They should. There’s a couple on the Gold Coast, Breeze 100.6 and Rebel on 99.4
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Well because we very much live in a country that uses odd-numbered frequencies for FM, anyone who tunes their FM radios and finds a station on an even-numbered frequency would assume that it’s a pirate radio station. The only exception to that is the 87.6, 87.8 and 88.0 frequencies, which are used for Narrowcast broadcasting services.
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Thanks, didn’t know that. Though I think the legacy AMs will remain given that ABCRR s the designated emergency broadcaster.
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I recall they tried Radio National on 828am when ABC Local Radio moved to 100.7 in the 90s. 106.3 in Bairnsdale I think was also Local Radio at this time.
But there must have been complaints about the overall FM coverage on 100.7 and 106.3 so they switched 828 back to Local Radio and 106.3 flipped to Radio National as it is today.
In my experience, 100.7 from Mt Tassie (Latrobe Valley) is a blow torch and pushes into East Gippsland well. But I imagine 828am must fill in some black spots.
So with the commercials in Sale and Warragul converting to FM, it might be an opportune time for the ABC to tidy up too and get something (RN?) on 95.9 from Mt Tassie and Local Radio on 102.3 from Mt Taylor (Bairnsdale).
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Apparently the mountainous areas around Bruthen were not great for GIFM on 100.7FM, so the AM service was re-instated.
And there is no reason why 102.3 shouldn’t be used for 3GG-FM. The Ballarat station on that frequency has a very directional pattern and barely gets out to the east.
Once in a blue moon “intense tropo” in Victoria should never be a reason not to reallocate difficult to find frequencies in different markets. Especially when the stations are nearly 250km apart.
And please, let us not start using even numbered frequencies in the band plan. Instead, start allocating channels to stations in the same area at 600 or even 400 kHz apart as is done in many countries. The 800 kHz spacing was done at a time when some radios had poor selectivity. That’s not the case these days.
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And there is no reason why 102.3 shouldn’t be used for 3GG-FM. The Ballarat station on that frequency has a very directional pattern and barely gets out to the east.
Yes the Ballarat stations transmitting from Mt Warrenheip (and ABCs and TV from Lookout Hill) barely gets out east past Gordon. Even in Ballan (30km East of Ballarat) most houses have TV antennas towards Mount Dandenong (Melbourne). Although when 3BBA (Power FM) and 3RBA (3BA-FM) started I could receive these stations from my then flat in Hawthorn but was a fringe signal.
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I’d think the most obvious would be to use one of those Ballarat frequencies, but you might need an infill for both edges of the market, so that you can have more protection towards the east than the 94.3 frequency does.
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To be fair 94.3 doesn’t need more protection to the east - car radio reception is pretty consistent up to the Melbourne CBD most days.
It needs more power directed to the south to actually serve the licence area. 7kW is puny and borderline pointless in the many south Gippsland valleys where Melbourne FM booms in
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Also probably why 3MT Omeo is still on AM (720 kHz). The road between Bruthen and Omeo goes through a very narrow canyon of the Tambo River which makes FM difficult, though believe it or not I managed to receive Launceston in there. Some knife edge refraction from the top of the canyon (it was strong via tropo on the southern side)?
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I would say that 3GG should move to 102.3 as Fox FM Warragul, using the callsign 3FGX
Moving the station to 102.3 would put it close to 101.9, which is what most former 94.3 listeners would have likely moved to.
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3GG is owned by Capital Radio, not SCA, therefore would retain its own brand.
But it would be interesting to see whether 3GG retains the current callsign and “Forever Classic” format on FM, or takes the FM log that it’s sister stations in Goulburn and Cooma use and what brand they use for that.
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True, but people are speculating that SCA may buy the Warragul station from CRN and rebrand it to Hit.
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They could get away with Snow FM due to Mount Baw Baw 
That peak often has more snow than Thredbo and Perisher, especially in the shoulder seasons.
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The way things are, SCA can’t afford anything right now.
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I still wonder if 3CV (Gold FM) will ever go FM in its main coverage area. The low power (200W) 98.3 translator in Bendigo City serves a large chunk of its listener base, and the big question is where a high-powered FM transmitter would be located given the lack of a high mountain at Maryborough and potentially losing its Ballarat listeners.
Mt Moliagil would give good coverage to the NW, while One Tree Hill Clunes is probably getting too far South.
Mt Tarrengower could be an option given it would be good for Castlemaine, although there’s really not much infrastructure there and any new tower would result in NIMBY pushback.
LAP variations will be intriguing.
(Worth noting 3CV originally operated from Charlton but then moved its main studio to Bendigo with its AM transmitter at Carisbrook. That’s still the case.)
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Happening within 12 months I’m led to believe. No idea about specifics but you’d like to think they’d consolidate the Maryborough licence area into Bendigo.
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It’s not 3CV anymore it’s 3EL 
My understanding is that the 3CV licence became 91.9 FM (3BDG)
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Agree, I imagine they’d get a 120kw TX at Mt Alexander to match the SCA duo. Might be hard to find an FM frequency to use at that spec, at least not without moving smaller nearby stations and without affecting Shepparton. 99.7 could be an option? Even though it won’t match the spacing of the other Mt Alexander high power services.
Ballarat should also get a 3rd commercial licence, and convert the existing 1314 licence to a HPON. Could advertise 96.7 as that from Mt Warrenheip at 20kw to match the ARN pair.
No I believe 3BDG was a supplementary licence allocated to 3CV. 3CV then relinquished that call sign and changed call signs to 3EL and was sold to another operator. It’s still the original licence though, just a call sign change. The call sign change was likely done to ensure the new buyer couldn’t use 3CV branding, as a way of reducing the impact of any competition with the seller’s station(s). Similar situation with the call sign changes for the likes of 4CA and 4MK.
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A TX at Mt Alexander for 3EL would have its signal spilling way too far East. Echuca and Deni stations 2QN and Edge FM wouldn’t be happy either.
Mt Tarrengower at say 30-50kW would be the logical location, but as I said Maldon NIMBYs are another breed altogether. 99.9 MHz might work, although that could have issues with 99.9 Smart FM Swan Hill.