Digital Radio - Technical

Although Classic FM and Triple J are Heard Clearly in Geelong, The Bellarine and down to Torquay because the ABC has it’s own Transmitter.

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Yes, and the ABC runs at a higher power, 100kw vs 16kw for the commercials towards Geelong, as the ABC is licensed to serve Geelong.

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The ABC & SBS are national broadcasters and can have different transmission powers, and in some cases, completely different transmitters located in a completely different location. For example, Bundaberg and Maryborough Queensland each have their own commercial FM stations but a single set of ABC stations serves both cities. I’m talking about FM radio, but the same is true for AM radio.

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Ah, don’t get me started on the Wide Bay radio markets :slight_smile: They should have amalgamated the Maryborough and Bundaberg licence areas into a Wide Bay LAP, similar to Rockhampton/Gladstone. The Wide Bay should have had 4 commercial radio licences across the region from Mt Goonanamen, and preferably all on FM like Townsville.

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Sorry to be late for the party when I checked Google AI for Perth it had:

" In Perth, commercial DAB+ radio transmitters typically operate at a power of 50 kW. This is consistent with the power levels used in other major Australian capital cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane."

whereas for Perth commercial FM it is 40 kW (ABC FM uses 100 kW).

For Mandurah, commercial DAB+ is 10kW and the commercial FM is 5kW.

The radiated power is typically determined by communications engineers working out the 360 degree radiation pattern such that it covers the LAP in a particular way (to avoid overlaps). I remember reading somewhere that for GC it was determined to use 20kW for DAB+ because of high-rise buildings, so other than the standard 50kW for regional DAB+ and FM the power is determined by radiation pattern based geography and LAP. Exception being ABC/SBS FM which runs way more power than commercial FM (at least for Perth LAP), not sure why.

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I think on places overseas where it was sensitive like Hong Kong there is/was technology to cause interference to stop Chinese mainlanders hearing Hong Kong radio. For the record I think radio isn’t popular there anymore. I am thinking before handover to China in the 80s when radio was still king to hear the news.

For example. So I wonder if at the border of Geelong and Melbourne could they technically engineer or implement something to prevent those Geelong folk from listening to that Melbourne radio. Just curious.

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Was there talk at one stage that Grant Broadcasters were wanting ACMA to grant them a licence for a jammer to block the fortuitous Melbourne Dab+ signals within the Geelong licence area.? Obviously doing a Newcastle / Wollongong DTV Cochannel on DAB+

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Don’t know if this is possible or makes sense but is there any way to change the signal direction of the FM transmitter (at a transmission site i.e) like DTV perhaps? If so, perhaps the ABC could get themselves broadcast licenses that would allow them to re-transmit the ABC NewsRadio, RN and other services on the Melbourne commercial FM frequencies aiming down South? So say, from out Lara way, or perhaps even from Highton to mainly aim down South into Geelong and Surf Coast?

If so, that would be a sure-fire way to block out Melbourne FM stations and ensure people only listen to the local offerings, whether commercial, community or national broadcasters. Target the commercial offerings of Nova, KIIS and Fox e.g and replace them with low or medium-powered ABC RN, NewsRadio and even have a repeater of ABC Radio Melbourne in Geelong. Any attempts to receive Melbourne commercial FM stations would be kinda near impossible. And I mean, very much impossible.

List of potential candidates as examples…

100.3 FM - ABC Radio Melbourne
101.1 FM - ABC NewsRadio
101.9 FM - ABC RN

Perfect idea to ensure those Melbourne FM signals are jammed in Geelong/Surf Coast regions only and wiped out, Werribee (somewhere in the middle perhaps) and the rest of the Melbourne license area unaffected. Then I wouldn’t imagine listeners in Geelong would have to put up with Kyle & Jackie O again (i.e if they listen to them or have ever heard of them).

I have a very controversial opinion on this although the owners of the Geelong Stations would not like it and it’s to basically add Geelong as part of the Melbourne RA1 license area and close down one of the Geelong commercial stations and operate the other as something similar to River 94.9 or C91.3. It would be very beneficial to Geelong listeners for them to receive a better signal of Melbourne DAB+ giving listeners there more choice.

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In 2007, in their response to the Digital Radio Channel Plans, Commercial Radio Australia recommended that the best technical solution to prevent overspill coverage in the Geelong market was to “use a low power site to create co-channel interference in the victim market”. Their words. They called it a Coverage Optimisation System. The ACMA didn’t take up that recommendation.

Source: Digital Radio Channel Plans - ACMA 2007/1740 - Response by the Commercial Radio Industry

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I think the way it works now is fine, it’s been like that for 35 years with FM and 15 years with DAB, and everyone has survived.

It is also sometimes forgotten that Geelong puts a very strong signal into Melbourne’s west (anywhere west of the West Gate Bridge). I’m sure that’s beneficial to Bay and K-Rock too.

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No it’s not. The engineering required is probably not possible. You would most likely hear both channels over the top of each other all the time.

The interference with the Melbourne commercial services would be unpredictable and affect the Melbourne LAP at times which would be acceptable to the commercial broadcasters.

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If the Geelong stations are concerned about the principle of overspill, they are welcome to reduce ERP towards western Melbourne.

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I believe that the Melbourne and Geelong radio LAPs overlap (e.g. Werribee) so some places should have access to both Melbourne and Geelong stations.

I think, ideally, the ABC should be operating a dedicated local station in Geelong. Even if it shared some programming with 774 in Melbourne. After all, ABC run separate stations in Gosford (ABC Central Coast - 2BL/T) and Wollongong (ABC Illawarra - 2ILA)

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There is provision for ABC Local Radio in Geelong to use 91.9… but I don’t think the ABC were happy with that.. I recall reading that they wanted The Pulse 94.7 frequency.

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Why do they think they could have someone-elses frequency? And what’s the difference anyway?

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Should that ever happen, also have a 10-watt repeater on 101.1 FM from Geelong CBD blocking Kyle & Jackie O from ever beaming into Geelong on FM again lol! :rofl: (Paging @ElCapitanCranky and @MossPickle)

hit91.9 Bendigo can actually be picked up during ducting in parts of Geelong so placing ABC Local Radio on 91.9 FM would take that away.

Because 91.9 could be subject to interference from Hit at Bendigo.