It’s still 250km from Brisbane to Cherboug. I wouldn’t think it would make too much difference whether 94.1 was being broadcast from Mt Coot-tha or Mt Tambourine. But even so this is a situation where a remote area community station should be asked to move frequency if necessary.
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Thanks for ‘joining the dots’ for me LOL
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4ZZZ transmitting a blank mono carrier tonight; no RDS.
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I used to look after 4ZZZ technically in the early 80’s but couldn’t tell you who does their tech work nowadays: back then it was a 3kw FM transmitter called a Sintronic made by Singer that also made sewing machines(they should have stuck to sewing machines). Standby Tx was a home-brew FM exciter and MPX generator(designed by a bright guy named Ross Danecker) and the PA was a donated obsolete channel 5 Elit TV translator(likely from Darling Downs TV Picnic Point) which was good for a couple of hundred watts. The home-brew transmitter started life in the Schonell Theatre at Univ of Qld into a turnstile antenna before they got a Mt Coot-tha site. The Mt Coot-tha antenna was a 6 bay twisted ring array at 30m. Audio got to the site via Telecom 15k program lines.
Initially it was the only FM station in Brisbane until 4MBS started up on the same site with a FBN series NEC transmitter and their own 4 bay antenna. Due to the lack of filters or a combiner both had to run at reduced power due to 3rd order intermods. ABC Classic FM started up across the road at the NTA site a couple of years later.
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It’s kind of catching at the moment.
89.3 2GLF operating in mono (no stereo pilot)
95.3 6EBA operating in mono (no stereo pilot)
But 4ZZZ is back to normal now 
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And for most of the past week Rhema 99.7 in Newcastle has had no RDS either.
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I noticed their live-stream was down the last few days.
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For a while they ditched ‘Triple U’ completely and just went with Shoalhaven FM.
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Good choice going back.
Location names (eg “Sydney’s 95.3FM”) are the most bland thing you could come up with.
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Even worse, those generic network names which have no consistency in format across it’s network.
Yes Triple M I’m looking at you!
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Congrats to 90.1 2NBC FM who are promoting their 40th birthday with mentions of being Sydney’s first local community FM station.
The station is having an event to celebrate 40 years on air.
Details: Dinner Sunday June 4th at Mortdale RSL $65 with prizes & entertainment.
Need to ring & book.
Feedback on current reception & audio quality of the station’s 90.1 FM transmission might also be appreciated here.
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Technically wasn’t 2VTR (Hawkesbury Radio) the first sub metro station in Sydney? Though back then, Windsor was very much semi rural.
I understand that there were a number of community radio tests in Sydney on 93.7 back in the late 70s, so the history is a little fuzzy (pardon the pun). Many of these did not gain a permanent licence of course.
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As you say that area was semi-rural at the time. Not really metro Sydney.
Wikipedia says: Hawkesbury Radio began in 1978 with a test broadcast, gaining its full licence in 1982, one of the first local community radio licences granted.
I do recall frequently tuning into 2VTR in the early/mid 80’s.
My memory of that time period is very hazy, but I do remember listening to the initial broadcasts of 2NBC, my local FM station at the time.
It was an exciting time to be listening to FM in Sydney with plenty of small local FM stations soon following 2NBC over the following two to three years & a great variety of programs.
FM radio listening was vibrant & beginning to flourish in those early days especially with Triple M’s Doug Mulray on breakfast. I wish there was more archival material of his back then.
Would be great to see a historical timeline of when the various Sydney FM community FM stations began populating the FM dial.
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Remember the FM spectrum was severely curtailed due to VHF 3, 4 & 5 on air around Sydney (ABHN5 Newcastle switched to 5A sometime in the late 70s). Therefore only 92.1, 92.9 and 93.7 were available in Sydney using 800 kHz spacing. 2MBS and ABCFM used the former two slots, leaving only 93.7 available as an experimental frequency. 2MBS moved to 102.5 in 1978/79 or so.
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https://radioinfo.com.au/news/mario-bekes-and-alive-90-5-going-for-a-guinness-world-record/
Starting at 11am AEST on Saturday April 29, Mario will attempt to broadcast for 56 continuous hours from the studio, under the auspices of the Guinness World Records.
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90.5 Alive FM; A big disparity between the current talk program content & the RDS RT output which displays changing music title/artist info.
UPDATE: from their Facebook page.
Alive 90.5fm Broadcaster/Podcaster to attempt world longest audio broadcast On 29th April 2023, podcaster and author, Mario Bekes will attempt a 56-hour continuous broadcast from Alive 90.5FM studios that is being carried out under the auspices of Guinness World Records.
The above explains why the program schedule & RDS feed doesn’t match, but it would have been ideal for Alive FM to amend their RDS feed to publicize the longest audio broadcast attempt.
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On Friday night I went along to the 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards Gala on behalf of Apple 98.5 Bacchus Marsh! Was a great night of networking, entertainment and the main awards presentations hosted by Mike Amor…
Did a write up on our website: 7News Young Achiever Awards – Apple 98.5 FM
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Big day yesterday for Bunbury Community Radio 103.7. 7 years on, and finally moving from their shared CipherTel broadcast mast to their own site - higher and more powerful, 8.2kw. Sounding sharper too with a new studio link.
103.7 should have in car coverage from Margaret River to Mandurah, I’d say.
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Although I didn’t catch the end of the 56hour+ ‘worlds longest audio broadcast’ attempt by Mario @ Alive 90.5, according to a brief announcement at 8.15pm tonight by the announcer, he did break the record, ably assisted by 50 others at the station over the 3 days.
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