Thanks @crankymedia
Went up to Monument Hill in Albury this afternoon.
Main notes
What about Hit 93.1 Wagga? this can normally be picked up in Albury and from the lookout.
Yes, did get Hit 93.1 from the Monument Lookout though it wasnāt as noteworthy having come from that direction and having received it in Canberra.
Still no RDS on that station either!
Probably still getting over their blunder of bending the AM stick.
Now thereās a great town to DX from or Cabramurra, highest town in Oz.
Drove across the Blue Mountains this morning (from Bathurst into Sydney, before heading back home to Newcastle).
A few notes
Atop Mt Panorama this morning, could get weakish Sydney stations, but they couldnāt be consistently received in the car until about 30 kms west of Lithgow.
Low powered Lithgow ABCs were lost about 10kms east of Lithgow. Was quite odd to hear 2MFM on 92.1 there instead of the local RN. Same with C91.3 cutting in over News Radio.
Up the Blue Mountains, Orange stations were solid until I got past Katoomba. They disappeared quite quickly after that, though that was not surprising.
The surprising part was that the Katoomba 2LT and Move repeaters didnāt seem to have a great reach westward. Could only start to get them about 15 kms west of Lithgow.
Iām in the Gili Islands in the Lombok region of Indonesia right now (absolutely blissful too, thanks for asking) and while itās not planned as a a nerd trip I did pull the Tecsun out last night. Got a clear enough (although co-channeled) ABC radio on 702 amongst the noise from the local electrical equipment, one of the very few English language services I received.
I understand thereās something from Karratha there? Pity really, would have been something to nail 2BL from that far away.
Will have to have a go somewhere away from the noise sources if I get a chance. And canāt help but think it might have been fun had I brought the AM loop along
Yes, also ABC Local Radio (6KP).
They are the only 2 stations in Oz using 702.
Plenty of the ABC freqs are co channelled from east to west, so you pick up the echo of the delivery delay to the west if you can pick both up overnight when on common programming eg Nightlife and overnights.
Iād like to go to East Timor and see what the reception is like. Being just 500km from Darwin, FM and DAB+ tropo should be possible and AM definitely. Esp with as you write a Tecsun et al and a tuned loop.
I found the same when i was in Bathurst, weak Sydney fm reception was possible from Rydges Mt Panorama to the top of Skyline. Best reception was along Skyline. I have had Sydney fm reception in town strongest stations Smooth / Nova.
Good Sydney fm car reception starts at Yetholme / Sunny Corner, and then drops as you go into the Lithgow valley.
Back to strong once you go up the hill to Clarence.
Lithgow low powered stations were gone by Clarence.
2LT / Move Fm from Katoomba loose reception as you go down the Victoria pass, even the Edge 96.1 was quite weak in Little Hartley. Sydney fm was quite good at the bottom of the Victoria Pass.
Some very good inland Winter tropo tonight on the Tucson car radio in Stanhope Gardens.
2BS Fm very strong almost seeking, donāt understand why they stopped broadcasting in stereo???
All orange fm stations received including commercial and communities
Canberra Fm including 2XX Fm
2ST very strong in perfect stereo and seeking on car radio.
Eagle fm received and Power fm over Rhema CC.
I was in Bathurst a couple of days ago, and I think there is a stereo pilot, but EVERYTHING on it was monoā¦ all the promos etcā¦
Conditions somewhat favourable tonight for some dxing here in Renmark S.A, picked up long distance from various locations on my Mumās car radio with varying signal strengths:
If that is the case they must have turned it off again. What I donāt understand why would they not broadcast in stereo, everyone is doing it except 2RSR.
They must be the only commercial fm station in Australia to be only broadcasting in mono.
Maybe 2BSā stereo link to the transmitter dropped out and they couldnāt be bothered fixing it (especially with much of their programming being from 2GB, donāt know if their programming feeds to regionals are made available in full stereo) for as long as it isnāt dead air? Who knows.
88.9FM Richmond Valley Radio was only in mono the last I heard.
I canāt speak for literally every FM station to broadcast in Australia, but Iād imagine that thereās a few other FM stations (especially in rural/remote areas) that are only broadcasting in mono.
TBH - most people donāt really care about stereo & most car radios these days lack a stereo indicator, so itās not really a priority for broadcasters as it used to be. Plus you get better coverage in mono than stereo.
Though having said that, one of the reasons why the ACMA is allowing broadcasters to convert to FM is so that listeners will get better sound quality.
To my ears, the difference is negligble on FM when in mono, though you are less likely to get electrical noise.
So Iām not convinced that 2BS broadcasting in mono is in the ātrue spiritā of the process, but from what I heard this week, they donāt play much music anyhow.
I also fear that this is exactly what Caralis will do with his stations when they convert.
When 2BS were testing they did not switch on the Stereo pilot, they then turned it on, and since then it has been switched off.
I read somewhere that the owners took a lot of pride in the quality of their broadcasts. 2BS goes against that.
Moved on from the islands and now in Ubud, central Bali. Again noise etc is a problem but managed the below last night:
31/5/19 approx 2230 ICT/AWST (0030 AEST on 01/06)
891 ABC Local Radio Adelaide, SA
873 ABC Local Radio Derby, WA
729 RN Adelaide, SA
702 ABC Local Radio Karratha, WA
675 ABC Local Radio Broome, WA
558 ABC Local Radio Wagin, WA
531 ABC Local Radio Dalliwinu, WA
Adelaide was the highlight of this, caught their midnight news with the SA weather forecast at the end. Catching RN from the same location made it a clear confirmation. The rest being WA based make a bit more sense in this part of the world given the proximity.
Iām sure thereās other international DX here too, Iām hearing many bits that sound more like Chinese language broadcasts than Indonesian, but itās a lot easier to pick the English language ones out and ID them
Hows the local radio in Bali, any formats in English? Are they high power FM stations or lots of low power ones.
Those Orange stations really do get out there (unless there was tropo today?). I was able to get them clearly and with RDS at Wee Jasper more than 200km south. They also came in at Weereewa Lookout, near Canberra. Theyāre also permanent at higher points in my suburb in Sydney.
On a related note, a quick bandscan today at Weereewa Lookout pulled in stations from Canberra, the Southern Highlands, Sydney, Goulburn, Bathurst, Batemans Bay, Cooma and SW Slopes/E Riverina.
Can also confirm othersā reports of Eagle FM having images all over the FM broadcast band around the Goulburn area and mixing with other stations.
