Presenting my FM Bandscan at Point Lookout yesterday. https://youtu.be/8wh_UtHHGIw?si=vtCn63TpJ__jeyCv
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So is that RN from Emmaville on 93.1? Iāve never confirmed that as on air.
Excellent bandscan. Iāve only tried PL on the car radio; it seems the TEF really brings out the best with this location. When you get Cold Ghost and Wollongong mixing you know itās a decent location.
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Yes Iāve received it before on the New England Hwy north of Glen Innes. It was pretty weak though.
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Went up to Maitland today.
Tried out the TEF at Stockade Hill Heritage Park just with the 70cm whip so I could take screenshots of the radio on my phone to jog my memory of catches (there was a bit of room to walk around).
Had fair stereo reception of ABCs from Mt Canobolas, Mt Cenn Cruaich and Mt Dowe.
Mt Moombil was weaker, but there as well plus Murrurundi ABCs. No commercials from Bathurst, Orange or Dubbo, Real Mudgee was weak, RN dominated on 97.1.
Tried for 92.9 Tamworth, nothing, just weak to fair Classic Sydney, only Tamworth ABC I could seem to get was 91.7.
I think Iāve confirmed that TCBL 107.9 Radio Dungog is off air, usually dominates on 107.9 in Maitland. Today there was only Move Lithgow or ABC RN CW Slopes. Their website is still active though.
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Itās a worry that some of these smaller community radio stations are going off the air. Dungog is a very similar town to Braidwood, a smaller town in the outer orbit of a larger city (Newcastle/Maitland to our Canberra). 3HCR Omeo is another casualty.
Iād say itās down to lack of volunteers and increased running costs.
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Indeed. āBack in the dayā people were fighting to get a slot on air, now itās a fight to find someone who wants to be on air.
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Community radio is fighting for survival on two fronts: a decline in civic participation together with the waning relevance of live radio in general. Itās a losing battle but one I hope to try and stem a little bit.
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So I finally got around to replacing my somewhat inadequate rooftop FM omni antenna with a 3-element yagi. Results so far are a nice, if not massive, improvement. Definitely some improvement on the weaker signals - Mt Moombil is now always there above the noise level and quite strong on peaks, as is 88.9 Coraki which is an interesting one to have.
I was worried that a directional antenna might result in issues in directions Iām not aiming, but itās really not as bad as I feared. And the gains in the direction Iām aiming are notable - I now hear 100.6 Mt Tamborine and 104.1 Currumbin (over JJJ Darling Downs) when on the omni I could only just hear the Gold Coast FMs at all, and despite aiming 90-degrees to it I get 100.7 Toowoomba fairly well too. I also heard Mt Dowe off it this morning.
My location will always be an issue, Mt Coot-tha is about 6km due north of me with perfectly unobstructed LOS - great for TV reception but awful for DX. Iāve gone with aiming just west of due south, so Coot-tha is off a slight angle off the back of the antenna but Iām still aiming towards most of what I want to listen to. Thereās still overload in some places but that is just unavoidable.
Iāll be interested to try it out when thereās next a bit of tropo about, especially to the south or inland. I think the additional gain of the yagi should help in those events.
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And as a nice test of the new antenna, Breeze 102.5 is coming in tonight. Going to presume itās Tenterfield rather than Wide Bay given the antenna direction. Not strong enough for RDS to identify but clearly there and matching 92.1
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Getting Breeze from Childers here closer to the coast, was strong enough briefly for RDS ident.
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Having a lazy Sunday with my barista prepared coffee & decided to finally complete the final part of upgrading the firmware of my TEF6686 from v1.18 to v2.00.8
Went well & there is now a variation to the procedure that I followed from:
The only differences I noted compared to the latest video was that at the end of the procedure I didnāt have to turn the TEF off/on twice.
Nice to have the extra RDS info that others like @Radiohead have in their TEFās.
Iām going to have to spend quite some time learning about all the extra settings.
Thereās now a huge number of setting options compared to the earlier v1.18
NB the firmware upgrade is for the same type of TEF that you see in the video, which I have.
Always a risk one can brick their TEF, but was an easy process to follow.
The earlier (now dated) video below was also helpful.
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Well done! Iām not sure if I would have been brave enough to attempt given the risk of bricking it as you said.
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I got the latest blue radio model, and itās even easier. Thereās no boot button, I just turned it on, connected it to USB, and flashed.
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Getting Launceston 91.7/92.5/93.3 on @melb_mateyy0 TEF:
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Just jumped on myself - very fun being able to hear tropo like I used to in Victoria remotely from up here.
102.1 and 103.7 Swan Hill were there, as was 102.5 Deniliquin and the ABCs from Albury. Interestingly, 7NT on 91.3 from Lileah was better than 91.7 from Mt Barrow.
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Didnāt think to check 91.3. Lileah gets out well for the power- Iāve even had it at the Mount Cooper DX site between Nimmitabel and Bombala on just the car radio. It might be a chance in Bungendore during extreme tropo, though the westerly location of the tx is a disadvantage compared to Hobart and Launceston (westerly paths must get over the Snowies).
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Good duct tonight, but very coastal, inland just enough to help Sydney suburban community stations as well. Sydney and Wollongong very strong, Nowra also good too.
Had 107.9 Sydney narrowcast over Move FM Lithgow, and Connect FM Bankstown over Port Stephens FM
Had scratchy stereo on Power and 2EC Eden.
Taree ABCs and Port Macquarie commercials also stronger tonight too. Hit and Triple M with RDS. So no 2MG tonight, RN was too strong.
Had Coffs ABCs weak to fair, except RN blocked by Move Katoomba, and Triple M Kempsey weak.
Not much from inland, had a few weak ABCs from the SW, CW, NW Slopes, Orange and Tamworth (but not all of them), weak Hit and Sky Orange plus Real Mudgee and that was about it. Bathurst blocked by Sydney suburban and News Port Stephens.
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Took my TEF up at Apex / Heuston Lookout Singleton today with the rabbit ears
Highlights
92.7 weak fair mono Zoo FM Dubbo
92.9 weak Tamworth in a null of Classic FM Sydney (no RDS on either, Sydney was fair stereo)
93.5 Triple M Dubbo in stereo with partial RDS (PI 2935 with PTY of Rock Music)
95.9 Sky Racing Gunnedah with RDS (first time Iāve seen that) - same 4897 PI code etc as all the others
97.5 Triple G Gunnedah fair stereo, didnāt see any RDS.
102.3 Hit Port Macquarie stereo with partial RDS
105.9 Hit Orange stereo partial RDS
106.7 Sky Orange no RDS
91.9 and 101.5 I had News Radio from Orange and Upper Namoi respectively, first time Iāve received those on this side of the Range. The latter in a null of Great Lakes FM.
Had all ABCs from Orange, CW Slopes (except 107.9 which was Move FM Lithgow), Upper Namoi and Tamworth.
Tried for 98.3 Now FM, couldnāt get it. I thought that might have been a chance given I once received it in the Muswellbrook McDonalds car park in 1993 (before Power FM started).
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Donāt forget 2NOW is Vertical with a Beam North & West from Mt Dowe (It only dribbles about 600w South of Mt Dowe
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It still gets pretty good coverage south with just 600 watts.
Consistent in car coverage north of Kankool on the New England.
Itās the height of the might of Dowe that does it.
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