Absolutely it would. And yes I’ve been saying I think whatever River becomes it will be added to Brisbane’s DAB, which is a good thing.
Also 4IP moved their transmitter to St Helena after they were officially allowed to broadcast across Brisbane. Before that it was in Bundamba near Ipswich I think. Although they were still topping the ratings in Brisbane even from there.
I also recall when QFM/Star were on 106.9 before the change to River 94.9. They increased power and which supposedly improved reception but in my opinion 106.9 seemed to get into Brisbane better back in the day.
That was before LAPs were a thing. Stations at the time just had to be able to give a clear signal to the town/city of their licence. By increasing power to 5kw and using directional array 4IP were able serve Ipswich.
Is now 4TAB and carries the largest amount of local programming in the Brisbane market of any commercial station or ABC Brisbane.
The 4MIX licence for Ipswich RA1 began its on air life as 4QFM. Ipswich and West Moreton Broadcasting Co Ltd. One of the ABT’s final beauty parade applications.
Great to read such hypotheticals being discussed, however HT&E would be better off divesting Ipswich and Sunshine Coast to retain 4KQ and their 50% of 973 which they manage.
Not sure. But the power increased from 10kw for 106.9 to 50kW for 94.9.
One problem for 106.9 from a different location to local Brisbane stations was it was sandwiched between 107.7 and 106.1 and suffered from mixing with these signals on some receivers. Also, there was 100kw 107.3 ABCFM from the west to contend with.
Yeah 96.1 (The Edge) in Sydney does suffer that as well around the city. However there isn’t great reception at Penrith from the blow torches, so I don’t think there is a much an issue there. In fact at Emu Plains 96.1 has poor reception due to the shadow of the lower Blue Mountains.
I remember in Nowra and surrounds i98 / Wave FM really suffers from this (but its not within the license area so its ok) . So I can understand shifting the frequency.
For me I only get mixing on my car radio on 96.1 right between the Artarmon and Gore Hill towers.
The Central Coast stations are also bad there too and also suffer from mixing.
Lapstone is actually the worse spot for 96.1?especially as you come down the hill onto the M4.
It is also bad driving up Kurrajong Heights.
Re Wollongong stations in Nowra, Cambewarra Mountain terrain shields them, that is why Power fm has to provide a minimum of 50Kw to overcome this shielding to adequately cover Nowra.
Once you get away from Cambewarra Mountain around Jervis Bay. Wave and i98 are back to suburban grade strength.
Also of interest if you park your car in the car park of the Illawarra fly at Knights Hill you will notice i98 and Wave fm mixing onto other frequencies. It is no where as bad a Goulburn which is a complete mess.
In the car radio generally its ok. Its more about smaller radios especially the old clock radio check. Those radios around 50 dollars or so is what is my old test was you got in the typical hotel room. I remember the one in the Culburra caravan park struggled to get i98 or wave fm due to the stations that surrounded those frequencies (ie ABC Classic FM/ABC Illawarra/JJJ). Although these days clock radios of the past are much less popular. The other test was the walkman test where you use the ear phone wire as an aerial. Another type of radio that is dying out. It also struggled a bit at Culburra to get consistent reception of i98fm / wave FM but a bit better than the clock radio. I always found it interesting given the signals were all coming from Knights Hill (I understand the power is less but still the location had LOS).
I had similar experience when I had a Sony Walkman down the Gong using the ear plugs as antenna. Around Albion Park i98 / Wave fm mixed over the top of Power fm. On the southern side of the tower Power fm and the nationals mixed over i98 / Wave fm. My first Walkman had analouge tuning and it had very poor sensitivity. The newer ones I had after that had digital tuning and better sensitivity.
All my old Walkmans struggled in central Canberra with massive signal overloads.
In comparison to today my Sangean fm dab+ Portable eats high signals for breakfast. Last time I was in Canberra it pulled all the signals from Black Mountain which are at blowtorch strength clearly.
Technology has improved quite a bit in the last 30 years.
At the 3 sisters lookout at the Blue Mountains you can receive all the FM commercial stations from Wentworth Falls repeater (99.5 / 101.1), Bowral (102.9), Nowra (94.9), Wollongong (98.1 / 96.5), Sydney, Campbelltown (91.3) as well the Edge 96.1, all in clear stereo.