Troppo dramatically reduced yesterday and some rain ahead now might see an end to the current exceptional period. Still some low level ABC Rockhampton reception ahead of thunderstorms.
4 Likes
Getting stations from Central West Slopes and Mudgee in Sydney at the moment. Orange enhanced also.
First time Iāve managed to get 2MG on 97.1 on my TEF server:
5 Likes
Getting stations from Manning River, Orange, Central West Slopes, Oberon, Goulburn, Bathurst and Port Stephens, Mudgee in Sydney this morning.
Received 2BS Oberon on 105.5 for the first time. Confirmed 2BS and on-air by comparing to 95.1.
95.1 stronger than usual also - enough for an RDS decode:
4 Likes
2MG coming into Sydney again:
And Real FM:
Also enhancement from Manning River, Upper Naomi, Central West Slopes, Canberra and Orange.
3 Likes
Whilst not DX, there are a couple of new DX targets now on air from Menindee, NSW.
Flow FM commenced transmission on 101.3MHz in June.
Also from the same site & mast 2DRY FM are apparently on air there on 99.7MHz from Nov 2023 taking the top spot on the mast . Both 300W Vertical.
There is also a low vertical folded dipole on the same mast that Iām wondering if it was or is used for 2SBS?
The earlier 105.7 2SBS registration is no longer in the ACMA frequency database.
5 Likes
Both Real and Zoo coming into Sydney at the moment. Interesting to see that theyāre completely in sync. You canāt even tell youāre swapping between the two stations except for the frequency change:
4 Likes
If it is Real FM and Zoo FM from the SRN then the music would be coming over satellite from New FM and therefore the only delay would be anything in the air chain, in this case there is likely none
3 Likes
Noticed that Coonabarabran (Mt Cenn Cruaich) isnāt permanent into your Yagi @tvcl . I used to get it all the time into Oatley and aircraft would bring it up to 2-3 bars regularly. Maybe youāre just in a poorer location.
3 Likes
Yep, it only comes in with tropo. A number of potential reasons come to mind:
- My yagi is only three elements (not sure how many elements yours was)
- The installer didnāt mount it at the highest point above the roof and the pole is only about 1m tall, I think, so part of the antenna doesnāt see the horizon
- Itās mounted vertically - I hear that that can cause the mounting pole to interfere with how directional the aerial is.
- A fair bit of RF noise in the background
- Or as you suggested, my location - though it is possible to see the NW horizon from my roof.
Iād like to experiment with different directions and also mounting it horizontally but Iām not confident with going up onto the roof, unfortunately.
Ideally, Iād like to get it up higher, but the quotes I got were out of my budget - e.g. $630 for 3m guyed mast.
Did you get the Orange commercial/community stations at your location? Without tropo on my current setup, the Orange commercial stations sit barely audible just above the noise floor. Though my antenna isnāt quite pointed at Orange (itās pointing at about 339Ā°, by my estimate).
4 Likes
Yes. 105.1/105.9 were average 2 bars strength and were so strong as to be a pest. 103.5 was slightly weaker iirc. My former address was the end of Yarran Rd in Oatley
3 Likes
Thanks for that. Maybe it is my location. In the street next to mine, the Orange commercial and community stations come in permanently on the car radio but fade out when I drive over to my street, which is a bit lower.
Was your yagi a three-element one?
Also, when I used a multimeter, the centre of the connector and the outside are shorted - Iām not sure if thatās how itās supposed to be.
4 Likes
I used an 8 element but did have a 3 el to start with. Forgot to mention that I did use a preamp too- amazingly you could get away with it because of my poor LOS northward.
If you look on a map, the path to Orange was directly down the river.
5 Likes
Ah, I guess that goes part off the way to explaining why you were able to get the more distant stations (assuming you were pointing your antenna west/north west).
I tried a preamp on my set-up but with 2NBC being so close to my house, the receiver just ends being overloaded.
3 Likes
Did you find using an 8 element made much of.a difference compared to the 3 element?
(and welcome back from your hiatus!).
2 Likes
Yes- thereās significantly more gain. I did suffer a bit of overload aiming north with the preamp.
4 Likes
How much more directional did you find the 8-element to be compared to the 3-element?
Also, just curious what rotator you were using and how much it cost to set up?
3 Likes
8 els arenāt easy to source now- youād probably have to ship them from overseas which may be expensive and take time.
I use a Yaesu rotator, bottom of the range. Unfortunately they donāt make the lightweight rotator anymore. Since the old one got hit by lightning, I had to pay about $600 for that. Directionality is pretty good with 8 els over 3 els but ymmv. As an example I could separate Canberra from Coonabarabran and also Lithgow when it was on, 106.3
4 Likes
Thanks for that. I guess an upgrade to my 3-element setup is unlikely now given the costs and unavailablity of parts.
1 Like
Some people are making their own now. Some designs are online.
3 Likes
Unfortunately, Iād say building an antenna wouldnāt be something I would be good at. Plus the cost of the rotator, which would probably be needed for such a directional antenna, is really high too.
1 Like