Agree. It was one of the strongest long distance signals at night when I used to DX as a teenager in Maryborough in the mid-80s. It’s nowhere near as strong now. But in the daytime in the car it’s ok to Airlie Beach in the north, not sure how far south though.
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Agree, I could get 1026 4MK at night here in Newcastle in the 1980s, it was dominant over 3DB/3TT here.
Haven’t tried it in recent years though.
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I can hear 4MK in the null of 3PB Melbourne. Apparently 4MK was commonly heard in North America BITD.
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Back in December 2013, I could just hear 4MK just above the noise level whilst staying in Rockhampton. This was at 10am up on the 10th floor of holiday apartments in the CBD.
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I have a soft spot for 4MK. It was the first AM station I ever heard in FM stereo, on 91.5 at Airlie Beach in August 1985.
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Even down in Geelong 4MK can be heard behind 3PB at night, it’s still not as bad signal.
And thanks for confirming everyone - the memory seems fairly accurate then. So making St Lawrence a Rebel town seems fairly appropriate.
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I’m afraid not.
This map from Google Earth with the Remote Commercial Radio North East Zone RA1 boundaries’ layer on shows that St Lawrence would not be eligible to get a Rebel & Breeze service.
Marlborough is a different story though, as long as the transmitter & service area is just outside of it.
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I doubt either town would be large enough for Rebel to want to put stations in in any case… it wouldn’t be viable.
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What licence area does St Lawrence fall in then, if it has no local services and is not part of the remote area? Surely not Mackay?
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St Lawrence does indeed fall under the Mackay licence area.
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Local progress association should apply for an out of area rebroadcast of Rebel Media services. There’s a provision for that.
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Yes it’s a very sparsely populated region.
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There is the Shoalwater Military Reserve (mentioned in ‘I Was Only 19’) which may attract a few Rebellious soldiers…
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Sunny and warmer weather predicted for the next week for Sydney and mid NSW coast regions.
Hepburn forecast suggests Sat night - Sunday should see some DX opportunities.
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It looks like Saturday evening / night, and Sunday morning will be the best for tropo before winds turn westerly later on Sunday.
I am calling this low to moderate Newcastle / Wollongong enhancement at best. It also looks very coastal, it may not even make it 40km inland to me. Anyway will take what we can get in a season so far offering very slim pickings.
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Another strong cold front due here on Monday; the winds look quite ugly (90 km/h+ gusts). So that will definitely bring an end to any tropo that develops along the coast. And more rain/storms for Sunday.
The lack of tropo is borne out in the temperature data. In a normal month, mornings with inversions roughly equal those without inversions here, and mean temperatures at 800 m are around the same as those at 700 m. The last couple of months the temps at 700 m have been a degree warmer, indicating the lack of thermal inversions.
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A lot of enhancement around tonight. Form the north, ABCs Rockhampton.
Getting signals from the south as far as ABCs Middle Brother, Grafton stronger than usual, Armidale incl GEM and Inverell coming in, Mt Dowe ABCs very strong plus low levels for community and commercial. Coffs Harbour ABCs stronger than usual with commercials also received in stereo.
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Have you ever had Townsville FM into Brisbane via tropo? I know Mackay and even Cairns (Bellenden Ker) have been logged via tropo on rare occasions.
The path from SEQ to FNQ is entirely over land. You would need enhancement down the axis of the Great Dividing Range. The GDR duct is definitely a thing in NSW; an extension of the duct into QLD happens every few years and this is how Rockhampton was logged in Cooma. I have logged 104.7 4JJJ in Guyra NSW; the extension from Guyra to Cooma is via the GDR duct.
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That’s interesting re Guyra, my experience there is that the Ben Lomond range blocks most signals from the north, I have to drive north past Guyra to get the Southern Downs ABCs in normal conditions.
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Yes 102.3 is the most common.
This was one time.
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