And I’m curious to know what local ID gets used on 6FMS / 6SAT when the southern WA stations run theirs… eg. when Hit95.7 Bunbury runs “The South West’s Hit”… do the remote Hit ones all get the same eg. “Western Australia’s Hit” ID?
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I think it mostly originates from Perth and Bunbury these days. Except if there is a local content requirement. As for advertising, yes WA wide. And the over night networked programs struggle to fill the length of the break without repeating multiple ads multiple times.
Here’s a side-by-side from earlier this year. 4PM so network wide programming. The station 104.7 is now a HIT station 
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Thanks, great hearing the comparison. Shame the programming is so generic. Lost all the brand value from the WA stations they once were and did well.
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There are some inconsistencies around as well. Pemberton’s 97.3 is now a 6BET (Bridgetown) (s)hit relay but nearby Northcliffe is still 6FMS. Pemberton 97.3 was Red FM (6FMS) in 2001 as I previously mentioned. I think Walpole gets 6FMS rather than 6AAY (Albany), too.
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According to ACMA’s Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations - July 2023 edition, that is indeed the case. 
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Similarly, Onslow gets 6LN and 6CAR programming despite being in 6FMS and 6SAT territory and way out of the Carnarvon license area. Not that it matters so much these days.
The 6FMS legacy lives on in Pemberton - 97.3 is mono.
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Pity that legacy doesn’t extend to Red FM; it was an awesome listen back in 2001 as a pure rock station, on a par with Rebel today.
Was 6FMS simply called ‘The Mining Radio Network’ before Red FM? I remember them saying ‘Red FM- Your Mining Radio Network’ or similar. And I assume 6FMS stands for (Western Australia) FM Mining Service.
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I thought FM Satellite. As the other licence is 6SAT.
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Or FM Stereo? - The earlier version of 6FMS was stereo. I remember hearing the Kalbarri station on a walkman style radio. Not genuine stereo but an effect that was similar to a pair of speakers wired with cross polarity. Not really pleasant to listen to.
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A legacy of the local ownership days. 6CAR also has a relay at Denham
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Remember that loop station in Toowoomba? I reckon they should set one up at Useless Loop. Songs played in- literally- a useless loop.
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Looking at signals of 102.9 2ST last night & again this morning, best signal I have seen for a long time with RDS decodes, comparatively signals from 92.5 & 107.1 from same location are weak. What do you reckon @Ant5476 & others in surrounds?
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It is stronger, but still very weak, below noisy stereo threshold.
Doesn’t appear to be any tropo enhancements, so maybe the new transmitter upgrade has been completed?
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I was listening to a bit of Raw FM on 88.0 from around Westfield Kotara towards the M1 and I seemed to sometimes briefly pick up another of their remissions because I could hear the same thing with a half second to second delay.
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I do have some HFC attenuators, would they be of any help?
Also any suggestions of SDRs? Would an Airspy perform better?
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Possibly, try low value attenuators first like 2 - 4dB, then look at results on spectrum. Overload shows easily on the RTL-SDR’s, if overload still present try a higher value of attenuation etc & so on.
Lots of SDR’s about. What is your budget? How much spectrum do you wish cover? How much bandwidth? Given your location I’d try for something like a Airspy Discovery, but the trade-off against the high dynamic range & better filtering will be frequency coverage & bandwidth. Due to its low bandwidth it can’t cover the required DAB+ bandwidth.
https://www.qsl.net/z33t/dynamic_range_eng.html
Above has a 95dB dynamic range on FM BCB.
They usually have a Black Friday sale each year.
According to about article 8 bit SDR’s (eg RTL-SDR) limited to 50dB dynamic range.
Winradio SDR’s, expensive, but have good specs, but can only use their own software & I don’t know therefore if it is suitable across a wide range of usage applications these days.
Also copies of The World Radio TV Handbook have several SDR reviews over recent years. Also The Elad FDM-S3 (16 bit SDR) has had some good reviews I believe but coverage a bit limited along with availability etc.
You have to do your own research, based on your needs.
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I can second the Airspy HF+ Discovery. A solid performer on FM, if not quite as selective at higher bandwidths compared with the Sony XDR tuners.
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All rather odd. 102.9 2ST signal strength was much stronger over the entire weekend, but I noted last evening it wasn’t quite as strong. This morning 102.9 is weak again, whilst 107.1 is back to usual signal strength. Maybe some tropospheric anomaly? I’d always thought the higher frequencies in the FM BCB do better with tropospheric ducts, now not so sure what to think.
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It was definitely tropo the Hepburn charts showed some enhancements yesterday, some coastal tropo is forecast later today / Tuesday morning, and then again Thursday / Friday. Probably favouring Wollongong / Newcastle as it is very coastal according to the Hepburn forecast maps.
We are now in Spring so more frequent Tropo hooefully.
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