I can’t confirm anything as this is a guess, but it could be gone because the transmission power is too small for its coverage area, and besides, even if much of Woronora is in a moderate coverage area for the VHF Sydney transmissions, they can still perhaps get Seven and Nine OK, but perhaps not 10, but that probably wouldn’t matter anyways.
Also could be to save money and cut costs, and if viewers there are that concerned about losing the translator service, they could just buy a high-gain VHF antenna mast for their roofs, or perhaps get a high-gain UHF antenna and aim it for Wollongong.
Another reason for the Woronora switchoff is probably because Woronora residents have decent internet and mobile connectivity to stream these channels online, so the DTV translator switchoff in Woronora came and went without notice.
The Woronora TV translator is still there & operational, but it’s never been on the rock wall near the bridge or moved, even going right back to when it was a local council self help analogue site.
The receive & transmit antennas are located on the bridge pylons.
Receive antennas are on the first on-shore pylon on the East side of the river & the transmit antennas are on the Eastern pylon in the river, one pointing up river & the other pointing down river.
The transmitters themselves are located inside the bridge, under the road deck.
It’s still on air & is well used by most, if not all of the local residences around Woronora & along the river, if ever there’s an issue there TXA will receive complaints, many more than any other transmission site around Sydney/Central Coast. I think there’s a community group down there that certainly lets us know of any issues, though TXA will know about it anyway, the site is fully monitored & alarmed for any faults.
They already do. There are some regional markets that are on streaming right now if you just want local news or ads, but it’s also handy for those needing to watch the services when they’re out and about. Newcastle and Northern Rivers (NBN), as well as Regional QLD (Seven), are already on the respective streaming platforms.
No point upgrading current metro channels to MPEG-4 SD or HD, as no one in the cities cares. Any metro channels already broadcasting in MPEG-4 HD will be that of 7mate and 7Bravo. This is a regional trend. We’re seeing regional channels being upgraded to MPEG-4 SD or HD at a rapid pace because viewers want better TV quality and none of that horrendous picture quality from the metros.
Does anyone know if the 7HD picture quality (on Channel 60) in the ACT and RegionalNSW/VIC/QLD/WA was in MPEG-2 HD at the start of this year (well before the upgrade)? Because when I viewed the HD picture on 7HD Ballarat in a Colac appliance store in January, it was like the picture quality I got from 9HD Melbourne, sorta horrendous picture quality, though not noticeable to the average viewer.
I’m surprised that Extra hasn’t taken the channel space yet given that WIN is affiliated with Nine and it’s a Nine channel. Maybe it’s not part of the affiliation agreement WIN signed with Nine.
On 19 January 2016, Extra replaced WIN’s five-hour timeshift of their datacasting channel Gold titled Gold 2 on channel 82. When WIN and NBN launched 9Life in March 2016, their channel listings were reshuffled to mirror Nine’s metropolitan listings which put Extra on channel 85 (later on channel 86) in both listings
Or remove Channel 7 (BTQ) from the channel list and make Gold Coast residents either watch NEN or change their aerial set-ups to receive Brisbane? Those options could work.
I mean, at the moment, Gold Coast residents already get 7TWO Brisbane, 7mateHD Brisbane, 7Bravo Brisbane and 7flix Brisbane, the only channel for the Gold Coast is specifically channels 007, 070 and 071, and have a customised feed to provide a Gold Coast bulletin, not as that’s being axed, why not just kill off the localised Gold Coast (BTQ) feeds and convert them to Brisbane.
Spell the end of those Gold Coast m3u8 links, and the availability of the GC service on 7plus.
I’m talking about the BTQ feeds, not the regional NEN feed. That will still operate, for the sake of local ads. I was referring to the BTQ-7 Brisbane relays. Those metro feeds did occasionally have a QLD Country Health fund ad, but the Gold Coast is not really a country town, rather the 2nd capital city of QLD.
Also, any airings of that ad would’ve been during The Chase Australia (4:30pm) and 7NEWS Gold Coast (5:30pm) when there were opt-outs. Outside of that it’s an exact copy of BTQ-7 Brisbane (apart from a few Brisbane updates with a Gold Coast background). With the axing of the bulletin means no more customised BTQ feed. The Regional QLD stations get the Brisbane background. Simple.
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