So could the Hawkesbury Heights translator be at fault then??
If that is the case it has caused widespread interference across western / north western Sydney.
Today when I was at Seven Hills I was on a high ridge and could see the Artarmon tower but still had dropouts on all Muxes. The LOS to the west was not great. That’s why I was convinced the problem was at Artarmon.
Maybe they should temporarily shut down Hawkesbury Heights and see if that resolves the problem.
According to my Sony DAB+ radio at my home near Campbelltown, I get 100% signal on 9B & 9C, and around 80-85% on 9A. So it appears that the Badgally Hill translator (Campbelltown/Narellan) is working fine.
I am of the same view unless they have increased the power output on the repeater and has caused an issue. Like I guess 9c on the southern highlands with Canberra now using 9c too.
I am no broadcast engineer, but to me it looks different to your typical co channel interference where the signal is completely knocked out. E.g Newcastle tv knocking out Illawarra tv in tropo openings, and Canberra and Sydney 9c dab+ cancelling each other out on the southern face of the Gib.
The signal today across Western and North Western Sydney seemed very low. The signal metre on the dab+ radio would go from full signal to no signal while travelling in otherwise full signal areas. Sometimes it fluctuated madly while stationary.
RFBurns cannot see any problems at Artarmon, and the other translators seem to be ok from reports on here so it could be Hawkesbury Heights causing the issues. I am sure RFBurns will get it figured out.
Thank god we still have FM!!!
This link provides for interesting reading given today’s DAB+ problems in the north-west.
https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/overcoming-dab-sfn-network-challenges
Day 2 of Dab+ low signal / interference across Western & North Western Sydney.
Would the incoming inclement weather slow down the resolution or can transmitters be retimed remotely if that is the problem?
Can confirm, that Cherrybrook still has that issue.
Update:
Lots of dead spots in Blacktown, Parklea, Stanhope Gardens and the Ponds from my travels this morning in the work truck.
I contacted BA and spoke to the network engineer who logged into Winmalee. He found no problems with the transmitter. There goes my hunch!!!
He said BA will investigate it further.
Its great how they let you speak to the network engineer!
Like I said BA look after the DAB, so I probably wont know what the issue is unless one of the BA guys come to Artarmon to check.
Someone did contact TXA Head Office yesterday afternoon about the DAB issues, & we confirmed no problems at Artarmon (even though it’s not our job), so surprised BA didn’t know anything about it until Ant5476 contacted them today.
Confirms what I already knew though, that the DAB listening figures CRA tells everyone can’t be anywhere near what they say. If this issue is that widespread across Western Sydney & there were so many DAB listeners, then it would’ve been known about & resolved quite quickly. If it was FM or even AM, there would’ve been complaints coming in thick & fast & techs would be on the job quick smart.
The broadcasters don’t care about DAB, & not enough listeners to be concerned enough to monitor & respond to issues fast. Obviously not enough listeners concerned enough to bother making any complaints either.
The network engineer at BA is resetting Winmalee and is in contact with me to see if it resolves the issue.
@RFBurns Totally agree with sentiments. I know George and Paul got complaints on weekends when there are issues. George said just tune into 2GB 873. For me I like DAB (for AM radio) as I can be mobile with perfect reception without needing my phone. But it depends where you live.
@Ant5476 funny how they are resetting it without really troubleshooting it. Well done BTW! I would do something similar but I live in a good area for reception I won’t be able to verify it.
Everyone try your Dab+ reception now, BA have reset the network.
My reception is better in Blacktown where I am working, need to check at Rouse Hill and home.
Interesting how much an impact the repeater has on the network.
I would have never of thought it would of made it into Cherrybrook. Understand Middle Dural ie Old Northern Road along the ridge. I guess the reception might dip in the small valley at Cherrybrook (the TV aerials are very high around on people houses there) , and Winmalee competes to provide improve service. I’d probably need to be a broadcast engineer to really answer my own question (and understand the answer). Its all physics I guess. I pretty confident if Winmalee was switched off the signal would still be adequate in a car radio but the pocket radio would struggle.
Again kudos to @Ant5476.
Yes, like @RFBurns said it sounds like Winmalee was out of sync with the SFN enough for it to cause issues in areas where there is sufficient signal from both sites.
Absolutely. I still suspect that a lot of people who claim they’re listening to digital radio are only listening to an analogue radio with a digital display. Even many people working in the media don’t actually know what DAB is. They believe digital radio means listening online.
Hi @Ant5476 & all,
I’ve just arrived home & compared the BER & Signal strength readings on my Bush DAB+ radio.
I suspected yesterday that the signal strength readings were a little less than normal (I’ve never recorded them) & that BER rates were a little higher than normal. That said neither had an effect on my reception, but I live in an area where the signal is very strong from Artarmon.
Anyway comparing several DAB+ stations on all three muxs just now I can definitely see a difference in the signal levels, much higher now & BER much lower from the menus on the Bush Radio.
I’m so far away from the Winmalee transmitter and yet this fault also had significant effect on the DAB+ readings here. I think this fault has been a learning experience for all of us.
Thanks @Ant5476 for contacting BA. Hope you can also give them some feedback & thanks.
I find it fascinating that the QRIX free SDR DAB+ software can detect these other co-channel DAB+ transmitters. Also that just one malfunctioning low powered DAB+ transmitter received at such a small fraction of comparative received signal level to the main high powered signal can cause such a disruptive effect or degradation to signal quality across a significant part of the network.
Spoke to BA to advised all fixed, reception is now back to 100% Signal / quality, and I have not encountered any dropouts since, either at home or in the work truck.
They were not sure what the problem was but resetting the GPS resolved the problem.
@RFBurns does this Sound like it was a SFN issue, e.g Winmalee interfering with Artarmon consider the areas affected.
Also if BA manages Dab+ why wasn’t it installed at Gore Hill so they could manage the whole network from all their sites?
I’d naively say it relates to SFN. The GPSs, presumed to be a each DAB+ transmitter would probably be used to calculate precise distances between all transmitters for syncing. Maybe related to the guard interval timings. If the link to the GPS was operating slowly it could have maybe thrown timings out?
I learnt about propagation delays with digital circuits years ago & how critical it can be.
Wish I knew more about DAB+ technologies - still learning 
The Kiwi SDR website uses GPSs on several remote receiver sites. With the GPS & TOA (time of arrival) data from several receiver sites, the info is compiled & used to direction find the source of a transmission.