Long distance television

Enjoying the discussion within this thread of late. Hope it continues.

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Driving through the Southern Downs last weekend I couldn’t help but notice there were still a few legacy VHF antennas still in place (in varying degrees on disrepair), all there originally for Brisbane TV. Was especially noticed in the more elevated parts of town

I knew of course that this was common up the range in Toowoomba, but with the greater distance and much less favourable geography I thought this would be less likely in Warwick

What did surprise me was how few antennas were left for Channel 4, or even antennas aiming for the main SDQ site near Stanthorpe. Everyone has seemingly switched to a UHF antenna to the local repeater nearer town, I guess quite sensibly given the improved reception. I know Ch 4 turned off over 25 years ago, but I’d thought there might have been a few more legacy setups still in place for the old ‘local’

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Similarly, I don’t remember seeing many legacy VHF 4 antennas in Wollongong last time I was there.

Still a few Sydney set-ups though (and here in Newcastle). Perhaps there’s a few people still trying to escape “Mappy World” in those fringe areas?

…or even to watch Nine News Sydney rather than the NBN/Nine Regional bulletins? :stuck_out_tongue:

If the antennas (which presumably were originally installed for the purposes of Sydney commercial TV reception, pre-aggregation) have been properly maintained, I wonder if reception of modern day digital signals from Willoughby, Artarmon & Gore Hill would be at all possible? :slight_smile:

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I imagine it could be complicated by co-channelling from Middle Brother to the north also on 6,7,8,11 and 12.

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They definitely are still receivable outside of Sydney, I can get them in my suburb with just a pair of rabbit ears 99.8% of the time (as I am on a hill, 6 floors up and with an excellent LOS to Sydney).

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The different polarity helps (as Middle Brother is vertical), I am shielded from Middle Brother at my location too.

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In Shepparton you can still see to this day legacy setups for receiving AMV4 and BCV8 even though AMV switched off its Ch 4 signal around the same time as the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

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Hi Everyone. Long time reader, but new ‘member’ and first post.
May I please ask (probably directed at @TheHomeOfMusic) How far away could (under normal non-DX conditions) could GMV6 be received? I grew up for the first 7 years of my life (up to 1989) on a farm east of a little place called Culcairn. We had a choice of AMV4 & ABAV1. We also had RVN2 & ABMN0. But I had a distinct memory of visiting friends in Culcairn and their TV being on channel 6. Now, I could have imagined it! Or their ‘channel 6’ could have simply actually been a preset which was simply tuned to a different frequency (eg for a VCR). OR they did actually have more than the local 2 Albury channels. Would have that been possible?
Thanks for the great site and the excellent contributions you guys make.

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Up until aggregation, the GMV6 signal could be received in Albury with a high-gain antenna (these setups are still quite a common sight in the Albury-Wodonga area). From what I have been able to work out signal quality would have varied from suburb to suburb (based on how well the Mount Major FM signals are received in different parts of Albury). I would imagine the signal would have reached as far north as Culcairn although probably not much further than that (i.e. I would say that it would struggle in Henty and most likely be unreceivable/unwatchable by Yerong Creek).

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Thanks @captaincupcake. Glad to know I wasn’t going mad. I can see the topography would lend itself well, but radiation pattern not so much. Thanks again

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Had NINE Mildura and PRIME7 Mildura this morning just out of Renmark. NINE Mildura was only a low signal but it was crystal clear for a while, cut in and out a few times. PRIME7 was pretty glitchy though.

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Nice! Will you get WIN Mildura at one point?

AMV4’s signal could reach as far as Tatura in the west (still see plenty of super-fringe Band II horizontal antennas in that town), Euroa in the south and Koetong to the east (hence translator at Corryong).

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Lol this came in around midnight here in Renmark S.A, other frequencies were too weak to pick up.

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Got the whole lot this morning just out of Renmark S.A (except ch44 Adelaide), coming from 200km+ away. Some watchable but some quite pixelated.

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Lol speaking of CH44…

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Some great catches there, given you have the wrong antenna type with the wrong polarity facing the wrong direction!

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If you got a high gain VHF/UHF antenna pointed towards Mt Lofty would you be able to receive all Adelaide channels clearly all the time, or is it just in e-skip/ducting? You’d be able to get 7flix, 9Life, Spree TV, Your Money and 44 Adelaide all of which are not available on the local Riverland transmitters. The others not matter so much as the programmes are the same as locally (but you can get ADS10 instead of WIN so you won’t have to put up with Mappy and Sky News in the mornings!)

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I was thinking VHF/UHF tropospheric ducting myself.

E-Skip is/was more of a thing on FM and the lower band VHF channels back in the analogue TV days.

Having access to Seven & Nine main channel programming in HD (complimentary to 7mate & 9Gem in HD via WIN) would also be a good incentive to receive the Adelaide broadcasts, I think! :slight_smile:

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