The whole Radio Narrowcast sector is based on this, well actually the fact that there are no guarantees, the Government could tell all narrowcasters to switch off any time, but there’s still plenty of money being spent in that sector & still people buying new licences & starting up.
Broadcast is a very expensive game, troubled & difficult at times, 12 months or even 3 years isn’t a long time in broadcast, most contracts between broadcasters, etc are 10 to 15 years long, but things, along with technology in this industry change fast, last DTV re-stack was less than 10 years ago, yet here we are talking about spending millions & millions of dollars doing it all again making the commercial & national TV networks replace transmitters to do DVB-T2, & quite a big chunk of viewers replacing TV sets to watch.
If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t be in it.
Perhaps the Federal Government can step in and help fund a new transmitter. They are singlehandedly keeping C31 on the air with every 2nd commercial being for the Government’s propaganda ads.
I know how it all works, I engineer for the big Commercial TV & Radio networks, but I also engineer for a number of community radio stations, some of who operate using borrowed equipment under agreement, I also engineer for one of those community stations voluntarily under agreement.
C31 have a commercial transmission agreement, so if they don’t pay things don’t get fixed. They might be a poor community organisation, but where commercial agreements/contracts are made, the other parties aren’t a charity & aren’t going to fix/replace things at their own costs.
this was hinted at in media reports a few weeks ago. Good to see them setting up a uniform platform rather than maintaining individual ones. I wonder if it might allow scope for some of the HPONs (e.g. ICTV, Darwin, Goolarri Media, etc.) to be included as well. They are not licenced as community TV but they are essentially the same thing.
Don’t get too carried away, I’ve just checked with the Melbourne TXA team & it’s got nothing to do with C31 & it’s not the main site at Ornata Rd. Mt Dandenong.
There’s works at the Como DTV site being done, that have nothing to do with C31, except they have a translator there, & share the same antenna as everyone else.
C31 still aren’t spending any money on transmission upgrades or repairs.
You seem very aggressive toward them about this. Do you have some form of vested interest in the TX tower?
Like we get it. It’s not like it’s your tax dollars at work. If anything it’ll just screw them over so when they have the funds to do so I imagine they will.
On top of that it’s not as though they own the transmitter. Why spend money into something that’s not theirs? It’s like someone renovating a rental for the owners benefit…. Why would you?
More frustrated, I would say. Engineers like things to be done properly and well-maintained. It’s not a fault, it’s idealism. Unfortunately, those in boardrooms have a different set of values (don’t excuse the pun, please).
As TV 4 say it’s more frustration, but not only for the reasons mentioned.
The vested interest (if you want to call it that) in the TX tower is only via the company I work for, who owns it & my colleagues who work there.
You’ve pretty much answered your own question also, as C31 actually DO own the transmitter, & operate it under a maintenance agreement with the company I work for, & lease space at the site & on the tower.
Exactly as you say, why would the company I work for spend money on something that’s not theirs?
The issue is, my colleagues are pissed with having to fix it, & keep it on air, while C31 doesn’t want to spend any money on preventative maintenance, or buy a new transmitter, but yet keeps fighting for their licence period to be extended & expecting the transmitter to keep going.
My colleagues time should be spent at home with their families, or working on other things, like keeping the DTV & FM services on air, not continually fixing a transmitter which has no love from it’s owners.
How happy would you be with C31 if you were “on call” & were woken up at 2am to fix the transmitter when it’s gone off air, or when you’re at home on a nice sunny, warm, relaxing weekend & you get a call, go up to the transmitter site to fix the C31 transmitter, as it’s got a fault, when this could all be avoided with a bit of money spent to fix it properly, (not Band Aid fixes every time it breaks), but then parts for this are hard to come by now, as it’s so old, so & new transmitter would mean no after hours call outs.
It’s like having a 15 year old car with no maintenance done on it, expecting it to keep going, then saying just one more year, then lets drive around Australia in it for 3 years. Sure if you can find a mechanic who’ll patch it up every time it breaks for very little money, great, but you’re going to be pretty hard pressed to find a mechanic who’ll come out at 2am or on the weekend to fix it, when you’ve broken down, all because you won’t pay to do some serious maintenance/repairs or replace the car. Same analogy can be put on any of your appliances, fridge, oven, etc.
It might be free to air & not cost you anything to use or have the enjoyment from, but boy don’t some people (not aimed at anyone here), get mighty annoyed when they sit down with a beer to relax, watching the TV & it doesn’t work. Well someone has to keep it working, & it’s not done for free.
However I’m sorry but the whole “they have families and shouldn’t have to go in to maintain it etc”
I get called to do things on weekend and out of hours as well in my job - for things that aren’t really even my responsibility. I don’t get overtime or time in lieu, and yes I’d love to not be doing it but it’s just the way work is sometimes. I don’t think that’s a valid part of the argument.
Should C31 pay to fix it, sure. I’m sure if it was as contentious as you’re saying, surely there would be something in the contract that stipulates they have to maintain it and they would be held to that.
As you said there is a maintenance contract between the company and C31 - I’d love to know the limits/responsibilities across it then if it is the company’s job to maintain the transmitter… which sounds like it is what they are doing?
As well as this, if not, why do they keep fixing it if they get so angry about doing something then?
Leave it down and let C31 fix it then? The people maintaining it seem to not be helping their cause if what you are saying is the case.
Are you covered under the Broadcasting, Recorded Entertainment and Cinemas Award 2020? If so, if you are on-call you should be getting an allowance for the time you are on-call and be paid overtime when you are called into work.
Kind of but not really, I don’t think anyone in radio or TV engineering is on that Award per say, we are all on negotiated contracts.
It varies between workplaces & contract negotiations, but roughly times worked over a 40 hour working week is given as time off in lieu, when workloads permit.
The Melbourne guys after the recent storms that went through Mt Dandenong, worked 2 x 76-80 hour weeks getting back & keeping TV & radio on air, it’s going to be some time, in between busy days, when they can get that time back.
Most of us work the 40 hours per week during normal business hours, after hours work is extra, whether on call, or just need to do the extra work.
My company is generally pretty good with overtime, but a few networks have been caught out recently, with techs working way too much overtime & not being compensated for it, so now the fair work commission is watching the TV & radio networks very closely for this.
