Sad day.
Leaves only 7SD on the AM band in Tassie.
Thats not counting a handful of ABC services or 1008 and 1080 7TAB.
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Cue new postitioner for 7SD
“Tasmania’s Number 1 commercial AM radio station!”.
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Always thought an AM Music station in Hobart would do OK. Aging population, plus a dominant AM station in the ABC, would surly be a plus…
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And RIP night time reception of AM radio reception from Tasmania in Sydney? In the past I’ve managed to receive 7BU and 7AD (albeit with some splatter from 2LM & 2LT), but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten 7SD.
7BU is pretty much impossible to pick up in Sydney, due to it being nearly next door to the 50kW-powered local ABC RN service on 576. The 540 frequency in Sydney is dominated by ABC Western QLD from Longreach, hence receiving 7SD is out of the question.
With 2GN & 2XL set to convert to FM (with the former to be blocked from being received in Sydney by 2GO, unlike with Eagle FM), there’ll be less & less commercial AM music stations to pick up in Sydney, particularly at night. At least Melbourne would still be able to receive 3GG from Warragul, as well as 2CA from Canberra at night, so Melbourne wins over Sydney again on that front! 
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I get Hobart on 585 and 936; the latter is heavily mixed with 4PB Brisbane, though.
There is also 7FG Fingal (1161) and 7SH St Helens (1584). Both on air at least when I visited a year ago. Is 630 Queenstown on air? It can’t be received in Sydney for obvious reasons.
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Write to ACMA to complain. Eastern part of the licence area will suffer during summer.
It’s time these compromised specs are rejected.
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Me too.
Until the Lismore - Gympie and out to Toowoomba/Darling & Southern Downs markets are reallocated for efficiency, the final allocation for 2LM wouldn’t be best advised.
I’d either nuke the whole FM band in SEQ/NE NSW or go with my 92.9 proposal, as outlined above. I don’t think the ACMA have the wherewithal to reorganise the whole band but I’ll be happy to be proven wrong. There is the mooted replanning of the Perth/SW WA FM band but that task is a hell of a lot easier (I’m not sure if it even needs it tbh; perhaps just eradicate the Geraldton/Northam co-channels).
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Maybe they’re using Perth as a test to see if restacks are viable in more congested markets like SEQ and Newcastle to Wollongong.
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And I gather the same for 7BU.
after 7BU dropped their power I could not receive them here. In the evening there was only Fiji on 558. But I did receive 7AD once after the power drop & could hear the “7AD-FM” ID. Tried for the loop message to no avail. No sign of it.
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They should, they have the staff. I wonder if it’s funding that’s the problem? I guess the next budget estimates will draw that out.
Perth/SW needs to be recast as there’s three decades of legacy planning to squeeze services in the VHF 4 slot to protect Bunbury TV and any low powered repeaters on Band II.
Brisbane and surrounds badly needs it.
What’s interesting is comparing co-channel of Mt Nardi with Mt Goonaneman to that of the much closer Black Mtn and Dulong Lookount. Between the big two sites, the mush zone is minimal. Move to the Sunshine Coast sites and the problems begin. Easy fix, co-channel between the big two sites only and with differing polarity as successfully done for ATV.
Very interesting. Will try for next time GY is off air.
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Radicalism is not in the nature of bureaucracies like the ACMA, which have all the nimbleness of a bulk freighter in the Brisbane River.
Perhaps they should look to the Philippines for inspiration. The FM band in Metro Manila is a thing of beauty (AM isn’t bad either).
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I believe that 7BU and Sea FM services were relocated to another tower close by, however I haven’t eyeballed the site.
The ACMA lists both services on the 7BU site however.
I suspect the reason for FM to AM conversion was really about power costs and the access to technical staff that know about AM.
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Same site at Table Cape, new tower which was replaced within a day or two.
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As the Camerons’ are not investing in training staff to be capable of this?
How many work for BA with experience they could poach? That is if they’d offer suitable terms.
Ahh Good one. Guyed mast the same as the AM one or a more traditional tripod type?
Years ago I worked for a large broadcaster, and the Chief Engineer was very concerned that his staff were loosing AM skill-sets, as his crew was either retiring or being made redundant, so ‘On the Job’ training wasn’t being passed on.
He was a really interesting guy, with so much experience. Wish I had spend more time learning from him.
From memory he was made redundant shortly after our conversation…
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I’ll have to check that for you. I’m thinking of going for a drive up there over the weekend. Will report back.
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