Tweaks and adjustments have been made to my server. I don’t plan on making any more changes in terms of plugins and the such for the moment. The only thing that will happen is from Christmas Eve, the server will be offline as I’m taking the radio away with me on holiday 
EDIT 30/12: The server is back up again.
I am going on my driving trip to Sydney tomorrow so if anything goes wrong with my webserver I won’t be able to fix it until the 9th of January.
TVCL3 is now back up.
TVCL1/TVCL2 will take a bit longer – something’s happened to the computer running those two and it just gets to the login screen and flickers continuously and jumps between initial login screen and the password screen.
The headless TEF has also arrived - so TVCL2 will switch to the headless one when it goes back up.
While I’m working on getting TVCL1/2 back up, here’s a surprise new TVCL Sydney HF server, covering from 0-30 MHz. Enjoy :).
Still in test mode, so may go down without notice.
Edit: There’s a storm right now, so there might be a bit more static than usual.
UPDATE: Checked and it seems both TVCL1 and TVCL2 are now back online! 
Yes, I’ve just done a system restore which brought it back to life. Now I’m worried that when Windows tries to automatically install the same update again it’ll kill the server again.
TVCL2 is now using the headless TEF. It doesn’t seem to get AM anymore though, but the new HF server makes up for that, as it’s connected to a better antenna for AM/HF.
Welcome Back.
You did not miss much DX wise while you were gone, just a couple of short openings to NZ and an opening to North Queensland. BTW, nice HF server, fair signal of Voice of Korea on it as well as WWVH on 5000khz
Try delaying the update by pausing updates for 7 days, press the Pause Updates button constantly until the button is blanked out, then you’ll probably have to install that dreaded update. Or you could just kill Windows Updates completely, but be aware you’ll no longer get vital security updates if you choose to go with this method.
Awesome stuff, I noticed that when I tuned to Central Coast and Wollongong on TVCL2, I noticed they were a bit stronger in signal strength. Not sure if this is because of the new headless TEF (if it is, fantastic stuff) or some form of tropo (which even though they are permanent signals into Sydney they tend to get stronger during certain conditions)…
That’s good enough, as whenever I log onto your TVCL1/TVCL2 servers I mostly tune the FM band anyway. You may also want to update your title of the TVCL2 tuner to say TVCL 2 – FM Sydney, Australia, and of course the description too with added info about the lack of AM tuning, just so then for AM DXers it doesn’t seem misleading. Perhaps another suggestion is the addition of a link to your new AM tuner for those wishing to tune to AM?
With the arrival of the headless TEF, I’ve now swapped out the radio that was on TVCL3 so hopefully that solves the phase inversion issue on that server.
Haven’t had any issues with TVCL3 in regards to the sound. Just perfect, thanks for fixing the issue.
An update on the Sydney servers. Getting a 15ft (4.5m) mast installed next Tuesday (weather permitting). Updated server setup below.
FM TEF Servers:
TVCL 1A/1B refers to the two antenna inputs for the headless TEF.
DVB-T servers:
HF servers:
ADS-B:
Broadband/miscellaneous:
Had an installer come look at my roof. He reckons that he’ll be able to do a 15ft (4.5m) pole even with just half the roof.
By Jove, you’re winding the clock back to when the Illawarra Line first got built. Except now you have an antenna farm instead of an agricultural one.
Sterling effort.
Hi everyone,
I have 4 element FM Yagi that I ordered to create a second webserver with more directionality. Which direction should point it? I was thinking Tasmania or Queensland but am not sure of a specific town to angle it towards. Also, I wont be able to rotate it once its mounted since it will be in a hard to access area.
I’ve noted on your existing setup that you tend to obtain better results than the other Melb webserver for the Colac/Warnambool region stations. Perhaps WSW direction or anywhere within the SE to NW arc could be good. A 4 element antenna is going to have a reasonably wide beamwidth, more so with the lower FM BCB frequencies.
I’m guessing you’re doing horizontal polarisation for ease of mounting & noise immunity?
The other consideration is the limited vacant FM frequencies in Melbourne & the free frequencies in chosen target areas for the mode of dx propagation.
Try aiming for Hobart (Tasmania), as that would be more exciting than Launceston, which tends to be a regular during tropo albeit at weak levels. You’ll thank me later. Where I am, I’ve never had any luck at all getting the Hobart signals during even the most intense tropo (or even E-skip) conditions. However if you aim for Hobart you might have a good chance at getting 7HO FM, hit100.9 and Triple M (commercial stations). That and also maybe an Amplifier included might help boost your chances of receiving Hobart.
So honestly, if you wish to take my advice here and aim for Hobart, I wish you the very best of luck at receiving the Hobart FM signals (via intense Tropo or E-skip).
Thanks very much!
I actually did get Hobart FMs on my webserver last night for the first time here during intense tropo. I wasn’t online to see it for myself, but the auto log picked it up.
I think I’ll either position the Yagi south or southwest. Maybe to king island so it can pick up both Tasmanian and coastal Victorian stations.
Aim it at the NW tip of Tassie - the beam should then capture long haul tropo from most of the Apple Isle as well as Coastal Vic/SA.
Then for E-skip you’re a good chance to get Qld off the back of the antenna. Es signals are generally fairly strong when they come in, so you should still receive plenty of them.
TVCL1 is down temporarily because the TEF running it is dying even though I only bought it 4 months ago. Makes me wonder about the longevity of the other TEFs :.
I won’t have enough TEFs to connect to all six antennas I’m planning to get installed due to the failures.
I wonder if the soldering isn’t great on the TEF module itself? Still a bugger to see it stop working like that.
