It looks like tropo enhancements are marginal at best this morning but I am receiving 2HD 90.5 on the work truck radio in Berowra Heights. It is very weak but at similar levels to Hit 106.9 and Rhema 99.7.
On north facing hills it was 2HD, and south facing hills Alive 90.5.
Generally Alive 90.5 was the more dominate station.
102.9 Triple M is blocked by 2ST.
Was 105.3 NEW FM or KIX for you?
Could not receive either, the sensitivity on the Fuso truck radio is quite poor for a fm / dab+ radio.
The ultimate FM antenna
The furthest south reception of 90.5 2HD into Sydney is possible is to M1 freeway entrance between Berowra and Mt Kuring-ha. At the top of the interchange LOS to the north is very good, and reception is the strongest I had experience within the area.
After this Alive 90.5 was dominant back into Sydney.
Had some skip today, mostly from central and briefly southern Queensland. New Caledonia also made an appearance.
The best catch was probably 2ABCRR Bonalbo (suspected) with the cricket on 91.3. This was received coincident with Gold Coast FM. First time Iāve heard even a whiff of this station; very short intrastate skip. Had a station briefly fade up on 89.7 with music which could have been 2TEN Tenterfield.
Sunraysiaās River1467 currently clear in Traralgon
River1467 gets out a fair way
The best catch was probably 2ABCRR Bonalbo (suspected) with the cricket on 91.3
That site was a 100W NEC into a simple antenna(may have been 1 or 2 bays) on a hill overlooking Bonalbo last time I was there. Not really a DX candidate like Mt Mckenzie at Tenterfield is, so shows how important E layer is in DX on VHF.
From this morning:
Thatās @tx42 's station I think?
Yes- he was kind enough to give us a shoutout on the RDS (VK2KRR near Wagga also received it).
Hi all, just recently purchased a 4 element FM Yagi to get into FM dxing as i havenāt really got into it before and I would be interested if anybody could give me a few pointers of some stations that I could potentially try to test out some fairly distant DX. Currently the antenna hasnāt been erected however I have done some tests just holding it above my head outdoors and so far I have been able to pick up most Ballarat and Bendigo commercial broadcasters from here in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, as well as Flow FM 106.3 which I have never received before. Iām just interested to know of any other frequencies that I could potentially test it with before I get around to erecting it.
Any help or info would be appreciated,
Thanks.
Edit: Iām now hearing Coast FM Warrnambool, so it must be working!
Welcome aboard! The worldās your oyster when it comes to FM DX depending on atmospheric conditions, so anything is possible.
I used to live in Geelong and inner eastern Melbourne, and with a plain old yagi (or even just the VHF TV antenna) Iād have fairly reliable reception from Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and sometimes even Albury (bearing in mind our antenna was aiming NE at the time). For Shep try 94.5 (JJJ), 95.3 (MMM), 96.1 (Classic), 96.9 (Hit) and 97.7 (ABC Radio, though 3SER from SE Melbourne can be problematic). For Albury 103.3 (JJJ) was often there.
When thereās tropospheric ducting about the ABC stations from northern Tasmania often make an appearance, try 90.9 (JJJ), 91.7 (ABC Radio), 92.5, 93.3 and 94.1. If conditions are really good 90.1 (Chilli) and maybe even 89.3 (LAFM Launceston, if Geelongās Country station isnāt in the way) are possible. If Northern Tassie is booming in do check the dial, there are plenty of commercial stations on the northern coast that often come into Victoria, and theyāre often offset 0.2MHz from the locals so a good receiver can pick them up.
The fact that you have 95.3 Coast FM is a good sign, thatās only really ever in Melbourne when conditions are good. That frequency can be a good barometer, sometimes it will be Shepparton and sometimes Warrnambool, depending on the day. Also check 106.3, as Mixx FM Colac can sometimes beat out Flow FM Healesville. Likewise 96.1 can sometimes be Hit Mt Gambier, so keep an eye on that, especially if Coast FM is in.
Of course, if Sporadic E-skip kicks in you could pick up stuff from anywhere across the country, but that can be a lot more fickle.
If you want to get into Sporadic-E (āskipā) FM DXing and donāt want the additional expense of a communications receiver and a Band I antenna (to pick up 50 MHz ham stuff), Iād recommend signing up to VKSpotter as well. Good activity on 50 MHz- the six metre ham band- almost always precedes an E-skip opening on FM. This is because these lower frequencies skip more readily than 88-108 MHz.
Without the early warning from the 50 MHz ham band, youāre really stabbing in the dark these days. It was much better when there were Band I TV stations all over; these were a much better indicator for FM DX. But alas, we have to work with what we have (the phrase āany port in a stormā comes to mind). Itās called Sporadic-E for a reason and you need to be monitoring hard (in December/January) for the best results.
To be honest, FM DXing is really only worth pursuing big time in the warmer months of the year. You do get the odd good tropo opening in winter and a bit of E-skip around the winter solstice, but probably better to pursue other interestsā¦particularly if thereās a significant other in your life 
@tamago_otoko Thank You very much for the detailed information, Iām very excited to get into the world of FM Dxing. I tried for Triple J Shepparton on 94.5 with no luck however did hear UGFM on that frequency and a classical station which I couldnāt identify. Iāll keep trying for some more distant stations, hopefully when I get around to properly mounting my antenna it will make a big difference. Thanks again.
I have the most exciting news to report. 92.5 SBS Batlow is back on air, once more with full SBS programming! So if youāre receiving a strange foreign language broadcast coincident with skip to SE NSW or NE VIC, this is likely the one.
It was razed during the bushfires two years ago and airing the VAST Ch 800 loop before thatā¦and ONE HD before that.
Interesting, a lot of them were getting switched off over the last few years. I thought 92.5 in Batlow would have been gone for good as well.
I recall in my road trip off western and southern NSW in June 2020, Cobar was only true shining light of SBS, with stations on air on BOTH 105.3 and 106.9.
Getting some good ducting tonight.
Despite my poor line of sight to the north, still managed to get Coffs Harbour ABCs (except 99.5 blocked by Move) plus Port Macquarie Hit102.3 and Triple M 100.7 with RDS. Kempsey Triple M 106.7 also received (no RDS) Hit105.1 buried under NEW FM splatter.
To the south, Mt Wandera ABCs received on 101.9 and 103.5. And most Sydney community stations were received too, including the hard to get 2WOW 100.7 (in a null of Triple M) and 2BACR in a null of Port Stephens FM.
Is anyone picking up 2RPH on 93.3FM, I can around Kellyville.