i think LPON’s should be absolished. they should be brought back and compensation given to the owners. people like vision are buying them up in droves and not using them for local info.
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… as an owner of LPONs, I don’t believe that they should simply be “absolished” [sic], but I do agree that it is about time that some of the current large owners’ use of them should be reconsidered … unfortunately, having taken part in the aborted first review by the ACMA in 2012, I doubt if the new review to be released prior to the end of 2025 will do anything other than cement those centralised operators hold on the sector …
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Where can we listen to your network?
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… hardly a “network” 
… two stations in small parts of South Australia …
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My thoughts exactly!
Costs might be one factor re requirement for pre tx equipment for older transmitters, but when ABC FM transmitters are upgraded many (I would have thought) would have RDS facility built in - wouldn’t take much effort to set up RDS & AF surely…
Having an RDS carrier does deduct a little power away from the ‘main’ baseband signal (what we hear), but not much.
Can anyone within ABC & Broadcast Australia (BAI Comms) Engineering explain why RDS hasn’t happened in the regions?
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6 posts were merged into an existing topic: Radio Data System (RDS)
There is no way most community FM’s will ever change frequency without the Commonwealth picking up the tab for all the costs - the same applies for the commercial FM’s and ABC/SBS. ACMA varying their licence conditions without putting up the $$$ will just fail miserably. The TV Restack is a good example of how it will have to go ( ie the Commonwealth picking up all the costs plus buying new kit to replace their old junk). The money would be much better spent on getting DAB+ onto the regional high power Class B sites and most Class C’s as well.
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The fair way would be for it to be paid for by the broadcasters benefiting from the new FM frequencies made available. It’s more than reasonable to charge $10 million (or more) for an AM-FM conversion in Perth or Brisbane.
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Were the commercial AM stations compensated by the government when the majority of them were forced to change frequencies in 1978? Similarly, was 2MBS-FM helped by the government when it had to move to a different frequency only a couple of years after it started?
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Yeah I doubt it. I think the speculation on compensation for stations which might have to move frequency is just that, speculation. I highly doubt community stations in particular would be in a position to demand compensation for a frequency change.
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1978 was a long time ago and having a commercial radio licence back then paid good $$. Not so now and a lot of the community radio associations are nearly broke: a frequency change would finish them off if any transmission gear needed to be replaced or even retuned.
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A New Look at Low-VHF. Could extending the FM band work in… | by Raymie Humbert | En Frecuencia | Medium Read how Japan and More Recently, Brazil Expanded the FM Band out. If They can do it, so can we!
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Easier said than done. I’d comfortably say that 99.99% of FM radios in Australia do not go below 88MHz. Firmware updates in modern cars maybe might help, but then modern cars already have DAB+ anyway. Not too sure.
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It was easy for Japan as they expanded into a range already used by other countries (90-108) and often already available on domestic radios.
Other countries would be doing the opposite and expanding lower into the FM range (78-88) that Japan has traditionally used, but nobody would have radios that are compatible with that.
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The Tecsuns tune that range…maybe we should give everyone a complimentary Tecsun upon COVID-19 vaccination 
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If DRM30 could m take all of ABC’s (excluding their Local Radio Services) and SBS’s Radio Stations from the Analogue Band, Then the Remaining AM Stations will Migrate to The Frequencies on FM that the National’s Vacated, In that way, Towns such as Rockhampton & Toowoomba can have all of it’s Commercial Stations on FM and the AM Band will go Silent.
River could as Well Launch an FM Translator to cover Brisbane City & the Northern Suburbs given that HT&E now owns the Station on around 1000 Watts broadcasting on 89.9 MHz.
is River licenced to cover that area?
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No they can’t, because they are not currently licensed to cover Brisbane City and northern suburbs. There would have to be a change to the LAP, which can’t be ruled out but is not currently on the cards.
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But they can now add River to the Brisbane ARN dab+ stations.
The station formerly known as 4IP was an Ipswich station that had it’s transmitter at St Helena Island smack bang in Moreton Bay in the centre of the Brisbane LA. So whether ARN try this down the track to get a second Brisbane licence. Nova and SCA would strongly appose it.
If the Brisbane and Ipswich LA were to be combined River fm would surely become Pure Gold 4KQ or KIIS.
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