2EC now back on 105.9.
I think Iâve seen somewhere heâs the head of emergency broadcasting for the ABC. Canât seem to find it now.
If Mt Dandenong went out it would also affect regional commercial TV too as Digital Distribution Australia have microwave links through there.
Luckily most ABC/SBS transmitter are fed off satellite so they would continue at most sites provided power was available.
Speaking of Gippsland, during Black Saturday in 2009, The BA site at Mt Tassie went down. I recall WIN TV added ABC1 to their multiplex temporarily to ensure it continued. They also lost ABC Gippsland on 100.7FM but community station Gippsland FM took a POTS fed link of ABC Gippsland on 104.7 during this time. Saleâs ABC Gippsland transmitter remained online on 828AM but this is only 5kW and doesnât get out far.
I do agree. 774 and 702 are 50kW. Why canât a few more be increased? In Victoria 594 Horsham gets out a bit but nothing in the east of the state. 828 Sale or 720 Omeo could be increased. More likely 828AM.
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Abc south east Brealfast Program will Broadcasting into Abc Riverrina on 89.9fm
this morning due to Bushfire
I was flicking around. I actually found the Triple M & Hit updates to be out of date and slower at updating with the correct information. Iâm in the Corryong area and 2AY had the updates in line with the vic emergency information on the air within 10 or so minutes of it being released. I was listening on the Monday night. It was so scary to be part of!
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Is it technical possible to temporarily increase power of AM stations or FM stations? It could cause cochannel issues but in the case of an emergency its understandable. Sorry you can tell I am not a broadcast engineer.
That would depend what it interferes with. Another station in a non emergency area might not be too much of a problem, but itâll it interferes with frequencies being used by emergency responders then it would be a huge problem.
Generally speaking, no.
Installations are mostly built to normal operational specification, building in extra unnecessary capacity cost a lot of money.
In FM you may have some extra capacity in the combiner, feeder, & antenna systems, but nothing significant maybe an extra kW or so TX power.
TXâs are expensive too, going up to the next power level 5 to 7.5 or 10kW or 10kW to 15 or 20kW, could be $20,000 or more (depending on what level you start at), so most stations only buy what they need.
AM is much the same, only built to normal operation specifications, as costs for anything greater are too big.
AMâs you could also get flash-overs on various parts of the antenna system, (ATU, or the base insulator or the lighting ball gap), as they are built for normal operating power, the higher the power the bigger the gaps or bigger/thicker insulation.
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And thereâs the inconsistency.
NSW radio seems to have a budget to support this but Victoria doesnât or doesnât want to.
Night is the worst time, thereâll be plenty awake beyond 10pm with generators running, trying to clean things up, relax, wind down etc.
The programming from the ABC needs to go beyond emergency updates and provide a meeting point for locals to chat and share their experiences. Those with internet are finding social media is outdoing them, radio is the original social medium yet the ABC let it be outdone.
Heâs a proven regional broadcaster, very successful in Mackay on both commercial and ABC. Plenty of cyclones and fires up there for him to be well versed in emergency broadcasting.
Agree, local knowledge gives the edge. Sadly, the understaffed commercial stations that used to be viable for at least breakfast through to drive and quite often nights now donât have the staff to stretch for proper local coverage.
To interview the emergency broadcaster interstate shows a lack of quality decision making by the producer, either that or theyâre lazy?
So to be on 87.6 they have an engineer in the town or contracted to someone who could do it for them, thatâs a good response. Howâs the programming on 2EC?
They canât be increased if they donât have the TX at the site to dial up a higher power and subsequent TX antenna that can handle the increased output.
Would often require rebuilding to accommodate these occasional increases. I agree however, itâs a cost that govt especially should be funding to BAI via the ABC. Good luck with that however.
Great contribution @tonks8526, excellent summary of past contingencies.
Welcome. Thanks for taking the effort to sign up and contribute. What town were you in at the time @merrywhisky?
Two points at least @Laoma, firstly, does the TX have any headroom or is already running at the top of its spec? Then, if you can âturn it upâ, would the TX antenna handle the extra output from the TX? ie. is it engineered for it?
There you go, @RFBurns has covered it well.
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Re. 2EC on 87.6 in Batemans. I suspect they would have an existing Kix country there and its a matter of simply switching the program feed to 2EC.
As for increasing the power of existing fm, as @RFBurns has said generally no. Even if you could, youâd need a substantial power increase to make any noticeable sort of difference.
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603 AM is Radio National Nowra. Quickly re-assigned to Local Radio. Good effort.
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Iâm guessing that the transmitter is fibre/landline fed and is just a case of changing the stream? Always intrigued how they can switch their stations so quick!
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Thanks @RFBurns, makes a lot of sense.
Actually 828 3GI Sales is 10kw - since at least 1975 - and 720 3MT Omeo is 2kw. In South Gippy, I tend to listen to 828 over 100.7, because of the signal consistency.
IIRC the fire at Mt Tassie also took out the SEA/STARfm and TRFM transmitters - leaving Gold/3GV and 3GG as the only other stations operating - again on the AM band, which sort of reinforces the comments by @RFBurns
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94.3 Star FM (now Hit FM) is actually broadcasted further west near Yarragon. Canât recall the impact to it during Black Saturday.
The GLV tower on Mt Tassie wasnât impacted as badly as the nearby BA site but still lost power. TRFM on 99.5 was running on a generator which almost ran out of diesel and they were ready to pull the pin on TRFM altogether. They even switched TRFMâs 99.9 transmitter in Bairnsdale (Mt Taylor) to transmit Gold 1242 instead.
But just in time they managed to get a diesel delivery to Mt Tassie which kept TRFM on-air and also a select few DTV and analog TV services which are also from the GLV tower.
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I stand corrected. Faulty memory, I was living in Traralgon at the time and can remember switching to the ABC on AM⌠I can remember riding past the Mt Tassie transmitter site a few weeks later and there didnât seem to be much not burnt!
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The above photo of Mount Wandera is actually 2EARâs tx, so Iâm not sure how much damage the ABC tx suffered.
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ABC Local on 103.5 is back on the air but with reduced power. Does anyone have any images of Mt Wandera?
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Phil Brandel tonight in Vic, probably from Cairns. Definitely a bit of a surprise.
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