AM and FM DX

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1365

Last dx report from Salamander Bay, Port Stephens as heading back to Sydney tomorrow.

Excellent tropo here this afternoon / evening with Sydney fm belting in at near local strength on the car radio. The Edge and C91.3 were also received but at lower strength. The following low powered Sydney metro community stations were also received. 89.9 Hawkesbury Radio, 89.1 2BLU Fm, 90.1 2NBC, 89.7 2RES.

Sydney DAB+ assemblies 9B and 9C could be received on the Pure Move portable but 9A was below the digital cliff.

Central Coast Fm including community and low powered nationals. Coast Fm was even overpowering Triple J on 96.3.

The most furthest south signals received was 2ST on 91.7, and the Bateman Bay nationals on 101.9 and 103.5.
Great holiday and Dxing.

Tropo is set to get even better with the Hepburn charts forecasting extreme tropo on the east coast later this week. Tropo between Australia and NZ could even be possible.

3 Likes
1366

Great. The thing about tropo is dx is that it is very location dependant and directional & even height dependant. Someone even living 10kms away ā€˜mayā€™ not experience the lift in signals.

Iā€™ve been keeping an eye on the Tropo maps the past days in anticipation of some amazing tropo dx on the NSW coast this weekend.

Take a look here:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_aus.html
and click map through to SAT Jan 20th @ 1200UT.
I have never seen pink colour on the coast of NSW.
Itā€™s usually the Broom region of WA that gets this intense tropo.
If the lift goes as predicted, some dxers might receive 1 watt LPONs from up to 200kms away for those living high up right on the coast.
Maybe even possibilities for NZ tropo dx to south island for NSW coastal dxers in days ahead.

The downside of all this is an expected 4 day heatwave. Lets just hope the power grid stays alive during it all to power our equipment. Something tells me NSW dxers should keep an ample supply of batteries handy for our dx portable FM radios - LOL.
A torch, a battery powered fan, eskyā€¦etc

3 Likes
1367

Looking forward to a tropo fest, hot weather notwithstanding.

This summer has been pretty average so far, this will hopefully help make up for it.

3 Likes
1368

BTW what is the furthest north of Sydney that Dab+ has been received?

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1369

My bet is Cape Hawke Lookout near Forster.

High up right on the coast.

Getting up towards Port Macquarie would be pushing it.

North Brother near Laurieton might be possible on the best of days.

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1371

Currently hearing 93.1 Sea FM & HITZ93.9 Bundaberg and FOX 101.9 Melbourne on the Bayside of Brisbane.

Fox is fading in and out but at times almost full quieting complete with stereo.

EDIT: hit 101.9 Wide Bay is now over Powering Melbourne

1 Like
1372

Something weird just happened on 90.9

Some type of ethnic music was playing for a good 5-10 seconds and then faded out into noiseā€¦

Other then that. Star Hit Bendigo is coming in not too bad as well as News Radio from Mt Tassie.

1373

Could 90.9 have been SBS from Morwell?

1374

I matched the SBS Vic feed from the 90.9 feed and it was totally different.

I have a feelling that it was the SBS Translator from Crowa near Yarrawonga.

Would SBS NSW have a different feed to Victoria?

BTW: ACMA Database is down, you can use https://maprad.io in the meantime.

2 Likes
1375

Up here, some SBS translators run Chill or something else to what SBS AM or FM in Sydney are doing.

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1376

Iā€™ve had Wollongong at Coffs and Woolgoolga. C91.3 was heard up here a couple of weeks ago.

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1377

Enhanced reception from northern NSW last night. Including

Kempsey MMM 106.7, 2WET 103.1
Maclean 2GF 103.9, Grafton 104.7 FM
Coffs Harbour 2CSF 105.5 and 2CFS 106.3.
Coraki 88.9

88.9 and 104.7 still present this morning.

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1378

SpE North Island NZ is in now on FM

1379

3GLR is another odd callsign iā€™ve noticed on a ABC site in Gippsland.

1380

Thatā€™s the ABC Local Radio repeater at Cann River

1 Like
1381

This callsign was on the Mt Tassie site tho at 100.7

Iā€™d say that itā€™s a legacy callsign for Local Radio tho.

1382

Another opening from Victoria and South Australia into QLD with overlapping stations on each frequency. Melbourne high powers at local levels.

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1383

Audio sample from 90.9 now on Youtube from the 16/1 and the 18/1.

1384

This one was caught in Melbourne the other day; it is indeed relaying ABC Country, probably from a satellite or web stream.

1 Like
1385

Hi Melbournefan,

I watch/listened to your video.

Well thereā€™s definately Flow FM there, from Beach Forrest no doubt.
May have also been a 07 phone number mentioned or 04? Too difficult to make out.

And letā€™s not confuse Corowa with Cowra.
Okay I last heard 2SBS Corowa in 2008 locally on 90.9MHz and was carrying 2SBSFM programming.
Iā€™m not sure why you list it as 2SBS Chill? SBS Chill isnā€™t carried on many SBS FMers & not listed as such, but that doesnā€™t mean it is currently carrying that source of programming or at time of reception.
BUT what you heard was definately was not SBS Chill programming/music, but typical music programming from one of the SBSFM southeast Asia ethnic programs. Iā€™m not sure exactly what time you heard SBS on 90.9MHz but language sounds more like Thai or Vietnamese (not discounting Lao/Cambodian). You can look up SBS Radioā€™s schedule.

As to the transmitter site, SBS Corowa doesnā€™t propagate too far, I suspect lower power that licenced for.
I think it more likely it was SBS Morwell you received, which is much closer to you. Is this transmitter still on?
Let me know what you think.