All back on now. West antenna is faulty, however.
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Having some small issues with the computer / wifi in buxton, hope to have it back up sometime over the weekend. By the time it comes around to DX season later this year, it should be fully stable and permanently online.
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Tnx, wasn’t sure if the fault was at my end or no.
As I have said before, nobody is under any obligation to provide these nodes so take all the time you need to perfect the setup. Thanks for the effort.
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New node in Darwin!
Hopefully it stays up:
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Checked it out last night, already heard something interesting. A weak station on 92.6, not sure if its a local unlisted repeater or international. Was playing pop music, and was relatively stable but with long deep fades. Reception time was around 9PM. Faded out by 11PM local time.
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Tried to have a listen this morning but got hijacked by another user that kept changing random frequencies, will give a go once the novelty wears off.
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Hopefully that was Indonesia, the fading suggests it may have been tropo.
There is a bit of colour across the Timor Sea on the tropo maps. Oceanic ducts often peak in the early evening.
The peak tropo season across the Top End is in the ‘build up’ period in September-October, before the storms and monsoon period.
Hard to tell how sensitive the node is as there’s not much outside of Darwin to receive in normal conditions. I could not hear 89.7/91.3 Bathurst Island, though. Katherine is probably too low powered to hear under normal conditions, particularly since it’s inland.
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And probably not even Adelaide River either (I haven’t tried the node yet), even though it’s only 110 km south of Darwin and are only 50 watts, as it’s pretty flat up there, I suspect the TXs wouldn’t get out that far in normal conditions at least.
I just had a listen then.. I did hear the Adelaide River ABCs on 98.9 and 100.5, but both pretty weak.
Didn’t hear the suspected Indonesian DX on 92.6 though.
Didn’t realise Adelaide River had translators. That’s a good sign. I confirmed 98.9 ABCRR and 100.5 ABCRN at fair level.
Seems to be a possible pirate tx on 88.3 at the moment, playing dance music. Signal is fairly strong and stable so I doubt it’s DX.
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Also managed to get what seemed to be 102.9 from Daly River at very low level but in line with the on-line TEABB stream.
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From my limited experience with FM DX in the sub tropical region Depending on what antenna is being used in Darwin and if it is directional there certainly is a good opertunety of the Darwin FM Webserver receiving some good DX just unsure when. Regularly checking Hepburn Tropo maps will certainly help.
A trip to Exmouth 2000kms North of Perth in July 2023 produced some spectacuilar FM DX from indinesia overa a short period. I had a perfect lookout North and West as I was at the local Lighthouse.
For those intersted, Indonesia FM spacing is different to Australi with MANY but not ALL station on even freq such as 105.2 93.4 etc so the chances of hearing thewm is better.
This may have just been the condotions of the day but I found that I was hearing more stations in the 102-108nhz section of the band with some powerhouse signals.
Just some help if FM DX is something you like to do. here is a link to my YT experience in July 23 to give you some assistance https://youtu.be/JTgqcUfiJ74?si=WeyMafKboIt3A_Fc
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Bathurst Island, NT FM outlets of 92.9, 91.3 & the rarer 95.3 8ACR relaying TEABBA currently being heard via the Darwin FM DX webserver.
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I’ve updated the Sydney TVCL FM-DX Webservers with the latest version of the web server and plugins.
Also added some new plug-ins:
- AF Validator
- Aircraft Scatter
- Autotune
- FavStations
- Latest DX Logs
- Meteor Scatter
- Tune Navigator*
- Tropo Forecast
- UI Add-on Pack Enhanced
Tune Navigator is a plug-in I developed that improves FM-DX Webserver tuning with Australian 200 kHz stepping, antenna cycling and keyboard shortcuts.
200 kHz mode follows Australia’s usual odd-frequency pattern, such as 94.1, 94.3 and 94.5 MHz. Sydney area exceptions are included in a whitelist: 87.6, 87.8, 88.0 and 103.2 MHz
Alt Ant cycles through every enabled antenna before moving to the next frequency:
- 94.1 Ant 0
- 94.1 Ant 1
- 94.3 Ant 0
- 94.3 Ant 1
Keyboard shortcuts
- Left/right arrows: Tune down/up
- End: Toggle 100/200 kHz
- Home: Toggle Alt Ant
Both settings are saved in your browser.
Other changes:
- Fixed logos for regional ABC services, Radio Skid Row, FBi, 2SER, Today’s Country
- New background for North server
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Over the past day I’ve been working on a major evolution of the original FavStations plug-in, adding features useful for Australian FM-DX Webserver hosts and users. I’ve renamed this expanded version ‘Station Deck’.
Station Deck is currently running on my TVCL Sydney North server and will roll out gradually to my other Sydney servers as I customise the presets for each server’s antennas.
Key features are outlined below:
Multiple preset lists
Instead of one list, you can create as many preset lists as you like – e.g. local stations, ABC stations, vacant frequencies for DXing, etc. Lists can be renamed, reordered, imported and exported individually. Stations can also be copied from one list to another.
Admin-curated and personal lists
Preset lists can be:
- Local – your own preset lists, stored only on your device
- Server – curated by the server owner and shared with users that connect to the server.
In my case, I’ve populated a default list with all the regularly receivable stations. When I have time, I’ll also put together a list of fading stations (e.g. Orange, Taree, Canberra etc.) and a list of generally vacant frequencies (for searching for DX targets).
Administrators can nominate which lists they want to be shared and which list becomes the default for new users.
Station metadata
Each preset can store far more than simply frequency. Fields include:
- Station Name
- Callsign
- Network
- Location
- Local Location
- Reception Type
- Station Type
- Genre
- Distance
- Power
- Antenna
- Logo
- PI
- Bandwidth
- cEQ
- iMS
The metadata is displayed on the plugin, and can also be searched, filtered and edited later.
Attribute table
A spreadsheet-style editor allows every preset in a list to be edited at once.
Features include:
- sortable columns
- inline editing
- dropdown lists
- search and filtering
- add/delete presets
Search and filter
On the main page, you can instantly searching by:
- Station Name
- Callsign
- Frequency
Further, Station Deck includes PivotTable-style filters for other attributes. You can filter by:
- Location
- Reception
- Type
- Genre
- Network
- Distance
- Power
Multiple filters can be combined to further refine your search and some filters also support grouping. For example, community stations are divided into local (submetro) and wide coverage. Narrowcast stations are divided into LPON and HPON.
For submetro stations, in the location filter, they are grouped under “Sydney (Local)” so as not to overwhelm the location filter box with single-station locations, but can be expanded, if desired:
Preset-specific receiver settings
Each preset can optionally store bandwidth, cEQ, antenna and iMS settings. For example, Today’s Country 94.1’s RDS only decodes when bandwidth is set narrower to 114 kHz, so the plugin will save that setting for that preset.
If they aren’t stored, Station Deck leaves your current receiver settings unchanged.
Preset labels
The preset label button allows you to choose what to display below each station logo:
- Frequency + antenna
- Callsign
- Station name
Smart highlighting
Station Deck doesn’t just highlight the last preset you clicked, it also highlights:
- the preset matching the receiver’s current frequency (if you manually tuned or entered a frequency)
- the correct antenna preset if multiple exist
- other presets with the same PI code using a softer glow
Preset sorting
Lists can be sorted using multiple fields simultaneously and each field can be:
- enabled/disabled
- ascending/descending
- assigned a priority
Tour mode
Station Deck can automatically cycle through presets – e.g. to sample local stations, switch between different relays of the same station (to identify differences in timing, sound, etc.), or vacant frequencies to search for fleeting DX signals.
DX Tour also allows you to customise hold time and whether to alternate between available antennas for each frequency before moving to the next frequency, particularly useful for DXing.
Temporary presets
Six temporary preset buttons are also available. These are useful for:
- testing frequencies
- short-term DX catches
- comparing stations
without cluttering your permanent preset lists.
Keyboard shortcuts
For faster navigation, there are several keyboard shortcuts implemented:
- Previous preset: ,
- Next preset: .
- Previous list: [
- Next list: ]
- Toggle tour mode: T
For other server owners
I developed the plug-in specifically for the needs of my servers, but if anyone else is running an Australian FM-DX Webserver and would like to try Station Deck, let me know and I’d be happy to share.
I’d also be happy to hear any suggestions and bug reports for future improvements.
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Hi all
As it’s winter and quiet my 2 x Perth FM Servers will be offline for an extended period as I am going away for a couple off weeks I also need to resolve a few issues with the PC. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to reformat the drive and start from fresh
I hope to be back online early spring in time for the sPe season
See you all then
Alek Z
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For those that use my two NNODE Radio FM servers, I have now received a pair of 4 element Stellar Labs yagis. I have put up the one at my house (Radio 1), pointing towards the east (95 degrees) in horizontal polarisation. It’s so far caught a few rarer stations including Triple J on 90.7 and Edge FM Deniliquin on 102.5.
The second will be going up at Radio 2 in the next few weeks, and will be in vertical polarisation.
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I have an issue that someone may be able to answer. I have 2 FM Servers running Perth Main and Perth SE. with the Perth Main server I can get most if not all the Non RDS logos to load when you are on a station position that has a localstationdata,json entry created. Both Servers are almost a mirrior of each other besides their Names.
The issue I have is that only “Perth Main” shows all the Non RDS logos eg 88.5 91.3 etc were as “Perth SE” shows nothing. My question is the issue to do with Sugnal levels eg dBf as that is the ONLY difference I can see between the 2 servers on the same freq. Ialso noted that on some occasions as I use an Ipad Safari will not always load any logos but Chrome seems not to have an issue. this mmay just be a red herring.
This issue has only started after I did a fresh instal of both servers a few weeks ago. I am using the customized StationLogoa OCE by AAD as I found that more Aust compatable then the default version.