AM and FM DX

Radio, Print, and Online General Radio and Digital
6668

I was driving back from Tamworth this afternoon and had a very interesting catch at Murrurandi at the park with the public toilet block.93.1 Real fm Mudgee was received stronger then 92.9 Tamworth.

BTW Murrurandi was the absolute limit for normal reception of the Mt Dowe nationals.

In South Tamworth Mt Dowe was received weakly on my portable with headphones as an antenna.

92.9 fm RDS Tam fm was actually a bit iffy at the Golden Guitar, even on the car radio in he car park of the motel. SRN have their STL on quite a high tower to get LOS with Mt Soma.

Also 88.9 from Bald Hill gives off horrible intermodulation across Central Tamworth, as bad as Goulburn.

2 Likes
6669

I guess being right at the foot of the Great Dividing Range will do that to the Tamworth stations.

They do get better as you drive further south until about between Aberdeen and Muswellbrook, just north of Muswellbrook is where for me they usually fade, for all of the Tamworth and Mt Dowe stations.

Real FM can also be heard on the hills around the Upper Hunter as well.

2 Likes
6670

I did notice that Tamworth got better further south around Aberdeen, but Real fm faded out as I left Murrurundi. There must be a gap in the range where the signal comes through.

Also in Murrurundi reception is very poor for 98.1 Power fm. A 100W translator on Mt Helen would do the trick to fix this black spot and also for 2NM when it converts to fm.

2 Likes
6671

There are few worse places in NSW than Murrurundi for radio/DXing… there are hills EVERYWHERE.

Agree that it needs a Power FM repeater… the ABC TX is closer to Murrurundi than Power FM’s is and it still gets a repeater.

2 Likes
6672

2NM wont be going to FM. They’re not eligible and I think its to do with overlap with the Newcastle radio LAP

3 Likes
6673

That makes sense because of the overlap past Singleton into the Newcastle Radio LA.

2 Likes
6674

Mount Helen is ideal, with only low-ish power FM services from the Mtn, receiver de sensitising is unlikely. BTW - 801 KHz AM Chittaway Pt is off the air and has been for around 2-3wks, prior to that after storms they were off for a few days then returned with a MUCH weaker signal (noisy by the time I drove through Ourimbah) and is barely audible in Gosford, Erina, etc. Now theyre back to being off air. I suspect some equipment was damaged from the flooding.

BTW - Down at Kincumber by the water front, I can null out 87.6 Kariong (Faith FM) in favour of Nathan’s River FM 87.6, TXing from a house at Kurrajong Heights. Heard IDs and all. Had it at 16 dBu, while HawkFM 89.9 was around 23 dBu, so that basically self explanatory, as well as the fact that the operator has height on his side, as they say with VHF &UHF “height is might”. Also heard River 87.6 at Erina in a null of 87.6 Kariong.

5 Likes
6675

Yes 100W max otherwise overspill into the Tamworth LA.

87.6 River fm comes from the tower at Grass Karts at Kurrajong Heights. They get out very well, I wonder if they are adhering to the 1.64w because I receive it at Stanhope Gardens much better then most of the TCL from Kurrajong Heights which are licenced at 40w towards me.

2 Likes
6676

Thanks- I wondered why I was only getting 5RM there.

1 Like
6677

Ah the Grass Karts site. Yes that’s where the KUR02 UHF CB repeater is located … had many good late night convos with operators a few years back now. So I know that site well. Think Hawk Gold TX from there too ?

and as for the power, well, 1.64wERIP wouldn’t make it back this way so well. Possibly up at Mangrove Mtn reception would be optimal with 87.6 services on the coast & newcastle mainly being directional to provide optimum reception in fringe areas. AS the sites are up so high, the signal will still be decent even off the side of the antenna array. That’s line of site.

Honestly, 1w can travel quite a distance, but it wont pack much punch at all, as soon as you drive through tunnels, over hills, gullies etc, it poops out pretty quickly, but if nothing is in the way, you’d be surprised how far FM can travel when elevated.

For an example, in 2016 I decided to take a little AAA battery powered car FM transmitters (from ebay, like $10, if that) up to a highly elevated spot, and soldered a half wave dipole style wire antenna setup and taped it to the tree and had the TX in a zip lock bag. You wouldn’t believe this, but 15 kilometeres north, the transmitter’s blank carrier was received noise-free (albeit low strength on meter).

So when A LPON is elevated, it’s bound to cover a significant area, even at 1 watt or 1.6w EIRP.
Im not saying it’s over powered, but you do the guess work, and you will see.

But honestly, I understand why operators run above licenced power, as they need to have a robust signal for the target demographic. This can be achieved by running, say, a quad stacked 3 element FM yagi array would bump up the EIRP considerably.

3 Likes
6678

Those (now superfluous) 2BS translators are seemingly falling like flies. 88.1 Burraga has been off for years now, and 105.5 Oberon is just running carrier. 90.1 Sofala takes 95.1 off air…with stereo hiss and RDS.

95.1 is perfectly fine in Oberon and Black Springs (with RDS) so there is really no need for 105.5 now. B-Rock has never had any translators, even at Sofala.

2 Likes
6679

Probably because the translators were more necessary when 2BS was on AM, hence B-Rock never needing any.

4 Likes
6680

Yes, skywave interference at night would have been a problem. But that only emphasises the point that translators for a Mount Ovens based FM service aren’t needed.

Bill is interested in saving some coin, so why not turn the translators off.

1 Like
6681

He seems happy to spend $$$$ on transmitters,ala 5 sets of 2VM and NOW FM relays, just not on music royalties, promos or staffing.

1 Like
6682

ABC’s from Rockhampton into Brisbane at lunchtime. Not accompanied by any major enhancement to Wide Bay which is unusual.

1 Like
6683

It’s been a while since there has been some tropo into Sydney, but the rain this morning has created that.

Weak to moderate ducts favoring Newcastle, with all commercials in, Triple M the strongest, followed by Hit, both in weak stereo, New fm and 2NUR just above the noise floor. CCI on 100.5 2RPH I can’t tell if I am receiving Sydney or Newcastle.

Here is the current Hepburn tropo map

image
image932×720 291 KB

Tomorrow looks good for some inland tropo. If GN fm is testing at this time it will be a good test to see if it causes CCI to Triple M CC in Greater Sydney.

image
image932×720 287 KB

3 Likes
6684

I’m also getting enhancement up here in Newcastle, but pretty much all from the south.

I was in the car at King Edward Park in Newcastle this morning, often i get something from Coffs ABCs, but nothing today.

But at home, better than usual Sydney and Wollongong reception. 95.7 Classic seems to be operating at a higher power than 98.9 JJJ, Classic reception was similar to Wave FM, both around 33db on the Tecsun, but JJJ only managed 21db.

ARN now seems to be back at Artarmon after those works earlier this month.

2 Likes
6685

It must be a very short duct between Newcastle and Wollongong ending at Newcastle, and you are getting what is coming from the opposite direction to me. My Wollongong reception is actually slightly weaker then normal.

I normally get some weak Middle Brother Classic fm but today there is nothing so the duct is fizzling out just after Newcastle.

2 Likes
6686

Front is through and cooler strong-ish westerlies here, but it is forecast to calm down tonight which may allow some tropo to develop. We may be entering the period of endless high pressure aka the ‘agonising autumn’ for snow sports enthusiasts, which may result in some decent inland tropo enhancement.

3 Likes
6687

Wide Bay and Burnett booming into Brisbane tonight. Rockhampton ABC at low levels.

3 Likes