They will be able to fold back, you just have to know how to do it & use some force but not enough to break them.
They are made to be locked in the unfolded position for years, so they donāt fold back up in wild weather, but you should be able to push down (using your thumb) on the bottom black plastic pice where the element clips over a lip & into, while pulling the element back towards the boom (holding it close in to the boom, not out near the end of the element otherwise youāll bend the element).
For me turn off the Led lights in the living room and only have the one LED light on in the lounge room where the Hifi is, it causes minimal interference to reception.
When I have had electricians out I have mentioned the interference but none of them have been interested in looking at it.
That was an interesting read especially seeing the gain graph for their equivalent of the Matchmaster Omni fm antenna.
The biggest null is at the front of the antenna and a smaller null at the back. The sides of the antenna is where the antenna captures the most signal. If you watch the Matchmaster video for this fm antenna they actually aim the fm antenna in the wrong direction when it is suppose to be facing the same way as the tv antenna mounted higher up on the pole.
On my Matchmaster Omni fm antenna the highest gain is on the left side from the front of the antenna. So by having the front facing NNW the left side of the antenna points SSE. This allows me to get Power fm. If I point the front ESE the left hand side of the antenna then points towards the north, this gives me Rhema CC instead, strong enough to decode RDS.
I hope this helps everyone who uses this antenna to better direct their antenna for Dxing.
Currently in Merriwa for a few days. Only FM easily receivable here is
ABC 101.9 (stereo pilot)
Power FM 102.7
RN 103.5 (no pilot)
No lpons down the bottom.
If I get a chance and itās not freezing Iāll try some dx. Mudgee and Tamworth should be possible as well as coony and Dowe
I have received Merriwa 103.5 from Oatley believe it or not. It needed thumping tropo towards Tamworth/Coony though. Never a sniff out of 101.9 or 102.7 as Orange is too strong.
You can just hear 102.7 Merriwa west of
Cassilis but itās heavily mixed with Orange. I have never been to Merriwa itself; it might have to feature on a Bungendore- Coffs road trip.
There is no reception of 102.7 in Sandy Hollow either.
Yes, the town is in a bit of a gully, not a great spot for DXing, particularly for FM.
There did used to be SBS on 104.3 as well, but was off air when I passed through there 3 weeks ago too.
None of them get out of town very far, 20 kms west of town and the Orange nationals on 101.9 and 102.7 can start to be heard.
Enjoy your stay, hope those mornings donāt get too cold!
I got this (and 101.9) on a west facing VHF 3-5A antenna in Newcastle once ā¦ usually itās Orange, Batemans Bay or Armidale on those frequencies here, if any of those.
So it sounds like you donāt go out of range to the west, they just get bumped by Orange? Can see the tx site just north west of the town. Looks like TV is vertical UHF from there.
Yes Merriwa township is unfortunely lower than the surrounding hills which would make great dx spots.
Iām guessing Power FM didnāt add RDS to this 102.7 FM transmitter/relay unlike 98.1 which supposedly has it?
Hepburn Tropo Maps doesnāt predict any tropo in SE states until Thu or so.
But with the Winter solstice here, might be worthwhile checking the FM band during the middle of the day for some weak SpE. Have heard low freq NZ FM on the east coast.
On another FM reception topic, it seams that WHCR 89.9 now has a better signal.
ACMA records for three of the Hawkesbury TCBLs on 89.9 are missing, maybe a changed transmitter site? Something has happened.
Going west from Sandy Hollow you start to climb immediately then drop down again into Merriwa so Im not surprised it doesnt make it that far. Obviously itās enough to shade Orange as well. I donāt know the road further west until you get near Dunedoo so Iām guessing Cassilis or nearabouts is the top of the range?
102.7 has full RDS tooā¦ was there 3 weeks ago for me,
Cassilis Park (48 kms west of Merriwa is just a couple of kms east of the top of the Range) and is a very good DX spot. Itās a big rest stop with heaps of parking, tables and toilets. Itās 12 kms west of Cassilis.
You guessed correctly, Cassilis is elevated, near the top of the catchment/watershed.
Enjoy Merriwa @matt86, itās a lovely town. Can highly recommend Sansko Cafe, Eat @ 153, Merriwa Cakes & Pastries, the RSL, Bits 'n Pizzas, Merriwa Royal Hotel. IGA is great for a small town.
Got time on your hands? Try the newly upgraded road from Merriwa to Willow Tree, up the Coulsonās Creek Valley to the watershed into the Liverpool Plains Shire and Jones Creek.
The TV out there is quite interesting too, the Upper Hunter IBL feeds NBN to Merriwaās TX and to Collaroy which are all on the same plane. Then Collaroy feeds Cassilis. Great engineering by NBN, by this time, owned by Nine and still happy to invest in retaining analogue coverage levels. Park the map marker on the Collaroy TX site for coverage views of all four sites:
Radio is good in Merriwa, 102.7 welcome need for 98.1 yet 98.1 is immediately fine as soon as you climb out of town to the east. NM needs a translator there too, pity Janet and family donāt have the same commitment to coverage that NBN has.
The Canobolas and Cenn Cruiach signals are persistent towards the east along the Golden towards Merriwa.
