We finally have some tropo tonight, it is nothing special but at least it is something.
Newcastle National fm (Classic, Triple J) enhanced, and in good stereo, slight hiss on Classic fm, none on Triple J.
Triple M, Newcastle in noisy stereo over 2ST.
Weak New fm and 2NUR just above the noise floor, both equal in strength.
106.9 is a battle between VOX fm and Hit 106.9.
Rhema Newcastle over 2SSR
Weak Eagle fm, just above noise floor.
Central Coast briefly dropped significantly in strength, this wiped out the RDS on Triple M CC, and Todays Country. This also allowed me brief Power fm reception over Rhema CC.
Has anyone noticed that the Orange national fm stations are down significantly in strength.
I have completely lost 102.7 Classic fm, this is a permanent signal for me.I lost reception more then a week ago?
Hepburn forecast was spot on, weak to moderate enhancement from Newcastle to Wollongong.
Down here, just Newcastle Commercials and Community stations. With that, Central Coast is stronger where 107.7 is basically a fight between GO and GN. depending on where I point the radio antenna. Like we predicted earlier this year.
Looks like our next Tropo event for coastal NSW will be late Friday night early Saturday morning according to Hepburn.
It looks more extensive than last nights Tropo, extending further up the coast, possibly up to Middle Brother from Sydney., and greater signal enhancements. Until then we will just have to wait for the westerlies to bugger off.
I havenât been to Canobolas for 20 years but itâs a very crowded tower and gets ice damage during winter on occasions. If the FMâs there are on a temporary antenna then the power would likely be reduced for that and if the riggers are working up there the FMâs may be turned right down or even off completely hence the stations disappearing at the fringes. Even 10 watts of FM up there would give a wide coverage due to the height. The BA building has a emergency bunkhouse for winter and the big diesels there have jacket heaters because of the cold and difficulty getting them to start.
I moved house earlier this year and finally today got something in the way of an external antenna (a little FM omnidirectional) installed. Unfortunately, it appears my current spot, much closer to Mt Coot-tha, is a seemingly inferior DX location despite being on a ridge with good takeoff in most directions.
Some interesting notes/comparisons are:
Gold Coast FM is very weak here, the Mt Tamborine commercials are weak and 102.9 is almost non-existent, and even the Beechmont ABCs arenât all that good. 94.1 is ok though, weirdly enough
By contrast, Sunshine Coast is better, in particular the ABCs from Dulong. 104.9 is all Sunshine FM instead of ABC Southern Downs, and 106.5 is all Salt with full RDS
Having said all that, Mt Nardi is still very strong. 94.5 is all ABC Northern Rivers with no sign of News from Nambour
Faint signs of 99.3 JJJ Wide Bay, which were never detected (outside of tropo) at the old place
I guess the weak signals of the semi-locals could be a blessing of sorts, it might open up some additional frequencies for DX opportunities. But it probably just suggests I should have opted for a better antennaâŚ
I seem to recall Mt Canobolas was impacted in the winter of 2015. 2GZ FMâs audio was cutting in and out constantly (transmitter still running so microwave link related). I also understand 2ELâs STL was also affected as it went via Canobolas down to the transmitter site at Forest Reefs and they were running a standby tape for quite a while.
Having the ABC say how much the temp ERP is, might be helpful to a few people like in here, but 99% of people wonât know what it means, wonât be affected very much & wonât care.
It also depends on what work is being done & how close to the antennaâs tower workers are working & the ERP could change a number of times at a variable rate.
Generally for Artarmon tower works, weâll reduce power by 3dB, 6dB or totally off, occasionally we might go 8dB or 10db reduction in power. We might also reduce power by 6dB as workers are climbing past an antenna for 5 - 10 minutes then turn it back up to full power once theyâre passed the danger zone.
Generally speaking, the only people who will notice a 3dB or even 6dB reduction in power on the commercial FM stations at Artarmon, will be those on the very outer fringes of coverage area, most people across the Sydney basin wonât even notice the reduction in power.
Most outageâs & reduced power notifications like the ABC put out, are agreed window periods, reduced power or a full outage, more often than not, wonât last the entire time, it could occur multiple times for short periods or even just once for 5 minutes over a 4 - 5 hour window & be reduced at different levels at different times during the window.
Do you have a masthead amp connected to your fm omni antenna?
I use a Matchmaster VHF / UHF / FM masthead amp with 30db adjustable gain. Without the amp connected I mainly get local signals, but with it connected I can pull signals up to 150km + for high powered fm services.
You may experience overloads from
Mt Coot-tha with an amp attached.
Are you using the Matchmaster Omni fm antenna?
If this is the one, if you point the front where the slight opening is to the north it will give you the best reception of the southern signals if you want to try to improve Gold Coast reception.
Remember omni fm antennas have very little gain so I use the masthead amp to make up for this lack of gain.
