Orange is also received in Bathurst, but not as well as Lithgow. When I was last there one business in Bathurst had Triple M Orange on.
Mt Ovens is about 2kms noth of Yetholme on a dirt. The last time I was there it was covered in snow.
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And that’s a waste of spectrum when one high powered site covers the area sufficiently.
Correct, have been in market and heard same.
Hence my suggestion to amalgamate the three markets.
Mercifully for Lithgow’s licensee, the main street is in a deep valley, blocking Sydney and Central West signals.
Naturally, it’s fine at Mt Victoria, RDS on a handheld radio with earphones as an aerial.
Blackheath is about the limit for Orange commercial fm stations on my car radio.
Sydney fm is pretty weak in Lithgow Main Street but better around Mcdonalds. and Quite strong around Mt Lambie.
What surprised me is when they put national services on for Lithgow town they did not put Triple J on one of the frequencies, as you only have the options of Sydney, Illawarra and Orange, all very weak in Lithgow itself.
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The frequencies for JJJ and Classic in Lithgow town are in the Lithgow LAP, 88.5 and 104.7 from memory.
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Cooma is the same. Both 91.3 & 93.7 were reserved for ABC services but have never got to air
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Lithgow has RN and News Radio on air but Classic Fm and Triple J have not yet gone to air.
Are the two reserved national services for Cooma town infills for Triple J and Classic Fm?
Also what happened to Triple J in Jindabyne on 105.9mhz?? I remember it being on air but it is now off air?
I think 105.9 Jindabyne is a self help relay, probably operated by the local council. Maybe a cost cutting measure?
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The Oberon & Blayney translators may not be needed, but they’d still need translators for places like Burraga Rockley and Sofala, where the terrain is rugged, and FM reception is dodgy.
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The lack of identical specs for two stations within the same market is a large misgiving by the ACMA to allow.
Who are they under pressure from to make this happen? Fattening the cow for sale?
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I reckon the raison d’être for 88.1 MHz Burraga is to provide Abercrombie Caves with reception in case of bushfire. This is the only station that’s received with any clarity down there. Though with ever decreasing local content on 2BS, I wonder if ABC RR should be repeated instead. Burraga itself isn’t in a deep valley, though Rockley certainly is.
I’ve been periodically checking 95.1 for signs of life from Yetholme, but nothing yet.
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549 AM probably gets in everywhere. Only Lithgow has a repeater for 2CR.
It depends what level of coverage you’re after. For decades, AM reception of ABC stations in bushfire conditions would’ve been considered sufficient. Bushfires generate their own weather that adds to the noise floor and will wipe out weaker signals.
Investigations arising from bushfires in Sydney (my memory begins with the 1994 multi site disaster) and the recent Black Saturday fires in Victoria touched on radio reception. ABC set up an FM repeater in Warburton and yet listening to AM in normal conditions, I couldn’t find any poor AM reception.
I guess it’s a generational matter, life should improve with each decade, so should coverage.
B Rock signal is poor/non existent? Interesting they didn’t apply for blackspot funding prior to 2008.
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Yes, B-Rock is very weak down there, and in Sofala too.
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It’s not listed on ACMA’s Final Licence Area Plans page, but looking at legislation.gov.au, it appears that 7AD & 7BU has been given the tick of approval to convert to FM. As for 7XS, its main licence will offically transfer from AM to FM, with a potential to launch an S39 licence.
Here are the final Licence Area Plans for the following, which came into force late last month:
Burnie
Devonport
Queenstown
The decision on whether to convert 7SD to FM, as well as remaining on AM, has not yet been decided.
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Not sure if I’m reading correctly, but it seems like 7BU will be using its current AM site for the high power main station on FM.
It’s listed as being at the same address.
That’s fair enough if it works for them. But I thought the AM tower was in a bad way and needed to come down? Seems a bit odd to spend money on a new tower for an FM array instead of just repairing or replacing the current AM tower. Then also why bother with the expense of converting to FM?
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Is SEA FM at the same site? If so. that makes sense, if not, that’s quite odd.
It is at the same site.
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Been thinking about the Lismore FM conversion and how much of a nightmare it is going to be to work out.
If there was to be a re-stack of surrounding licenses in NSW and Queensland, in how many markets would adjustments need to be made?
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According to the FYSO 2018-22 document, there is an analog radio LAP variations for Brisbane & Regional QLD being planned for early next year, which may involve some stations changing frequencies, allowing 2LM to have an ideal frequency they could convert to.
According to the same document, consultation papers for AM-FM conversions in Lithgow, Bega, Cooma, Goulburn & Nowra should be released within the next 3 weeks.
It would be interesting to know on which transmitter site will 2ST’s converted FM service be broadcasting from, whether it’ll be Knights Hill with Power FM, or Cambewarra Mountain, closer to Nowra (see recent posts on the “Random Radio” thread). Broadcasting from the latter will also allow 2ST to keep their Southern Highlands translator, which provides local breakaway programming on weekday mornings.
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2ST could still broadcast from Knights Hill and keep 102.9 for the Highlands, but they would need to use a directional antenna simlar to what i98 and Wave are using at present. It would need to be 1.5kw to the north, 4 or 5kw to the west, and the full 50kw to the south to match Power fm.
From the Knights Hill site they could use 91.7mhz, and do away with their south coast translators. This would be the most efficient use of spectrum rather then broadcasting from Cambewarra Mountain and having to maintain some of their translators.
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