Only the station name/branding and format got moved to FM.
846 Cairns and 1026 Mackay were always on air (as 4EL and 4AA respectively) during the time 4CA and 4MK were on FM.
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These stations never “went back” to AM. Just the branding, nothing to do with the original AM licence. Call signs changed but the licence is still as it always was. Wouldn’t affect eligibility to convert the licences.
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I remembered back in the Prime Radio days, that they were pushing to convert 4CC to FM.
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They tried that, but the best they could manage was an approval for an FM relay in Yeppoon, which never went to air (AFAIK).
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Southern Cross Austereo (Regional)
If 3GG converts to FM, what frequency would it use? I’ve seen people say 95.9 would be a good option but I’m not so sure. In Apollo Bay (especially in the summer) Triple M 94.3 and Vision 93.5 Warragul often can be received at fairly strong levels. This would be an issue if 3GG converted to 95.9 since I can imagine it interfering with the already fairly weak MIXX 95.9 signal, which is only 50-30dBuV in Apollo Bay.
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I have had Mixx 95.9 across the Gulf Of Melbourne into Cape Liptrap (3GG territory), quite clearly too and in June. In the present weather setup the ducting across there would be fairly intense. Aireys Inlet and Cape Otway were quite cool today compared to Melbourne.
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95.9 is currently set aside for Radio National off Mt Tassie with the same specs as the other ABCs.
Hard to work out what they could use though. Might need to be a Bairnsdale/Ballarat co channel like 107.1?
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Could they use 93.5 and RPH moves to 531 AM? Would 3GG have similar coverage to Triple m 94.3, or would there be a problem interference from Bendigo?
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It’s the same Warragul RA1 license area so it would be the same as 94.3
3GG should also be eligible for a Traralgon translator like 3SEA has on 97.9.
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What about 3GG moving to 102.3, no station in Gippsland uses that frequency, plus it is only 400kHz away from The Fox, which most former 94.3 listeners probably switched to
But that creates a problem. There’s already a commercial radio station in Ballarat that uses that frequency. If you’re far away enough, it can be received in Warragul during intense tropo. Probably not the best frequency I reckon.
NewsRadio operates on 94.3 in Ballarat and that doesn’t pose too much of a problem for Gippsland so 102.3 could be fine too.
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Well as long as they keep 103.1 FM free for FM-DX/Ballarat tropo (in Melbourne and Geelong) then I guess that could work.
I always wanted 3GG to convert to 103.1. Made sense going from 531 to 103.1. But when 3GG got the supplementary FM license allocated in 2002 it went to 94.3 launching as Sea FM at the time.
But now we are talking actual conversion rather than a supplementary service so maybe 103.1 should be back in play.
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I also do not see the problem of it (outside of intense Tropo), I am pretty sure that the proposed transmitter site near Warragul will not interfere with Ballarat unless you are at a bit of a distance between the two services, heck we have a similar situation here in NSW between the Central Coast/Newcastle region and the Illawarra/Shoalhaven/Southern Highlands region with Frequency sharing. (And yes some services are low powered)
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I would assume there would be a null in the direction of the other service, as to avoid interference issues
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There’s also 3BBR Warragul on 103.1; in most of Melbourne it’s ‘Ratted out by Power FM so you tend to forget it exists.
102.3 would probably be the best option. Driving through most of Gippsland it’s usually white noise- I’ve tried to get Canberra down there with no success.
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Though it’s been reserved at Bairnsdale for ABC Local Radio, perhaps for if/when 828 gets switched off.
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I have to wonder why the ACMA doesn’t consider looking at using even numbered frequencies for at least some new allocations in order to reduce the potential for co-channel interference- would be good especially with allocations such as Ballarat/Gippsland where they are generally just about far enough away under normal conditions but with potential for interference during tropo (or for some places on the fringe of the licence area). Seems to work OK over in Europe.
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