AM and FM DX

[Weeman88]

Visiting family in Adelaide and currently picking up 1422 3XY from West Beach on my XHDATA D-808 at 3pm (no loop required!) - confirmed via streaming. Gotta love winter daylight hours.

[dxnerd]

Good bandscan @tvcl. You seem to be enjoying the Central Tablelands lately. Why not make a tree (and snow) change?

[tvcl]

@dxer2_2000

wouldn’t 88.1 be 2RDJ given reports that the 2BS/t is off air?

Thanks, fixed.

@dxnerd

You seem to be enjoying the Central Tablelands lately. Why not make a tree (and snow) change?

I thought Bell was in the Blue Mountains still? Can’t move out of Sydney because of work, however.

[dxnerd]

@tvcl

I thought Bell was in the Blue Mountains still?

Correct- but the Blue Mountains are part of the Central Tablelands forecast district. Commuting from Blackheath or Mount Vic to Sydney is tough but doable. Part time with telecommuting is your best bet. A couple of my old high school teachers did Katoomba and Leura to the Sydney CBD each day. Easier if the job is in Penrith or Parramatta.

Coony is loud and clear on 105.5 btw. I reckon 93.5 is Dubbo rather than Goulburn also.

[Laoma]

@tvcl

91.3 - 2PNN Lithgow (City) (9 km, 0.1 kW)

Interesting C91.3 doesn’t win that battle. Certainly at Katoomba C91.3 is a local station basically. 91.3 Newsradio is not very powerful. I guess it’s super close but I would of thought it would get shielded by the topography of the land. A bit like a 89.9 Hawkesbury FM gets wiped out pretty quick as you travel west.

[tvcl]

@dxnerd

Correct- but the Blue Mountains are part of the Central Tablelands forecast district.

Interesting. I didn’t know that.

@dxnerd

Part time with telecommuting is your best bet.

The boss doesn’t like work-from-home, unfortunately.

@dxnerd

Coony is loud and clear on 105.5 btw.

Whoops. Missed that one somehow. Fixed now.

So only three frequencies without reception of any stations. I wonder if there’s anywhere in Australia where every single frequency is occupied (without the use of a yagi/amplifier).

@dxnerd

I reckon 93.5 is Dubbo rather than Goulburn also.

Thanks. Added.

@Laoma

I would of thought it would get shielded by the topography of the land.

View from the DX spot on Old Bells Line of Road:

[Radiohead]

@tvcl

So only three frequencies without reception of any stations. I wonder if there’s anywhere in Australia where every single frequency is occupied (without the use of a yagi/amplifier).

I’d bet that there isn’t (at least without tropo). With that from the south, you could get Canberra and Goulburn to complete the centenary of frequencies.

At home there is only one frequency that I’ve not yet conquered (103.1). But obviously never all at the same time!

[RFBurns]

Great Bandscan, just a few minor details:

107.7 - 2GGO is 16kW (same as other Gosford Commercials)
102.9 - 2KKO is 20kW (same as other Newcastle Commercials)
100.5 - 2RPH, are you sure it wasn’t 2RPH Newcastle at 4kW?
98.5 - 2OOO is at Artarmon on the same antenna as 103.2 - 2CBA so km distance would be 96km.

[Radiohead]

@RFBurns

100.5 - 2RPH, are you sure it wasn’t 2RPH Newcastle at 4kW?

It would be hard to tell unless a Newcastle Herald read is on, as that’s the only programming difference I think.

And that they are almost in sync these days. For that reason, it’s now more difficult for me to tell when 2RPH Sydney City is overriding Newcastle during tropo when on shared programming.

[tvcl]

Thanks for those corrections, RFBurns. I’ll update the list.

Regarding 2GGO and 2KKO, those figures are directly from the ACMA’s Broadcast Transmitter document, so it looks like there might be some errors in there. Same goes for the location of the 2OOO transmitter.

As for 2RPH, I guess I can’t really tell. At the location where I was, 2RPH Sydney East was 103km away and Newcastle was 137km away.

[dxnerd]

@Radiohead

@tvcl

So only three frequencies without reception of any stations. I wonder if there’s anywhere in Australia where every single frequency is occupied (without the use of a yagi/amplifier).

I’d bet that there isn’t (at least without tropo). With that from the south, you could get Canberra and Goulburn to complete the centenary of frequencies.

I reckon a high point in the southern Blue Mountains (around Kanangra Walls) would be the closest, as you could get Goulburn and Canberra on 89.5, 94.3, 103.3 and 104.7. 103.1 would be the only toughie; they have used it on Black Mountain in the past though. Otherwise you’d need tropo from Tamworth to complete the set. Shooters Hill summit may also be a chance as 89.5 Goulburn can be received there, but a lot of the sub-metro Sydney stations are weaker.

I have never been to Kanangra Walls so perhaps you could try that next @tvcl.

[ozbark]

@RFBurns

Great Bandscan, just a few minor details:

Amazing bandscan.
And @tvcl (for the sake of correctness re typo) 88.1 2RDJ is of course from Burwood.

[tvcl]

@dxnerd

I reckon a high point in the southern Blue Mountains (around Kanangra Walls)

I haven’t been to Kanangra Walls in close to 20 years – might be time to revisit.

@dxnerd

Otherwise you’d need tropo from Tamworth to complete the set.

Do you think the Tamworth stations I got at Bell were tropo? Or normal reception?

@ozbark

And @tvcl (for the sake of correctness re typo) 88.1 2RDJ is of course from Burwood.

Thanks. Typo fixed.

[dxnerd]

@tvcl

Do you think the Tamworth stations I got at Bell were tropo? Or normal reception?

Probably permanent weak reception at Bell. The strength of Coony is a dead giveaway.

I am surprised @Radiohead has never logged Tamworth on 103.1. I think I had it breaking through the 103.2 mush at Oatley one time. I definitely had Hot FM/hit 103.1 Townsville via Es and quite strong. On 103.3, I’ve logged both Albury and Muswellbrook, and I think Barcaldine TAB via Es (Goulburn uses vertical pol).

[Radiohead]

@dxnerd

I am surprised @Radiohead has never logged Tamworth on 103.1

Not at home because I’m in a south facing apartment, and signals from the north/north west are shielded by neighbours, but some parts of Newcastle get virtually permanent reception of the Tamworth ABCs.

[RFBurns]

@tvcl

Regarding 2GGO and 2KKO, those figures are directly from the ACMA’s Broadcast Transmitter document, so it looks like there might be some errors in there. Same goes for the location of the 2OOO transmitter.

No big problem I knew where you got the info from, 2OOO moved to Artarmon about 6 - 8 weeks ago, so it wouldn’t have been updated yet.

2KKO, those details just showed up in the ACMA database a few years ago when they replaced the transmitters, but I’ve never been able to get a SCA tech to confirm they changed, & I have never found any evidence they changed from 20kW to 8kW, if they had’ve that’s less than half power, so the 2KKO coverage would be less than half of NEW & 2XXX, but it’s not.

I don’t know when the 2GGO details changed, but again it won’t be correct, no commercial station is going to drop power without a huge fight, & being absolutely forced to do so, & if that was the case, we’d all know about it, as it’d be quite newsworthy in our circles.

There’s known deliberate errors in the ACMA database & has been for years. they change the incorrect details occasionally, & I believe it’s done so ACMA can detect who publishes/copies the database without approval.

[tvcl]

Thanks for the interesting details.

@RFBurns

I believe it’s done so ACMA can detect who publishes/copies the database without approval.

Isn’t the database licensed as Creative Commons now anyway though?

Here’s a map of the bandscan’s reception locations. The rings are 50 km.

I’d be curious as to what TV transmitters you could get at Bell. Unfortunately, lugging around a UHF yagi with pre-amp and TV tuner isn’t as easy to do .

[dxnerd]

Notice you list 2BS Blayney. This is one of the weakest 2BS translators. It was even weak around Neville, 20 km or so south of Blayney. I have had it weak from Bungendore hill though. I’d say you had 2GLF…unless you grabbed an ID?

Sofala 90.1 is much easier to get but even here you had 2NBC all on its own with RDS.

[tvcl]

Yes, it could have been 2GLF. They’re about the same distance but since 2BS was 1kW and 2GLF 0.08kW, I had assumed 2BS. I’ll update the list. Thanks.

[gordo92]

@TV-Expert

Come to think of it, that actually could’ve been 4CC from Biolela, which uses the “Classic Hits” positioner.

Yes would be 4CC Bilo, as Mount Isa would be to far away to hear down that far, and 4CC is quite loud on the dial when i looked after it