Artarmon TX site to home is 105km (straight line), Mt Coot-tha to Surfers is 75km.
I am 32 floors up in Surfers, so a bit over 100m ASL, home for me is about 140m ASL.
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If you get a chance you should try Coles CBD one of the alternative Coles streams to see what a 16 kbit/sec stream sounds like - you might be surprised!
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I did try those!
I wasnât really surprised ⌠words failed me, but at 16kbps I wasnât expecting much.
I donât understand though why Brisbane has these when other cities like Sydney doesnât.
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For some reason Coles CBD sounds 10x better than Coles Tas given both have the same bit rate. A store could use it as acceptable background music considering the in-store speaker systems. But the Tas one sounds like its at the bottom of a well. But as you said, seems pointless.
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And why would Coles Tas (mania?) be broadcasting into Brisbane anyway? A gross waste of spectrum- an anti NSW Blues pop up station would be better (Roach Kill Radio?)
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Why is there even a Coles Radio Tasmania as opposed to perhaps Perth in a different time zone and why would there be a different version for CBD? I do note that the Coles TAS has adverts for MasterChef on âChannel Tenâ.
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Wouldnât localised specials be the main reason to split the feeds?
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Theyâd need those seperate feeds when they start advertising specials on lunch meat/devon/bologna/polony/fritz.
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The Canberra and Darwin trials have been extended until 31 March 2019. Still no word on when the permanent services will start?
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Donât Canberra, Hobart & Darwin now have the full suite of ABC/SBS DAB+ stations on a permanent basis? As for the commercial & community stations in those markets, I reckon the commercial broadcasters will get 128kbps for each analogue station they have with region-wide community radio getting 64kbps each.
By my calculations that should leave 320kbps unused in Canberra, 512kbps unused in Hobart and 640kbps in Darwin. How the unused spectrum would be allocated is anyoneâs guess.
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Yes, I meant to write when will the commercial and community services start.
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I would add some really high quality audio feeds. Perhaps donate it back into the mux for other stations to up the bitrate.
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Yep.
Thereâs a flat 256kbps or 2/9ths allocation for community radio - regardless of station count.
Eligible stations as far as I see it are:
Canberra: CMS FM, 1WAY, ArtSound FM, 2XX FM and RPH. Presumably, CMS and RPH would have 32kbps each, leaving the music formats the full 64.
Hobart: 7RPH, Hobart FM, Edge Radio and Ultra 106.5 - an even 64kbps each split.
Darwin: Territory FM, 97 Seven and Radio Larrakia
To quickly outline this, via the regional planning report:
Once the standard access entitlements of the incumbent commercial broadcasters have been satisfied, the multiplex transmitter licensee may allocate any excess capacity in accordance with the legislation. In summary, the licensee must auction the capacity if demand exceeds supply. Relevantly, the incumbent commercial licensees may only access an additional 1/9th of multiplex capacity each, giving a total capacity cap of 2/9th per commercial radio broadcasting licence. Community broadcasters in the licence area are also able to bid for excess capacity entitlements. National broadcasters may also bid for excess capacity entitlements on a Category 2 multiplex.
The likely outcomes are therefore that an auction takes place in Canberra for access to the spectrum, though likely with little real competition - I would expect SCA/ARN to get their full 256kbps, and Capital to take the remaining 128.
In Hobart and Darwin it is more interesting - there is still spectrum left over once the commercial broadcasters are at their cap. In Darwin, it would even be possible to have this occur without an auction - as demand couldnât exceed supply.
So for Darwin, thereâs quite a strong disincentive for Grant to move away from the current trial - where they control everything - to a proper multiplex license where potentially Territory FM could have 196kbps+ to offer a variety of competing formats.
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What report is this and to what category does this relate to?
In the metros with Cat 1 and Cat 3, the commercial licensees bidded for whatever theyâd like to.
Itâs in the âDAB+ Regional Planning Technical Reportâ - accessible on the ACMA site here. The quote is from page 13 of that report.
Hereâs a sheet outlining the auction results in the metro areas - the lots being passed in in Brisbane is a result of all the bidders reaching their 128kbps, and things like ARN getting their 64kbps in Sydney relatively cheaply once Triple M/2day reached their limits.
Annual Report for Digital Radio Joint Venture Companies - FY 2009-2010 - Attachment 8.pdf (116.9 KB)
(more of those annual reports - including one containing the spectrum auction rules, are on the ACCC website)
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I suspect Edge Radio may not be eligible for Hobart DAB since itâs only licensed to serve Hobart South, not all of Hobart as with Hobart FM and Ultra.
Other metros, RA1 is whatâs eligible.
That would then only be Ultra 106.5. Hobart FM is RA2, Edge Radio is RA3 and 7RPH is RA4.
Hopefully some logic prevails there - or at least Ultra using their allocation to carry the other community stations, even if they arenât on there officially - like what has finally happened with Joy on the Melbourne multiplex.
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I tested in car Brisbane DAB radio reception further down the Gold Coast today. Itâs mostly good down to Mermaid Beach, but then drops like a stone, with only brief reappearances at the top of the Currumbin Creek Estuary Bridge, Palm Beach and Marine Pde Coolangatta
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Could the anomaly of 2RPH which has a licence area that encompasses Newcastle and Wollongong have set a precedent, I wonder? 1RPH Canberra is in the same situation with a different and wider licence area to the other Canberra community stations.
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