Not that I’m aware but I’ll check it out next time I’m up there. I’ll find out what frequency that’s on.
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I thought there was one on 97.9… maybe I’m wrong
Hot FM is on 97.9 and Zinc is on 100.5.
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As it’s an overlap area, there are allocations for all commercial licensees in Gympie and Nambour RA1 from Doonan.
Mix and Sea have arrays pointing from Bald Knob to Noosa to save on translators, a legacy of then Sea FM Ltd acquiring 4SS and saving money at every turn.
Hot 91’s more simple array ensures that closer to the 750w towards Brisbane for commuters and the land growth area of the former Caloundra and Caboolture council areas.
Signal isn’t much less driving around Noosa, but the in building coverage of the Hot translator and that of 4GY and Zinc is better.
The Doonan translators are for populated areas of Noosa Shire & the northern part of fmr Maroochy Shire, north of the river. They do not extend coverage into Gympie.
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You said it better than I could have (and I think it was discussed here before). Mix and Sea throw their power towards the coast and Noosa giving better signal that way than 91.1, but 91.1 is by far the best towards and into Brisbane. The result clearly means Mix and Sea think they don’t need the translators at the northern end of the coast whereas Hot clearly do.
Both Zincs on 100.5 and 96.1 aren’t much receivable south of Caloundra - the former due to its lower power and the latter due to being swamped by Triple J from Lismore blasting in over the top as you get closer to Caboolture. Zinc is as a result almost unreceivable in Brisbane unless there’s tropospheric ducting about.
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And that Zinc 96.1 is about 70km (straight line) north of Caloundra and only 5kw. It’s at Mt Wolvi, east of Gympie, not Black Mountain (which is closer to Noosa) like the Gympie ABCs are, which are 20kw.
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Into Gympie. 500w ERP licensed towards the Sunshine Coast.
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Thanks for the info. Yes, last time I was in Noosa I could pick up all the Sunshine Coast stations.
It’s amazing that you can also pick up all 3 Sunshine Coast commercial stations in South Brisbane and Inner West Brisbane.
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You should be able to get the 3 Gold Coast commercials there too. Plus Rebel, Breeze and River. They have some good diversity up there.
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Hot 91 as discussed covers Brisbane much better. In car, mobile coverage. Not good in building. All far better than Mix and Sea focusing more NE towards Noosa.
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Actually my experience living in Brisbane, the Gold Coast commercial stations you can really only receive indoors in the Southern Suburbs, and patchy at best. The Sunshine Coast stations get far better coverage into Brisbane than the Gold Coast stations. Rebel and Breeze you can receive indoors in the Southern and Western parts of Brisbane but I don’t think you can receive it indoors in the Northern Suburbs.
Of course in the car it’s a different story.
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my mother lives on one of the bay islands and gets a number of the gold coast stations as well as the BNE ones. she hasa pretty good selection there and can even listen to newsradio on FM
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Rebel, Breeze and River are great in Brisbane. The Gold Coast stations (MMM, Hot T and Sea) aren’t as good as the Sunshine Coast stations actually.
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The Woolvi FM site has a chequered history as far as the techs were concerned - in the early days the studio did not have line of site to it (I think they were in Maroochydore) and the audio got there via an ISDN line that kept dropping out causing heaps of callouts. It is also lightning prone as its the highest structure there. Nearby is a timber forestry fire lookout tower which you used to be able to climb for some great views and there is a nice lookout nearby with a picnic area - well worth a drive if you are in the area.
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Apparently the Cold Ghost stations are very strong at Point Lookout (Norf Straddy). Clear shot down the coast. That would be an awesome spot for all types of DXing.
The diversity of radio in the Subtropical Empire (including the Northern Rivers of NSW) somewhat makes up for its lack of diversity in weather.
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According to wikipedia Sea FM has a translater on 102.5 in Tewantin.
Nothing about Mix Fm.
Yes on the Bay close to the water is different, but not in the city itself.
It looks as if Noosa/Tewantin has 4 translators:
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Hot 91 - 97.9
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Sea FM - 102.5
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Zinc - 100.5
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4GY - 107.1
Depending on the power, you should be able to receive 97.9 and 102.5 into Gympie in the car?
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There are two commercial translators that have never been operational - 102.5 for Sea and 103.3 for Mix FM.
Noosa also has a community station on 101.3 that is at the higher power of 500w.
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Ok so Sea FM have included the translator on their wikipedia page but they are not operating it? Strange.