Having done the Mildura to Ouyen stretch many times over, Ouyen is about the limit for the commerical FMs in the south as we’ve found. That being said, heading south-west I’ve consistently had the two mono ABCs, being 100.3 NewsRadio and 104.3 Local Radio as far as Underbool on the Mallee Track (the B12), and as far east as Mittyack on the A79. Fortuitously had them in Murrayville, though 103.5 3MBR gets out a fair way.
This being said, on AM previously 1467 would be still nice and strong at Ouyen, sadly over the last 10 years or so it has gotten progressively weaker to the point its nearly unlistenable in the Ouyen township (powerlines). It isn’t external factors since other stations still come in at the same level.
TEF out for a spin, noted as far as Hamilton 92.5, 93.3 and Horsham 101.3. Poor condx overall though. Best to the east was Griffith.
Aircraft scatter brings in 102.9 Broken Hill at threshold level. No Hill FM though.
Mildura:
Mainly stayed around the river. I don’t think there are many high sites around anyhow, otherwise the FMs would be all over it rather than at the nondescript Yatpool site.
Renmark/Loxton FMs at fair strength even by the river.
Flow FM 96.9 fairly strong, 95.3 weak. They seem to air a lot of networked talk crap these days…at least they gave the cricket score, more than can be said for the ABC yesterday!
Wentworth region:
Adelaide FMers quite good and strong on peaks via As. Listened to 5MMM until about 30 km north of Wentworth. 5ABCFM 103.9 lasted a bit longer.
Broken Hill:
Haven’t done much from here yet, but 100.3 Mildura could still be heard at weak levels just south of town. Also sniffs of 106.7 Port Pirie, probably again via As. Menindee in and out on 95.7.
Weather may be poor tomorrow so Weds/Thurs may be the best bets for tropo. I’ll have to find a local listening site. The Little Desert Park has a hill but not sure how the road is.
Silverton has a decent DX hill so I may end up heading there. Plenty of emus and goats around though…don’t want to be driving at night!
I’m heading back on Thursday and staying at Nyngan overnight, before banging down to the Dore on Friday.
You must have had some underlying tropo there to bring the Adelaide commerical FMs in alongside aircraft scatter, as normally you only get very weak levels of 5ABCFM and 5SBS (106.3) here. The high powered Riverland ARN FMs (91.5 5RM and 93.1 MAGIC) are fairly regular visitors, close to permanent reception. Their ABCs along with 96.9 are variable but can nearly always be received. Did you get any RDS decodes for any of these while you were here?
On the river near Mildura, you would have found the strongest FMs to be the HPONs and the community station (88.0 SonFM, 89.1 SENTrack, 107.5 3MPH and 106.7 3HOT respectively), as the main transmitter for those isn’t far away, off Eighth street. However the Yatpool FMs would have been weaker being nearly out of direct LOS to the transmitter.
No RDS on the Renmark stations but admittedly I wasn’t tuned to them for long as I don’t consider it DX! I had Flow 96.9 with RDS briefly, can’t remember where, possibly the top of the bridge over the Murray.
Renmark/Loxton also fair from Euston in the morning.
Forgot to mention that Bendigo (Mt Alexander) was clear on 90.3/91.1 from Euston with the TEF. There was a slight frost and calm conditions, so may have been slight lift.
Rained most of the day at Broken Hill so couldn’t really DX much. I should really buy a Powerball ticket as the chances of a washout here are astronomically small.
However I did make the compulsory trip over the border to the Croweater State (Cockburn). Not even a whiff of anything other than Broken Hill, it was 9C with light rain at about 1030 ACST.
I finally confirmed my suspicion though: 2CR Orange was still audible (though weak) at Cockburn on the car radio, thus making it to South Australia via groundwave. It would have been a good copy with the loop.
Found a decent listening site about 35 km from Broken Hill (13 km from Cockburn), where a range abruptly peaks with nothing but flat ground to the west. I’ll head up there on Thursday morning early to try the FM, and the Silverton site (Mundi Mundi Lookout) tomorrow morning. Fine weather is forecast for the remainder of the trip- thank goodness.
Some short distance but strong tropo on the Sunshine Coast tonight.
Using the TEF outside, I am getting Triple M 103.5 Maryborough at 40 dbuv and Triple M 93.1 Bundaberg at 20 dbuv. Low power 20w kix country 97.1 is in stereo.
Edit: Triple M 103.5 is now strong enough for RDS inside.
Thanks for that- was contemplating going there but I think I’ll try that Cockburn spot as you can walk right to the top of a hill on an access track, adjacent to a rest area. There are images/IMD in Broken Hill itself, a bad one on 98.1 from Hill FM.
Might stop at that Netallie Hill too on Thursday. I was planning to stop adjacent to Wilcannia anyhow to record the local FM.
The loop will get a run tomorrow as well hopefully, probably from Menindee. 2DRY have a repeater on 99.7 there apparently, so will check if it’s running RDS. Unfortunately 2DRY seem to be mostly automated music…I swung by their studio today to find nobody there and nobody answering the phone (though I did get a picture of the 2DRY sign in the wet).
That would be interesting for us RDS & dx nerds re future dx.
For the record we still don’t as yet have the RDS PI for 2DRY on 107.7 (or the PTY) in Broken Hill.
It would also be interesting to know if 87.8 Bounce FM is still on air in Broken Hill & if so & if it still has RDS & if so what their PI code (& PTY) is and such.
TEF screenshots are helpful if interested.
I would like to take a trip out that way in the next few years.
Some of the most dry & arid places in Australia have such amazing beauty re landscapes, flora & fauna.
Enjoy your travels.
I thought it was Hype FM? The only LPON on air is Faith FM (natch) on 88.0 with RDS and PI= FA1F.
Will get a grab of 2DRY for you. They also have Now Playing/Next info. Will upload that together with 99.7 Menindee tomorrow (if they are running it).
Yes, if you’re able to, well worth going out here as the landscape is so different to our usual haunts on the coast and adjacent tablelands. I’m already planning a repeat visit with my Cooma comrade, perhaps to Tibooburra where there are no FM stations and with the full 3 element Yagi setup.
but website looks a little broken.
Bounce FM, like Hype FM & so many small operator LPONs probably didn’t stick around long.
I did see a Facebook reference to Bounce FM in Aug 2020, so guess it disappeared sometime between now & then.
I’ll delete Bounce FM from the RDS List & add Faith FM. Thanks for that.
Wow now there’s a remote location not many venture too. I’d hate to imagine how much a litre of petrol costs out that way.
If dxing during the summer FM SpE season, you’re likely to need an aircon unit that really works well with the very hot temps & low humidity. Temperatures probably far more than I could tolerate these days, but I share & admire your dx curiosity & adventure for that remote locality dx trip.
Wow, yes, now I’ve been to most towns in NSW with the exception of the far north west (anywhere west of Moree and north of Broken Hill), but never out there.
I do remember seeing an SBS self help on 105.1 listed for White Cliffs years ago, that’s about the most remote TX in NSW I can think of.
Only 3.5 hours north of Broken Hill and now a sealed road all the way, so quite doable really. And I wouldn’t dare travel there in summer for obvious reasons; Es results wouldn’t be that different to home anyhow. I’m more interested in tropo/As and also MW.
Went for a drive up to Maitland today… seems to be a bit of lift about as I had
Orange stations (the 80kw ABCs on 101.9, 102.7 and 104.3 plus some Hit105.9)
ABC News 106.3 CW Slopes (was variable)
NW Slopes ABCs 96.7, 99.9 and 100.7
Tamworth JJJ 94.7 over Taree News Radio. Couldn’t get 92.9 or the new 95.5 TMFM though.
And on the way back home had a weak ABC Coffs Harbour 97.9 near home.
I can also report a couple of NEW mining TXs are on air (received at Stockade Hill park at East Maitland).
92.1 2HVR
93.7 2JJJ
both at Wambo Mine 8km WNW WARKWORTH, operating at 20w
(so 65 km away from my DX point).
On the TEF, 2HVR seemed to have a stereo pilot, not sure about 93.7 as reception was weak, but I did manage to hear a ‘Triple J’ ID. That’s also the first time I’ve received a Triple J in the 93 mhz range.
Best catch was 91.1/92.7/93.5 Bendigo, and I think the TCBL from Peterborough was mixing on 91.1.
Port Pirie FM incl 5AU 97.9 very strong, but no RDS on 5AU, possibly due to strong 98.1 spur from Hill FM.
Renmark/Loxton FM fair
Mildura FM fair
Menindee FM weak
Adelaide 103.9, 104.7 weak
Flow FM 96.9 OK
Flow FM 107.5 (Hallett?) strong
Menindee:
Main Broken Hill FMers still strong, though 2DRY was weak.
2DRY/t 99.7 NOT on air
Flow FM 101.3 ON AIR! Did not know about this tx which has to be a first for me. And no RDS, checked with both the car radio and TEF. This is as strong as the ABCs and can be just received in some parts of Broken Hill South.
Mildura FM fair
Renmark/Loxton FM fair
Flow 96.9 fair- this one seems to be heard everywhere!
Biggest surprise was weak reception of Griffith. Amazing how this tx can be heard everywhere from Bungendore to Menindee. Signs of 99.7 were even heard about half way back to Broken Hill as well (I thought I may have been getting the elusive 2DRY at that point).
Mad Max Hill aka Mundi Mundi Lookout:
Similar results to the first spot, Port Pirie strong. However Peterborough 91.1 was heard better and in the clear, no Bendigo.
99.5 was not Mildura and had news at the top of the Croweater hour, so I’d say Flow FM Kapunda.
2CA 1053 heard weakly via skywave at around 1600 ACST (1630 AEST). ‘It’s a small world after all…”
Unfortunately did not try the loop as I was in a hurry all day. Ideally I would have done Menindee yesterday but poor weather put a stop to that. Heading back east tomorrow.
Wow- nice one!! Ironically Dubbo has its own 88.9, but from experience you don’t receive the signals immediately below you. There’s also Condobolin 88.9 out that way.
Thanks. That would be great.
