It still beggars belief that 2AD Armidale has not changed over yet, their proposal was done back in 2019!
I know a variation was done in 2023 to change sites with a plethora of compensating infills…. I wonder if they are having delays with the new Thunderbolts Rd site or trouble accessing the current Little Duval site to complete the move?
I am assuming 100.3 is still at Little Duval? The 2023 proposal gives three new translators to it as well, which assumes they will also change site.
It’s appropriate for a region subject to ice and snow that change moves at a glacial pace.
The LAP for Deniliquin is quite a bit smaller than their actual listening base IMHO. 2QN and 102.5FM are easily received a long way South of Echuca.
Stupid question - if a license area has an overlap of more than 30%, like Muswellbrook and Newcastle has, does that mean no conversion can take place? I read ACMA’s documents and I’m just as stupid now as I was back then for reading it…
Yes, they are still eligible… I’m eagerly waiting to see the 2NM conversion documents when that comes up for consideration.
Does 2HD get to intervene and say no, we want a FM conversion as well?
2HD will get one eventually too, I understand the ACMA are looking at ways to get ALL commercial radio onto FM. Obviously the more congested markets like Sydney and Newcastle will be the hardest and probably won’t happen until after all of the regionals are done.
Maybe for Melbourne they could find extra frequencies if they moved the low power community stations to frequencies between the major Melbourne FM stations, but to reduce interference between them and nearby stations (e.g. Ballarat, Bendigo etc.) these could be even number frequencies (e.g. 102.2, 103.0, etc.). Alternatively, the nearby stations could be moved up or down by 0.1 MHz to even frequencies while Melbourne low power community stations move to odd number frequencies (e.g. 102.3, 103.1 etc.).
This would allow 5 extra stations to convert to FM. If you moved Geelong stations to in-between frequencies, that would go up to 10. Maybe you could accommodate extra conversions on in-between frequencies.
It should be possible to have lots more local FM stations. For example, there’s a place in Spain called Mijas which has 50 local stations and most have powers of between 1 and 10 KW though some are higher power. Somehow Spain can make this work.
I think they’ll be forced onto streaming (somewhat sadly) a bit like what happened with community TV in some areas like Sydney. Not sure what will happen with the metro wide higher powered community stations though, at a guess I’d say they’d be safe as you could probably free up enough high power FM frequencies solely by moving all 15 or so suburban community station in Syd/Melb off FM.
Aren’t there some spare frequencies from Channel 3 turning off in Newy? What’s 90.9 and 91.7 doing these days? Stick 2HD and 2NC on those two if they’re free
Probably a bit too close to Wollongong for 90.9 since that comes in strongly here particularly doing tropo.
91.7 is probably doable, particularly with a 2kw null to the south like the other Newcastle commercial FMs .. though I know Coast FM Gosford were chasing this frequency as well. Other frequencies like 90.1 could also be done, but would require 2NBC at Narwee in Sydney’s south to move etc.
Other countries make it work all the time, using in-between frequencies and 0.4 spacing in far more congested broadcasting areas like London or Southern California. It’s only in Australia with ACMA it’s all just “impossible”.
I wonder when 3HA move to FM they will rebrand as Star?
The ABA/ACMA have been a bit flexible. For example, I remember reading somewhere in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s that the aim was to not have stations on the same frequency less than 600 Km apart. Nowadays it’s a lot closer. 300 Km apart seems pretty common, and in some cases, less e.g.
At least one station in each pair is lower power (2 KW or less) and I’m sure they have directional nulls to minimise interference.
Yes, with today’s better receivers (even for non DX nerds) 400 kHz spacing should be the standard. I agree you’d have to get creative and potentially use even channels on the ‘Boomerang Coast’ (Adelaide to SEQ) to fit everything. I agree that the sub metros will be the loser in this equation, either forfeiting the channels outright or being forced to amalgamate with two or three other stations. In today’s environment the latter option may not be a bad thing, to avoid any more station closures.
Nulls and proper consideration of the terrain. For example, there’s no way you’d get an interfering signal from Warragul into the actual cities of Bendigo or Ballarat, both well shielded by hills.
It would be good to see 2NM convert to 98.1 and Power move to 98.9.
Also 2HD in Newcastle convert to 100.5 at some stage if 2RPH can switch to AM.
Have they said this or do you have insider knowledge? 
No, I think i just read that somewhere.
Ironically, 2HD had the opportunity to convert to 100.5 in 1992 around the same time 2NX and 2KO converted but they passed it up!