Digital Radio

To them it’s fresh.

I think they are still living in the noughties (or even earlier) sometimes.

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I wish they were to network some of the big global dance shows like ASOT Radio, but the most they have is “DJ Choombo” mix on Saturday nights and that’s it. A disgrace of a dance station to be honest. They should take a leaf out of some of the big Euro Dance/uptempo stations like NRJ and they could have an epic sounding station.

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I will look for NRJ and sample it.

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A few others that sound amazing in there playlists are:
Slam FM NL
Puls’ Radio FR
George FM NZ
Radio FG FR
If any of these were to be cloned or ideas taken from and made into a Sydney station you would have an epic following.

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Away from dance music, there’s always the other NZ gem - Brian FM.

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Raw FM goes alright for a local offering.

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I took the scenic route from home (Belmont North/Newcastle) to Kurrajong Heights this morning, & was actually really surprised with the DAB+ coverage in Sydney’s North West region.

I was listening to FUN Super Digi, so reception is based on their config. & the 9A multiplex.

I started listening coming up the hill from the Hawksbury River on the M1 (heading South) & got off at the Berowra exit & went along the old hwy to Asquith.

I then headed out towards Galston, & the DAB+ dropped out a few times, but only short minor drops, at the bottom of the Galston Gorge, as I went over the bridge.

I then headed up towards Glenorie & across towards Cattai, the DAB+ didn’t drop out again until I was crossing the Cattai Creek Bridge on Cattai Ridge Rd at Maraylya, & that lasted until I got to the top of the hill coming up from the creek.

I then headed across Scheyville to McGraths Hill, then up through Windsor, to Freeman’s Reach, across to Kurmond & up the Bells Line of Road to Kurrajong Heights.

After I got DAB+ reception back at Maraylya, I never lost it again all the way to Kurrajong Heights.

I’ll head back through Richmond, Marsden Park, Dean Park & onto the M7 this afternoon, then along the M2 & up Pennant Hills Rd to the M1.

I’ll report back later if there were any issues going that way?

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Another even more scenic route would be Newcastle-Broke-Kurrajong Heights via Putty Road. Has anyone tried DAB along that route? The road gains some decent height between Colo Heights and Howes Valley.

There’s also the Wollombi-Peats Ridge road via Bucketty.

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And that has a less rigorous error correction. What type of car is it?

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Mitsubishi Outlander Exceed.

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That’s a VERY long detour to Sydney :smile:

Yes, but do in the day time, the first section south from Bulga is terrible with how slow going it is, so many twists and turns until it reaches Howes Valley. Correct, by the time you reach Colo Heights, the Sydney reception and that of Knights Hill is superb, but it’s not really that far from Sydney, so it didn’t impress me.

Sydney is in a basin, so there’s lots of great ridgetop reception.

That would climb towards Peats Ridge? Was in Wollombi in January, terrible reception of 1233 ABC Newcastle there. Great little pub there, very humble, would’ve stopped for a meal and drink but light was fading and things to do back at Lake Mac.

Which is excellent to check for poor reception. Looking forward to @4TAB-1008kHz experimenting with error correction on 4TAB 3 when he has time (no pressure!).

Some years ago I stayed in a cabin on a little property south of Wollombi. I was surprised that there was no terrestrial television reception on that property and that the cabins had VAST.

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I can believe that. After the end of VHF 3 and 5A in the area, terrestrial TV signals would be as rare as hen’s teeth.

Plenty of old installations on the Putty Road and the settlements beside it.

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Yes, 1233 tends to fade not far out of Cessnock when heading that way. I can recall hearing 2WS on 1224 reasonably clearly for the very first time at Sweetmans Creek around 1983, just on the Cessnock side of Wollombi. 1224 is pretty scratchy around Cessnock itself though, barely listenable.

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Not so much if Kurrajong Heights is the destination.

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Nice view. I am impressed with your Mitsubishi @RFBurns, if listening to FUN, I expect more drops.

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I didn’t go for the view, I had to go to the DTV translator site to work :frowning:

The DAB+ in the Outlander is surprisingly good I think, the FM I haven’t trialed extensively yet, & the AM is old skool.

The AM reception is very good for long distances, I can listen to 2HD 1143 easily all the way to the end of the M1 (Sydney end), but as you get away from the transmitter, say around Karriong, unusual for a modern radio, you get the old skool hetrodyne whistle.

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To those lamenting the audio quality of DAB+ radio, I found this recording of 2SM on DAB back in 2004 and the audio quality was so much better than it is now… From recollection, they were using 256kbps MP2 at that time.

None of that horrible fake tinny treble you have nowadays with low-bitrate SBR and PS.

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Wow it does sound good. Oh this makes me feel even more disappointed how most of the radio industry dont care about sound quality of dab.

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