Guys, if you ever find issues with Koori on FM (or any of the other community stations at Artarmon for that matter), check Koori’s DAB if the problem is with them, if there’s issues on DAB I can’t fix that (unless it’s all the DAB stations & is a DAB transmitter issue), but if their DAB is okay, message me here & I’ll look into it further.
Koori is kinda monitored, (loosely) by TX Australia, not sure how or if Koori monitor their own transmissions, TXA have only been notified once by them that they were off air, people in here are more likely to know Koori’s off air than they are.
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I noticed Korri’s audio is favoring the left channel, I haven’t checked the DAB+ feed yet but Ill have a look later.
Was there a technical reason for Koori to feed their transmitter via the DAB+ feed? (I believe you did give a reason before but cant find the post).
Also are Koori on the lookout for any technical people to help them out, as I have a bit more time these days now the Hawkesbury Radio frequency fight has finished and on the lookout to help another station.
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Yes, they’re cheap, TXA have given them options, & they’ve had at least 2 other contract techs give them options to feed the FM properly, but don’t go ahead with any of it.
To date TXA has bought them & still owns most of it, everything in their PIE rack at Artarmon.
Years ago they did have a microwave link to their old site, with DAB feed as backup, when they started to move to Artarmon they found the microwave link hadn’t been working for about 3 years, so they’d only been using the DAB feed & just continued with that after moving to Artarmon as it was quick, easy & cheap to do.
You can approach them if you want, don’t know who you’d contact, TXA never hears from them & when we try to contact them it just goes to a dead end, no one ever gets back to us. I doubt they’ll pay you for any tech help, but if you’re willing to volunteer to do it, they might be interested?
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Its the unfortunate go with a lot of stations I see around, is to go with the “cheep and nasty” route and have the attitude that “she’ll be right”.
A station doesn’t have to fork out $1000s to still look good/sound good, just takes some clever thinking/thinking outside the box.
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Can’t get Koori on DAB down here to check 
On a related note, I can remember picking up Koori via DAB+ in Anna Bay/Boat Harbour (south side of Port Stephens) without any reception on 93.7. The only thing comparable is receiving Snow FM via DAB in Canberra city without the 97.7 signal, though that really doesn’t count since the DAB signal is local.
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I had that once here up near Newcastle! And 97.7 was SBS Radio instead!
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@TheChase That would be a great pursuit & I’d like to think they’d be grateful for your assistance.
Another station that appears to need assistance is FBi. When there’s a 94.5 FM transmitter reset or some other such interruption to power, their transmitter or RDS encoder appears to loose its programming. I don’t think their technician understands enough about RDS on FM. As you’ve had RDS programming experience you might be able to assist their tech. Probably entails a visit to Gore Hill transmitter site. If interested drop a line to the station.
Their PS & PTY needs restoring. Wouldn’t hurt for the station to have an RT message either (avoid CT).
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The radcom database hasn’t been updated as yet with the new Pulse FM permanent licence. I’m guessing sometime in the next few days we will find out what callsign they’ve been given.
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My guess is
2PLS
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89.9 Pulse FM Hawkesbury appears to have either a new (or replacement) transmitter or processor, given some measurements this morning. They’ve also added RDS, see RDS thread.
Does anyone have any news re their current transmission / equipment & licence info?
They now have a very strong Stereo Pilot carrier.
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The Pulse FM licence now appears in the ACMA database… within the past couple of hours.
Their new callsign is: 2HWK
Site: Grass Ski Centre
500W, M
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The attachment with the licence specs isn’t up yet on ACMA.
Is it the same as their TCL at Grass Karts?
This is the pdf page that I’m currently viewing if this helps.
xx I assume so, I’d have to look further.
UPDATED: No. The radiation pattern & max power output is different, but I doubt they transmitted at anything near max licenced levels under their TBCL or at the moment with kind of power that they are licenced for. And as for radiation in specific directions per licence - ?? Someone knows, but it’s not me.
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It’s full time, but is only a 6 month licence, wonder if ACMA will be watching this closely & reviewing before renewal next year, maybe if they aren’t up to scratch it’ll be open for another player again.
Most full time community licences run for either 2 or 5 years.
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The output pattern for 89.9 has always intrigued me. 750w to the NW and 50w to the SE, the main listening area. The old Hawkesbury Radio when I was there didn’t use the licenced specs but used to transmit about 400w OD on vertical polarisation. They could have gotten away with just 100 or 200w OD. As our Technical Director at the time used to say, “all the power is going out towards the Koalas under the official specs”. 750w going out to virtually no one.
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The broadcasting licence (ACMA Register of Radiocommunications Licences (RRL)) has been provided for 5 years… the apparatus licence is listed for 6 months for whatever reason though.
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I think it was 750w to the NE as well, which helps to explain why I used to get reasonable reception with RDS.
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I am sure the 50 / 75W to the East is simply to prevent overspill and the 750W to the West is to try and get the signal out towards Mt Tomha.
Problem is Grass Karts is a crap site severely blocked to the West.
200W omnidirectional from Grass Karts would be better specs to serve the main population areas of the Windsor LA, as 750W is completely wasted to the west with low antenna height and a major hill blocking the path.
This leads me to this question for someone like @RFBurns. If Pulse fm is pumping out 750W into an obstruction, could the reflected signal back to towards the East mean they are exceeding their ERP towards the east, and could this also add extra multi path to the signal in areas to tbe East close to the transmission tower?
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Info on ACMA’s RRF is changing by the hour re Pulse FM.
The pdf link I referred to earlier has gone, max erp for perm licence was 500W.
And I also note that in reference to the permanent apparatus licence the status says ‘Not Granted’
Think we need to wait a bit more…
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