It was mentioned in the Smooth FM thread.
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The Dab+ Coverage maps for Wollongong, Goulburn, Lithgow, Katoomba, Nowra, and Gosford are interesting viewing.
Looking at the Wollongong coverage map I can see significant co-channel interference between Gosford and Wollongong during big coastal tropo openings in summer. Most likely Wollongong interfering with Gosford considering how much signal goes out to sea to the north east of Brokers Nose. Brokers Nose community fm stations are received at my location with my setup, so Gosford and Wollongong on the same frequency will be troublesome.
Hasnât ACMA learnt their lesson over the years from Cochanneling Newcastle and Wollongong??
The Helensburgh infill is actually Stanwell Tops, and as the tower is very small and terrain shielded to the north it will only cover Stanwell Park and Coal Cliff. It will not cover Helensburgh.
Gosford dab+ looks to have very little overspill into Sydney. Coverage only looks possible around Palm Beach and Berowra, very similar coverage towards Sydney as the Gosford town nationals. Looks like no chance of receiving it at Stanhope Gardens.
Nowra Dab+
Because Saddleback Mountain will be used over Knights Hill, there will be a poor to no dab+ reception in the town of Robertson.
Knights Hill would be a better option then Saddleback. With a very low ERP of 0.5KW you can cover Kiama and Robertson. The coverage would then merge with the Gib.
I still cannot see the point of seperate LAâs for Wollongong and Nowra. Wave fm will put Power fm and possibly 2ST on the Wollongong Mux. Just do them all from Knights Hill at 5KW with the other sites as low powered infills.
Looks like Campbelltown, Lithgow, and Katoomba will be my only chances for dxing.
The Dab+ signal from these will get into Western Sydney to some extent thanks to no restrictions to the east from Wentworth falls. It will be low powered at 500w max. This will kill off any extreme Canberra 8d dxing and most likely from the Gib too.
Goulburn
Dxing should be possible from the Gib at 5KW erp from Mt Gray, but with Wollongong on the same frequency will prevent dxing opportunities from Sydney.
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Which would leave someone like me with nothing but maybe Sydney reception during summer, with Wollongong canceling out Gosford, and Campbelltown canceling out my local Newcastle signals.
Or if Canberra is strong enough, maybe nothing at all
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If all TV in Australia was on UHF like in NZ we would not have to be cochanneling dab+ services less then 200km apart.
Should have opened up UHF 22-50 for Digital Tv. Yes we would need new antennas / tv / set top boxes for frequencies 22-27.
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Thanks - hadnât seen that. WoweeâŚ
Essentially the decision seems to be that they only care about covering population areas - the default position is to have a bunch of low powered transmitters scattered across the license area, leaving huge sections of the market not covered.
In many areas, thereâs almost none of the road network covered, with little dots around towns, often barely covering the population centres.
One example, just as itâs an area Iâm more familiar with than some of the more baffling examples in Queensland - Anglesea and Lorne would double up between Colac and Geelong transmitters - but Winchelsea and Teesdale would only be serviced by Colac, despite being well within the Geelong license area.
Huge amounts of the region, that get perfectly fine signals on FM - like Lethbridge and Meredith, would get poor to no signal - and that assumes theyâd put the investment in establishing the amount of transmitter sites needed to just barely cover a portion of their license area.
Attaching a few examples of some other other maps that show off how limited this coverage looks to be - all cases where it would be very logical to just have higher power services, but the need to pack everything in so tight would in a lot of cases prevent it.
DENILIQUIN.pdf (1.6 MB)
LITHGOW.pdf (2.4 MB)
TOOWOOMBA.pdf (2.0 MB)
TOWNSVILLE.pdf (2.0 MB)
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The Coffs Harbour DAB+ coverage maps are interesting. I note that the Mount Moombil transmitter will only be 1kw ERP and the 2HC site at Raleigh will have a DAB+ transmitter as well. Looks like most of the populated areas will have coverage. If Mount Moombil will only have 1kw, I donât even know why they are bothering with it.
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You might be lucky having a translator just up the road at the Highfields DTV site, your received levels in power & C/N might just be high enough for Campbelltown not to have any effect, but then knowing what I know, youâre probably spot on with your assessment?
Itâs not a high resolution map, but if you zoom in thereâs a lot of places around Newcastle (especially between you & me) who have according to the map, very little protection C/N & power level between signal work & signal failure.
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At least the coverage areas for Toowoomba and Townsville include the major centres outside the city like Dalby, Warwick, Ayr and Bowen. I thought they might have initially missed out.
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From the Wollongong maps, it looks like pretty much as soon as you hop on the M1 (F6) north of Wollongong, thereâs no reception coverage from Wollongong DAB+. Whatâs ironic is that the Sydney DAB+ transmissions cover the M1 better than the Wollongong transmission will â i.e. out-of-market signals will have better coverage than the in-market signals.
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RE: New Sooth Relax
Listening to Whitney Houston screaming her t_ts off on the 2nd song I listened to was enough to turn me off. Not my idea of relaxing having her on a playlist sorry. Hopefully Michael Bolton isnât there as well.
Wonder how often the some old songs get repeated knowing the playlist of Smooth FM?
I hope the Wollongong/Sydney overlap doesnât cause the same issues as Brisbane/GC amongst the operators
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Iâve heard today, that construction has started on the Como (Sydney) DAB+ translator site, apparently itâs a difficult build & will take some time, also why it hasnât been done before now.
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The digital radio joint ventures annual report published on the ACCC website yesterday also mentions that a Mornington Peninsula repeater is back on the agenda.
Where in Como will be the site?? Itâs of interest as I use to live across the river at Oatley.
Wouldnât it have been easier to use the Penshurst water tower 2NBC pole to mount the dab+ array with a directional antenna to the south. Cover Oatley, Como, and Hurstville grove. Where dab+ can be difficult in places.
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Not sure exactly, I heard the top of the hill near or at a mobile phone tower, & they have to get the electricity across about 150m of Crown land to the site, so Iâm thinking possibly the mobile phone tower between Tudar Rd & the Woronora river near the bridge?
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Is it the TXA Woronora Tv site on the eastern side of the Woronora bridge over looking Bonnet Bay??
No definitely not.
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Yes I have found it on the ACMA site location map. It is the Optus / Vodafone/ Telstra mobile site at Jannali Reserve Bonnet Bay.
100m ASL. Quite a hike from the road.
Is this site to provide coverage to Bonnets Bay only like the Tv site?
Donât know, I donât think so, it was also mentioned about all the high rises in the area, but those are at Kirrawee, & I canât see any great areas of Crown Land there, where the electricity would have to cross, so the site I mentioned seems best fit on the description I heard?
Side note, we actually need to move the Woronora DTV translator to on top of one of those high rise buildings, as thereâs so many of them now, they block the Artarmon signals on the south side of Kirrawee & we often get complaints.
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I canât recall the current list of radio stations on the Canberra DAB+ muxâs.
Possibly this news link below might be new information for many.
https://www.1wayfm.com.au/were-moving-up/
The third last paragraph is the reference to DAB+ in future for Canberra community radio station 1WAY.
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