AM and FM DX

Some enhancement to the north in Brisbane tonight. First time I have decoded the RDS on 89.1 Hot FM Kingaroy. ID was 891HOTFM with song title and artist. No alternate frequency though (which would work quite well as it is a relay from 100.7 most of the day).

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I’m impressed that a small market like Kingaroy gets a comprehensive RDS service. Also means at least that 89.1 isn’t being fed “off air” from 100.7.

Compare that to Newcastle, where NONE of our 3 commercial FMers are yet to have song titlle/artist on their RDS, and 1 of them still has no RDS at all! (yes, I am looking at YOU, NEW FM !! :angry: ).

As for AF, I recall reading somewhere years ago that 89.1 was supposed to be getting a repeater on 95.1 at Gayndah… Sounds like that never happened? That would have also added to a case for the use of AF.

That’s because Kingaroy is a different licence to Toowoomba and there should have different ads and local content.
I believe this has been fed by an STL link from Toowoomba since 2013, although the licence still exists for the STL from the Kingaroy studios also.

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Turns out 2CR China Radio have got a narrowcast licence for 91.6 starting from 2 September 2016.

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The Tecsun 380 has a much smaller whip compared to the 390: AFAIK, only the 390 has the extended whip. With bunny-ears, the 380 would do OK since the DSP is the same, though I haven’t bothered to try it. My bunny-ears, though, are inferior to the 390’s whip!

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I don’t find much difference in terms of reception between the bunny ears and the extended whip. I use a $13 Crest brand ears that are available from Big W (without attaching the loop of course). Link below.

https://www.bigw.com.au/product/crest-indoor-antenna/p/WCC100000000206877/

But the advantage with the bunny ears is that I find I can rotate them to find a null or sweet spot (which often is in a spot that is not conducive to holding or placing the unit itself for very long) and then just sit down beside the ears with the Teccy to do some band scanning… It’s particularly useful for listening to some Sydney community stations that are a bit too diificult to listen too for long otherwise,

Was picking up some far and wide stations last night on my transistor radio

4KQ Brisbane
3AW Melbourne
2XL Cooma
ABC Victoria (Not sure exactly where it was from)

Which frequently? I think 594 Western Victoria (3WV Horsham) is the most likely

774 can be heard in Perth sometimes.

Yeah I think that was it.

The radio is a Sony ICF-P26

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2GB and 7BU coming in tonight in Melbourne.

7BU may even be receivable in the day time in Melbourne, particularly if you are Bayside.

Well in Inner Melbourne, it’s rarely receivable and if it is its not the best.

7BU isn’t a terribly irregular catch at night here in Sydney, from my observations of the AM band.

7BU and 7AD were good for 24-hour reception back down in Geelong, even 7LA and 7EX could often be heard. In fact, if I recall right when I was living in south-eastern Melbourne I could get better reception on 558 than I could on 531 from nearby Warragul. Back in the day they used to share playlists so if you found a good song it was better to listen to the Tasmanian station than the Victorian one :smiley:

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During my first sojourn down the Great Ocean Road in 1999, 7BU was the station of choice between Lorne and Apollo Bay- no 3CS/Mixx FM translators back then. On my trip earlier this year, with a much better car radio, I found that the Melbourne majors came in without difficulty. Sea FM from Burnie (101.7) regularly fades up via aircraft scatter at Apollo Bay, even in the absence of tropo.

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I can get 7BU pretty clear on the car radio during the day even in northern Melbourne. Same as tamago I find it usually comes in better than 3GG from Warragul on 531. Less stable is the reception of 7SD but from what I can ascertain 7SD and 7BU share the same playlist. Long gone are the days 7SD used to be easy listening and apparently (though i never heard this) still shut down for lunch hour even as late as the 1980s.

I can often get 2GB pretty clear too in the evenings. 2UE less frequently.

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Not a DX report but 3CS comes in like a local from Ocean Grove to North Melbourne and then drops out.

Anyways, I just pulled this signal report from my forum.

5/4/16

639 ABC Local Radio North and West SA, Port Pire SA, coming good 3RN coming over it.

648 ABC New England??? Tamworth or Kalgoorile, coming very faint.

666 ABC Local Radio Canberra, coming in faint, 3AW coming over it.

729 ABC Radio National Adelaide, coming in very well.\

810 ABC Local Radio SE NSW, Bega NSW, coming faintly

873 2GB Sydney, coming in good.

882 3YB Ace Radio Network Warrnambool, coming in faint to good.

891 ABC Local Radio Adelaide, coming in very well.

900 7AD Grant Broadcasters, Devonport very faint.

954 2UE Sydney, coming in faintly to good.

963 2RG Southern Cross radio, faint to good.

999 2?? Unknown if it was 2ST or ABC Local Radio Broken Hill, faint.

1053 2CA Canberra, coming very well like a local station.

1062 ABC Local Radio Riverland, Renmark SA, coming in good to very good.

1080 TOTE Sport Radio Hobart, coming in like a local.

1152 2WG Southern Cross Radio, coming in faintly.

1197 5RPH Adelaide, coming in like a local

That was not a full band scan

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Might not be a DX catch but.

ABC South East NSW (810KHz) Coming in tonight.

Also 2UE coming in under the EMI from my computer

I’ve caught Cruise 1323 from Adelaide in Melbourne. Surprised it didn’t get drowned out by others.

Even got 5AA on 1395 at one point but it was very patchy.