Long distance television

Someone got Launceston digital from Geelong in late 2015.

Iā€™d believe that.

I remember one night probably in the 1980s or early 90s we were on holidays down at Aireys Inlet, south of Geelong. We had just a portable TV with a rabbit ears antenna. We could get almost clear reception of TNT9 from Launceston if we pointed the antenna in that direction. If we pointed the antenna north we got GTV9 from Melbourne. Very bizarre but that Geelong/surf coast area must be good for picking up TV from across Bass Strait.

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@Moe also got WIN from Victoria.

Iā€™m yet to receive any DX broadcast from geelong tho.

If you love DX, you will love WIN SCA etc!

The main candidates in the Brisbane area would obviously be Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, both with moderate power levels. Ipswich and further west would potentially get Darling Downs.

The biggest obstacle to TV DX in this area is the congestion of channels with very few unoccupied ones. The two ā€œleast occupiedā€ channels are 10 and 36. On 10 Iā€™ve received Wide Bay (at the time it was WIN) and on 36 Iā€™ve received Rockhampton (SC10 at the time). So the potential is there if the channels are vacant.

In the old analogue days, UHF from the north and south coasts was possible and prior to that it was 6 and 8 from Lismore and 10 from Darling Downs and Nambour. For more distant reception the FM band was always interesting with ABNT 3, WIN 4, NBN 3 and GTS 4 all received. With the TV, New Zealand 1 and Melbourne 0 were probably the furthest south received.

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I assume that Mount Alexander will be another condenter with its high power.

I think Mt Macedon blocks the signal south

Bummer.

Someone did say that it could be received from Geelong but I dont really believe that.

I lived in the inner north west of Melbourne in the late 1990s and early 2000s and found i got occasional reception of Channel 8ā€¦ but it was actually GLV8 from way over in Gippsland from over the opposite side of Melbourne rather than from BCV8 from Bendigo which would have been closer.

This was during a very strong opening to Victoria with the antenna pointed south - co-channel reception of TVQ 0 and SBS 0 from Melbourne

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TV One would probably have been from Wellington, they used Channel 1(NZ), which equated to Channel 0(AUS).

The added challenge of BCV8 was that it was vertically polarised too. But yeah Iā€™ve heard of few reports of regular signal from Bendigo, especially now in the digital age

South Eastern Melbourne in many parts can get signal from the Latrobe Valley, but itā€™s probably fairly limited. Likewise if you head west Ballarat becomes a chance. During tropo events I remember getting Launceston TV on analogue - the highlight was ABNT32 and TVT35(?) using only a pair of bunny ears plugged into the TV card in my computer. Iā€™d imagine digital would also be possible but youā€™d need a very strong opening

Up here, as Ty Cynic says itā€™s really just the Gold and Sunshine Coast broadcasts. My old office right in the Brisbane CBD used to get a lock on the signal from Nine Gold Coast just with the antenna pointing at the local transmitter

And the transmitting antenna has pretty deep nulls towards Melbourne. So it barely gets much further than Woodend, which is still a long way from Melbourne.

I lived in a 20 storey building with a perfect view towards the north west. Even with a UHF phased array out on the balcony Bendigo was noisy at best. (Analog days of course).

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The My Switch website still works and I find it excellent for getting an idea about DX reception possibilities.

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Well I wonder how this came about!

Video from @anthony78977

ā€˜Recorded from WIN Bendigo (via suburban Melbourne) on the 27 October 2013ā€™

Yeah, itā€™s well worth typing your address into it and just seeing what comes up. Not 100% accurate but gives you a good idea of what might be achievable

For instance, here in western Brisbane myswitch tells me I can get Gold Coast at moderate levels and borderline signal even from Mt Nardi south of the border. While the latter is a stretch, even without the antenna aiming at it I can get a lock on some Mt Tamborine signals from time to time.

Makes me think I would have had them both back in the analogue days - pre-digital I reckon Channel 8 from Lismore would have come in here if you tried hard enough

Here in Hamilton I remember being able to pick up 0 Brisbane in summer in the 80s but we could pick it up better on the ses8 antenna than on btv6 antennaā€¦ Donā€™t ask my why:)
Only thing that might be is because the abc from Mount Gambier was on channel 1 so maybe the antenna was made for a lower frequency?

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Probably because the Mt Gambier antenna had horizontal polarity vs vertical for Ballarat, since Brisbane was horizontal as well.

I think Ballarat was horizontal not vertical. It probably was that Ballarat antennas didnā€™t cover the lower Band I, just Bands II and III (Ballarat TV was Channels 3 & 6 early on for ABC & BTV) whereas the Mt Gambier antennas covered Bands I-III (Channels 1 & 8 for ABC & SES) which would have better received Channel 0 from Brisbane

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Ah yes, youā€™re rightā€¦ It was GMV 6 Shepparton that was vertical.

Yep both our Antennas were horizontalā€¦ One face Mt Cole(before Mt Dundas came on line BTV10) and the other Antenna face Mt Burr