Zealand stations.
Here’s Newstalk ZB received with a Skoda Fabia:
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Well done. That’s great selectivity too to separate from 100.1 JJJ. 100.2 Newstalk ZB is from the (lower) Ruru site near Hamilton, quite a bit tougher to receive than the high powered Mt. Te Aroha stations (91.4,94.6,98.6,101.0,103.4). Narooma is a prime location for DX from NZ on both FM and AM. Do you live down there or are you just visiting?
My efforts from this arvo:
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I’m just visiting for the weekend from Canberra.
This is my 1st international catch!
I’ve recorded a video where I scan the whole band, which I’ll upload when I get back home.
In general, when is the best time to do FM DXing?
I know with AM, it’s at night time. FM is hit and miss.
Most times I check the band, there isn’t much of interest.
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Tropo from New Zealand- which occurred today- is a relatively rare occurrence. A good summer will see about 3-4 events. It generally happens when there’s a strong stationary high pressure system in the Tasman Sea. These usually produce heatwave conditions in SA/VIC/inland NSW but milder, humid conditions along the NSW coast under NE winds. The temperature inversion created over the sea in such weather is very strong and can support tropo ducting all the way to NZ. I’ve found that there’s no clear diurnal pattern with NZ tropo as with ‘garden variety’ coastal tropo but it often peaks in the afternoon and early evening.
Tropo along the NSW coast occurs fairly frequently in the warm season (October-March). Sunny days with a NE wind are generally best. Signals are usually best early evening as the seabreeze reaches higher into the atmosphere. In Canberra, look for the emergence of an easterly change, often occurring around 1800.
Great Dividing Range and inland tropo also happens in Canberra and can occur in the cooler months as well. Signals are best early morning.
Finally, to E- skip (Es) which occurs from mid November to mid February in the Southern Hemisphere. This involves reception off the ionosphere and is unpredictable by nature. Common catches from Canberra via Es include far north QLD, NZ, New Caledonia, Alice Springs and South Australia. Less frequently, the Pacific Islands and Western Australia can be received via double hop Es (‘2Es’).
For more info on DXing, I’d search FM DXing on the web and there are plenty of videos on YouTube.
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No NZ tropo for me, but getting some great catches up and down the Coast.
.Eagle Fm in stereo with RDS.
.All Middle Brother except Triple J
.Great Lakes Fm
.Triple J Grafton / Coffs Harbour (just above noise floor to medium and in stereo at times
. All Newcastle Fm, Triple M strongest of Fm commercials flowed by Hit, New and 2NUR
.Power Fm briefly over Rhema
. 2BS on 95.1 weak
. Hit 102.3 Mid North Coast (very weak)
. News Radio Canberra (very weak)
103.5 ABC Local radio Batemans Bay (very weak)
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More Fm Kaitaia now being received on 91.6 in Stanhope Gardens on Digitech Fm / Dab+ tuner connected to outdoor omni Fm antenna. I am approx 40km from the Coast. Weak to moderate strength going from mono to stereo. This is my new record tropo catch at approx 2060km.
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tropo to Hamilton NZ was very strong here between 3am ~ 4am. Link to YT videos:
91.4 Hamilton https://youtu.be/XM2mHwH0JBc
103.4 Hamilton https://youtu.be/iRd0Z_C8oug
101.0 National Radio https://youtu.be/FX09ywtFhJE
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Another one from last night:
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some more videos of this mornings NZ tropo
89.4 Auckland https://youtu.be/5dMJt7VLsAs
100.6 R.Live https://youtu.be/RHhvjUyPJq8
92.6 Concert https://youtu.be/qMtxaq1qYkU
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What an incredible weekend of tropo, one of the best especially with the NZ catches by myself and other members on this forum.
For me the morning enhancements hung around quite late to almost 12pm, with Newcastle commercial fm’s, and Eagle Fm going quite strong to then.
Around 4pm Middle Brother, Great Lakes Community, Newcastle commercial fm, Port Stephens, and Kempsey / Grafton Nationals, where in, and they are still receivable now.
Central Coast community fm stations are exceptionally weak at present which is allowing Triple J Middle Bro, and Power fm Nowra to be received. I have also had no Wollongong tv for most of the day due to the ducting.
That will probably be it for tropo for a little while as humid troughy (possibly stormy) weather establishes itself during this week. NZ was still about yesterday until mid afternoon when a weak southerly pulse and isolated storm activity disrupted the path.
Enhanced reception tonight into Brisbane. ABC stations from Middle Brother the furthest to the south at good levels. Also Grafton stations with good ABC and slight enhancement of Coffs commercials though, as there is also an opening to the north, they are fighting Rockhampton ABCs on the same frequencies.
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First time for this newbie getting tropo in Geelong, picked up Shepparton ABC, Hit and Triple M.
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