According to my switch Ulladulla is at bearing of 195’ from Knights Hill so it just fits within the 20KW (130-200).
Even Nowra is at bearing of 197 so it just fits into the 20KW too.
To cover Nowra from Knights Hill to account for terrain you need 50KW this is where Power fm has the edge. Where you don’t have the terrain obstruction i98 / Wave fm travel out to the south quite well. Another reason why Power fm and Wave fm should not share the same playlist.
Drove from Eden to Bairnsdale today. It’s a pretty remote area with not much traffic (or radio) around.
3MGB coverage and audio quality, particularly on 96.9 Genoa, was pretty ordinary, was scratchy even just 10 kms past Genoa. 101.7 Mallacoota was better, but not by a lot. Cann River ABCs on 106.1 and 107.7 became reliable from Genoa to near Orbost.
Eden stations started to fade out past Genoa, but Brown Mountain and Bombala had varying levels of reception from south of Eden to west of Cann River.
I checked AM whilst in Cann River given my 1984 memory of getting NOTHING on AM there. 810 2BA was fair, but 828 3GI was better and listenable, but with a reasonable amount of noise. There basically nothing else on AM there.
Orbost stations started to be received from Cann River, 95.5 was an RSN relay.
3GV Bemm River 104.5 was received with GOLDFM RDS! (interesting given 98.3 Bairnsdale RDS is GoldFM) near the Bemm River turn off.
Bairnsdale stations and Gippsland ABCs started to become receivable about 30 kms east of Orbost.
……
Now for FM bandscan highlights from Jemmys Point Lookout at Lakes Entrance.
89.3 3NE with 3NE RDS
90.1 Triple M Omeo fair no RDS, signal probably not strong enough
91.5 Smooth Melbourne was very weak.
91.7 was weak - suspected 3HCR Swifts Creek
91.9 SEN / Track / 91.9 Dynamic RDS from Warragul
93.1 SBS Melbourne with RDS
93.5 was weak - suspect 3WPH Warragul
94.3 Triple M Warragul - was good with MMMGipps* RDS
96.1 was weak, suspect XLFM given I had this with RDS between Cann River and Orbost.
97.9 Triple M Traralgon, fair but no RDS.
100.3 Nova100 also very weak as with Smooth. Not a peep from ARN or SCA Melbourne stations however.
103.9 Life FM Gippsland has better reception this way than 104.7 Gippsland FM. No RDS detected on either of them.
105.9 and 107.5 were Melbourne ABCs with RDS. Classic still running their dynamic RDS.
….
In Bairnsdale itself, car radio reception is fine, but even local stations aren’t really strong enough on my Tecsun. Commercials 98.3 and 99.9 only peaked at 41db, 3REG 105.5 and ABCs on 106.3 and 107.9. Given Gold/TR are 5kw, and ABCs 2kw and only 14kms away, I would have expected better reception than this.
Gippsland ABCs similarly peak at 31db, but being 112 kms away that is only to be expected.
Thanks for sharing this, I have wonderful memories of Bairnsdale and East Gippsland having spent a good chunk of my childhood school holidays there.
Interesting you note that the DMG Melbourne FMs are still stronger out there. I had thought it was because they broadcast from a different tower (the old GTV-9 tower rather than the ATV-10 one on a different part of the mountain), but had been reliably informed here that they no longer did. So maybe there is another reason why they are so much stronger in that part of the world?
The Bairnsdale FM strength observations are also interesting. Back in the analogue TV days a lot of homes in Bairnsdale had masthead amplifiers for TV reception despite having the UHF antennas pointed at Mt Taylor (at 15km distance) rather than Mt Tassie (which was more ~115km). Maybe the signal strength isn’t that good in Bairnsdale itself after all?
I’d also be curious if you’re heading back that way to check how good 1242AM is in the East of Gippsland. Back in the 90s they used to claim they were ‘No. 1 from Moe to Orbost’ but I suspected the signal barely reached either centre. I’m not sure what the AM signal might be like these days in those further reaches of the region.
1242 was quite strong in Lakes Entrance when I was there in 1979 on holiday despite the distance. 3GI also. The motel TV picked up ABC on 4 and GLV10 from Mt. Tassie and the signal was snow free despite the over 130 Km distance, except for the first night where there was a lot of rain.
Overnight the motel TV picked up GTV9 although the picture was very snowy. Sometimes it picked up TNT9 Launceston without snow, but with co-channel interference from GTV9. On the lower channels at certain times during the daytime you could even see some TV channels that must have been from New Zealand, although I didn’t realise that until later.
From memory 1242 was receivable although a bit of static building at Orbost but at the noise floor about Cann River back in the 90’s. Keen to see what it is like now
Nova & Smooth used to transmit from the old GTV-9 site (TX Australia - Observatory Rd), but they now transmit from the ABV-2 site (BAI - Eyre Rd), ARN & SCA are from the ATV-10 site (TX Australia - Ornata Rd), there’s no FM Radio from the HSV-7 (TX Australia - Eyre Rd) site.
I’m pretty sure Nova/Smooth now use the same FM antenna as the Nationals at BAI Eyre Rd, I think the ARN & SCA backups at BAI Eyre Rd use a different FM antenna, so even if SCA & ARN were at the Eyre Rd site they still mightn’t get out there the same as Nova/Smooth does?
Mixx FM Horsham on both 94.5 and 101.3 on my car radio this morning in Berri
1242 was pretty clear on the car radio in Bairnsdale this morning, but can imagine indoors would be a different matter with all the RF noise about these days, which I’m guessing is why they now have 98.3 to supplement the 1242 coverage.
Are they allowed to do this? As I thought 105.9 and 107.5 ABC FMs were 100kw OD, whereas as the commercials should have a DA null to the east and only maximum 56kw.
However this would make sense as I note that the Nova FMs are always stronger in Gippsland compared with SCA and ARN. Also Light FM 89.9 is very strong to the east too.
Would be interested to see what @Radiohead notes as you travel through Gippsland in the coming days.
In Sale right now. Will be in Melbourne this afternoon.
Melbourne ABCs were better near Bairnsdale, I had 93.1, 105.9 and 107.5 all with RDS about 10-20 kms south of Bairnsdale, but they are not as good in Sale.
The Melbourne FM commercials are a bit the opposite, had scratchy 105.1 MMM north of Sale, nothing in Bairnsdale. Also had Smooth and Nova, again signal not great.
Had a weird Triple M on 104.9 coming out of Bairnsdale, all I heard were some generic ads, gone pretty quick.
Gippsland MMM 94.3 and 97.9 both good here in Sale.
90.3 HPON not on air here either.
Sale gets impeded with Melbourne reception by a large hill near Rosedale. You’ll see it from the highway when you travel through later, the one with the large Telecom tower on it.
That’s why you’ll also note there is no large band 3 TV antenna masts in Sale as fortuitous Melbourne TV reception was never possible in Sale . But plenty of TV masts in Traralgon and also nearby Stratford and Maffra have them too.
Now in Melbourne, got 96.1 3LO Yarra Ranges from not far out of Sale. That was a surprise, took me a while to realise that’s what it was!
Virtually no sign of Melbourne commercials again until past Morwell and RDS didn’t consistently appear until around Nar Nar Goon, reception is a bit patchy even west of Warragul.
Community stations fared better, particularly 3MBS, where RDS came in from just west of Moe.
Also got all main Geelong stations around Nar Nar Goon with RDS as well.
3TR 99.5 could still be received in Warragul too, despite its signal being severely restricted to the west. Bairnsdale 98.3 and 99.9 disappeared not far west of Traralgon, they were getting weak from Sale to Traralgon too.
Has never been on air whenever I’ve passed through. Perhaps they should put it up for…Sale?
Albury commercials can usually be heard at weak-fair levels on the plains from Sale to Bairnsdale. That would be my guess for your mystery 104.9; perhaps they were cross promoting Triple M content for some reason?
I should be heading the same way for a brief visit in late June. I will be able to try Melbourne DAB for the first time (my i30 hasn’t been to Mexico yet…thanks to COVID).
This was the licence that Vision FM sold to Faith FM isn’t it?
Did Faith FM ever get the station to air?
It is listed on the Faith FM Map.
Reception seemed too loud and clear for that brief period for it to be Albury.
Are you planning to go via Bombala or (maybe even Eden) and Cann River? It was a nice drive from Eden down through Gippsland (which would be a bit further bypassing Bombala)
I am going with someone from Cooma, so will be doing the usual Can-Cann route. But I have driven through Genoa on a few occasions so not new territory for me.
I looks like the ABC AM tower works in Busselton/Yallingup WA have been extended by 2 months. Was to finish end of May, now end of July. The temporary Newsradio 90.1 FM service has been extended as a result and will be available for a winter Es catch for someone.
On AM, I have only heard 1 day of outages, although more have been listed on the ABC Reception Maintence website. Power restrictions are also listed as daytime only, however on the spectrum display the carriers of the 3 ABCs are consistantly lower than the 2 Bunbury commercal stations. 1152 usually the strongest by far at my place.
Rockhampton ABCs coming in strong in Brisbane tonight, unusual that there is no corresponding lift in Wide Bay reception.
That often happens here top, Wollongong will often be stronger than Sydney depending on where the duct forms.
Rockhampton commercial now coming in too + a hint of Gladstone’s.
