My fm range in non tropo conditions is Goulburn (Eagle) with AS only.
Orange Nationals, / 2BS
Newcastle nationals
2ST Bowral / Power fm Knights Hill
Classic Middle Brother (very weak)
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I am finally getting around to organising a DX setup for here. Since my antenna back home was missing an element, I am getting a new FM-8. My main concern is interference which is quite high inside my place, though not fatal to long distance reception. Hopefully it isnāt as bad with an external antenna.
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Would you look at adding Dab+ dxing into your proposed setup for Canberra / Sydney openings?
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For cheap price & for small areas & with great performance where local noise is an issue consider a magnetic loop antenna with a high performance SDR.
Look here for good prices:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/
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Thanks for that suggestion ā I had already purchased the āYouLoopā antenna along with the Airspy HF+ Discovery. Now itās just a matter of waiting for it to arrive from China.
What do you use to pick up Middle Brother? An SDR? Or a traditional radio receiver?
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Some inland troppo tonight into Brisbane featuring PNN 93.5, 2GEM 95.1 Inverell , RN Mt Canobolas 104.3; Rockhampton ABCās also received. All were low level.
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Orange Radio National into Brisbane?
Thatās a good catch!
Is that a first?
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Just through the Digitech fm / dab+ tuner.
It has better sensitivity then my Yamaha av receiver that has poor sensitivity and suffers from overload.
I have excellent LOS to the north as I am close to the highest point in Stanhope Gardens. My LOS to the south is not so good as there is a higher ridge in that direction. This is what blocks out permanent reception of Eagle fm. My car radio can receive Eagle fm at Acacia Gardens at the top of the ridge.
My car radio can also pickup 98.7 Classic too at my location.
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I think itās been done once before. You need to be careful though, because thereās RN Meandarra on 104.3 as well. Easy to check whether itās on Toad Time or Roach Time.
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The first time, I received this it was uncertain which station.
Second time, it was confirmed.
Last night it was RN on NSW time.
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I was similarly trying the co-channel canceller out on the LPON frequencies and it works pretty well. For those not using an SDR, hereās a clip of me toggling it on and off, with it taking out 2RDJ at 88.1 to reveal a relatively clean Vintage FM on 88.0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjTxMgmUCzo (Canāt embed due to copyright claim)
Loud distorted co-channel noise warning for the video.
On a DXing note, Great Lakes FM was coming earlier this evening.
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104.3 reception was back tonight - but this time it was from the opposite direction PNN Mackay; also received MMM Mackay on 98.7. According to Google Mackay is 835 km away compared to 765km for Mt Canobolas.
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MW propagation to Asia was very good last night.
1143khz Taiwan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqfKztaXyc&feature=youtu.be
765khz China
918khz Cambodia (best signal yet!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhGbPxYE6Ms&feature=youtu.be
684khz China
1143khz National R. Hamilton NZ
909khz Southern Star Napier NZ
900khz Southern Star Dunedin NZ dominant over c/c 2LT
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Hopefully this can also be done for ABC Illawarra 97.3
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Agree that the stereo pilots are pretty much useless for the ABC Local Radio stations.
Music on it sounds a bit ā¦ wellā¦ weird.
Unless thereās any improvement in sound quality during local breakfast shifts etc.
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On another subject, nearly every hotel or motel Iāve stayed at has a fair amount of RF noise.
Not enough to impact reception of local stations, but plays havoc with non local stations.
Has anyone worked out what causes it? Eg. the MATV systems?
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In room AC fancoil units???
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It seems like those round dipoles arenāt entirely omnidirectional. I rotated mine and now seem to get the Orange nationals, ABC Classic Newcastle and Youth Radio as permanent reception (the Orange stations do fluctuate in strength though). Hereās an updated bandscan (with labels) ā a total of 67 receivable stations.
Iāve kept each station to 4 seconds to hopefully avoid any copyright claims.
So with the rotation, the updated permanent range is:
- West: Orange (~205 km)
- South: Kiama (~85 km)
- North: Newcastle (~125 km)
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Great band scan, yes these round dipoles are not omnidirectional because of the opening at the front and smaller one at the back where the f connector terminals are.
In my setup you can see the opening at the front is point NNW, so the most of the dipole is pointing SW to NE. The back of the antenna is pointing towards Sydney which gives a very slight null to reduce overload of the Sydney fm stations and any overload caused by the amplification of the masthead amplifier.
My reception is quite similar to yours with the exception of Power fm being weaker. Suprisingly your Orange reception is actually stronger on a couple of the stations, particularly Triple J and RN.
My Newcastle, Central Coast, Lithgow and 2ST Bowral reception is stronger because of my location. 2BS reception is much weaker here surprisingly.
Thanks for posting this up, you should do another one with a major tropo event or e-skip opening.
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BTW which way is your fm antenna pointing now, front opening section?
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