AM and FM DX

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321

I do too!

I am 10 mins south of Newcastle and on a hill with a great take off to the south, and I can only really get Power 94.9 with a reasonable degree of tropo - that needs to be strong enough to break though Rhema 94.9 from Gosford.

The only possibility is if Rhema was off air for any reason,

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322

In this location of Sydney, 94.9 Power FM only ever really comes in when thereā€™s some decent tropo from the South or if Rhema Central Coast is off air.

323

Is he sure heā€™s not talking about Power FM Muswellbrook? Different frequency, I know, but probably the most likely Power FM to have reception there.

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324

There is tropo around tonight here in Stanhope Gardens at 8:30pm EST.

The highlight is picking up ABC Classic Fm from Mt Dowe on 96.7, weak under the splatter of Nova. No Tamworth from Mt Soma.

Canberra fm and Orange fm enhanced.
Goulburn slight enhancement.
Middle Brother slight enhancement too.

Newcastle at non tropo levels.

325

Thatā€™s what I initially suspected as well, however he is adamant that he was able to receive Power FM on the 94.9 MHz frequency about 30 minutes south of Newcastle. Maybe he has just misidentified the station he was listening to, but itā€™s hard to know for sure!

326

Whatever the test broadcast on 89.9 in Brisbane is for, it ainā€™t the Ekka! Still a blank stereo carrier.

327

I could get ABC Illawarra on 97.3 and abc news radio 90.9 from Perisher today.

328

Well Done! Knights Hill Illawarra puts up a big signal. I was able to receive 90.9, 97.3 and 98.9 (and presumably 95.7) from Forbes a few moths ago. 97.3 and 98.9 are normally occupied by fringe reception from Griffith and it was getting over them.

329

Well, these warm clear late winter days and nights is delivering some reasonable tropo for this time of year. Some notes

  • I can get the 91.6 clear carrier from Sydney with a stereo pilot up here at Charlestown (near Newcastle).
  • The fact that I can get most Sydney suburban stations in clear mono or better (exceptions being 2RDJ, 2SSR, 2BAC and 2WOW) and that the Sydney wide 2SER is worse than ALL of these, being receivable only in staticy mono, reinforces to me just how BAD 2SERā€™s signal really is northwards.
  • Strong signals from Wollongong and Sydney wide stations, faint ABC South Coast and very faint Canberra ABCs received.
  • The ducting is otherwise pretty coastal with nothing notable being received from the other side of the ranges, and Blue Mountains and nearby stations receiving no enhancement.
330

Yep, I can get that one as a local signal. Presumably because temporary broadcasts are reasonably common on 91.6, they couldnā€™t be bothered to switch it off? :stuck_out_tongue:

In this location of Sydney, reception of the ABC and commercial stations from Knights Hill seems to be better than usual tonight. No RDS, but rather clear stereo signals of Wave FM and i98 with a weak signal of 94.9 Power FM Nowra coming over Rhema Central Coast at times.

Meanwhile from the North, JJJ 102.1 and Classic FM 106.1 in fairly clear stereo while KOFM is trying to come in over 2ST on 102.9.

All in all nothing overly exciting, but certainly not too bad for this time of yearā€¦

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331

Oh, I meant to addā€¦

91.6 is interfering with 91.7 2ST, so much so that I have to tune to 91.73 on the Teccy to hear it clearly!

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332

Yeah, that 91.6 is a pain in the derriĆØre. Iā€™m impressed that my Holden Astraā€™s stock receiver (Blaupunkt CD series, 2006) can resolve weak 91.7 2ST via aircraft scatter, by automatically narrowing its bandwidth. Paradoxically, when 91.7 increases in strength, 91.6 causes trouble once more because the receiver reverts to the default wide bandwidth. The Astra takes about 5 seconds to switch to the narrower bandwidth upon tuning to 91.7. Matt can vouch for all this as heā€™s seen it first hand!

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333

For the benefit of RF Burns and any other mildly interested parties, I can now receive Rhema Gosford quite clearly, in a null of Power Nowra. Thatā€™s quite difficult to achieve in my south-facing locale. Zero tropo tonight with a gusty northerly blowing.

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334

Thanks! From a more than mildly interested ā€œpartyā€.

What Sydney suburb are you in?

335

Iā€™m in the newly formed Georges River Council, about 3 km from the 2NBC tower ;). The above reception was with the Tecsun 390, not the XDR+Yagi.

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336

Thanks!
Thatā€™s the same Teccy model I have.
Fantastic radio.
Quite possibly the best $90 (?) I ever spent.

337

Treat with kid gloves as theyā€™re no longer manufactured! I donā€™t think thereā€™s a newer model with equivalent performance.

Thereā€™s one for sale on the German eBay:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TECSUN-PL-390-STEREO-Weltempfanger-/172196613425?hash=item2817b7cd31:g:Zj0AAOSwHQ9WWasM

Iā€™m lucky that I have two units that I purchased relatively cheaply.

338

Curses!
Mine is falling apart.
The number ā€œ3ā€ on the keypad doesnā€™t work properly, and the telescopic aerial wobbles a fair bit. But I plug a pair of rabbit ears into it to get around that, and that gives better reception too.

339

Yeah, I also have a pair of bunny ears, as the ant on Tecsun #1 is broken. I also have a PL-380, but its performance is definitely inferior to the 390.

340

Inferior?
On FM, or just AM?

I know on AM that the 380 has a smaller ferrite rod, and I thought the ONLY other difference to the 390 was the single speaker on 380 vs dual set up on 390.

I noted on Tecsun Australiaā€™s website that they have the PL-310ET.
Not sure what the performance is like compared to the 390.
I did buy the 880 from them, but I also found FM inferior to the 390.
So yes, more expensive doesnā€™t necessarily mean better in some respects.

I had been considering the 310ET as a replacement for the 390, having local back up would also give a bit of peace of mind compared to buying off eBay.