I can recall briefly in the early 80’s seeing ABC Mt Nardi on channel 6 from Nobby Beach (2 story building) and wondered why the ABC was different to QLD and an hour earlier. I was all of 8 years old though! Later on, I recall seeing a very snowy channel 8 Mt Nardi around 82/83 but wasn’t aware of what is was and was too snowy to watch as it was coming off the back end of the VHF antenna. It wasn’t until 86 and a clear picture during daylight savings that I was able to work out that NRTV took TCN’s news feed and watching at 5pm QLD which initially confused me and certainly confused the old man - a long time QTQ news watcher! From then on I was watching live programming such as news and Midday show an hour earlier when visiting the coast over summer.
My experience has been a bit different… I’ve never really had much issue with getting 7, 8 and 9 around Surfers Paradise and they were all pretty clear. Channel 0 was a different story, it was a lot snowier than the others.
Even in 1985 and 1988 (two times I was there), both places we holidayed at relied on VHF reception from Brisbane/Lismore… none had the local UHF channels available in the rooms.
By 1998, Channel 10 was on air and much better, like 7 and 9 were.
Surfers Paradise highrise reception would have reasonable reception from Brisbane. I suppose they couldn’t see the point of upgrading for no real benefit. Come 1992 when NBN & Prime were added and that perhaps was the incentive to upgrade to UHF. It was the areas that had poor VHF Brisbane reception that upgraded first.
It was a major and expensive thing to upgrade a TV distribution system designed for VHF to UHF. One solution was to add the extra UHF channels into the system on VHF channels - much like they did for tourist TV etc.
The Surfers Paradise apartment building I stayed at in late over Christmas-new year in 1985-86 and 1986-87 did that. They put Channel 7 on ch4, SBS on ch7, and RTN8 on ch3 or possibly ch11. I don’t know why they didn’t just keep 7 on ch7 and RTN8 on ch8 and just put SBS on 3 or 4. Reception on all channels was rock solid.
For me nothing will beat staying in Lakes Entrance in January 1979. The two local TV channels (ABC on 4 and GLV10) there were coming from Mt. Tassie (the main Latrobe Valley transmitter) which was 140 Km away. Reception in the motel was snow-free, except that one of the channels faded out on the first night during heavy rain. But otherwise no problem.
On the other hand, we could receive TV channels from all over the place. Overnight Channel 9 Melbourne was very snowy but watchable. During the day, you could sometimes watch TNT9 Launceston but most of the time, neither channel was watchable. Meanwhile, you could sometimes get ABC on Channel 8 from somewhere (Bega?) and TVNZ on Channel 0 and possibly 1 and/or 2.
A year later, GLV10 moved to channel 8, while Lakes entrance got its own repeater on channel 11.
Some midnight mischief in Renmark. Mostly just weak stuff this time around
Ten has now shown up and is the strongest of the bunch so far, it’s usually 7 that is
In how many cities does Ten name their main channel twice?
It’s not really naming it twice… the first 10 is the LCN number, the second 10 is the LCN name… they just happen to be the same.
I have the same Panasonic TV/PVR as per cap above and previously it would show as eg. 10 TEN Digital
I see, makes sense, just the sole numerical naming makes it look odd.
my relative who lives across the river in Paringa has now recently logged CH44 Adelaide on their TV. Strange thing is that they didn’t auto-log any of the other usual stations from Adelaide with it since his father had cleared the dead stations from the EPG. They do have an amp on their TV for the local Loxton stations which could be helping to boost the DXing
Even a different UHF antenna, slightly different location and orientation could be enough to make a difference. And/or they could have Milfura or Hamilton VHF mixing with Adelaide, which would make it unreceivable.
they’re not overly fussed if they keep coming in or not. I’ve only heard of Western Vic coming in the once in Renmark
A first for me tonight, the ducts between Newcastle and Sydney are so strong that my tv is decoding and receiving stable Newcastle WIN 10 on UHF 39. This is on a CC Wollonong frequency which broadcasts SBS Wollonong.
This is off the back of a high gain Hills UHF 28-39 antenna in Stanhope Gardens pointing south towards Wollongong.
Also of note Newcastle fm is not exceptionally strong.
Screen shots, including signal strength and quality
Also the Medowie / Raymond Terrace translators have also knocked out reception of the Sydney SW Razorback translators too.
Well done! I’ve always found it very hard to null out competing signals on DTV.
I had the opposite here in Port Macquarie tonight - strong Lismore FM signals, but no Lismore DTV, but also was only using rabbit ears….twas a faint hope at 320 kms anyway…. Oh well.
Long time lurker here. I have considerable experience with long-distance TV since the 1980s, mainly from Bendigo.
Highlights pre-digital TV:
- Regular reception of DDQ-0 with SpE propagation in summer.
- Sometimes Band 1 and 2 TV from Qld, along with TVNZ-1 from Hedgehope.
- Best tropo catch was Adelaide 7, 9 & 10 one morning. Quite clear.
- Tropo also from Griffith, Renmark, Mildura, Wagga/Riverina, Albury, Nhill, Horsham, Tasmania, and Gippsland. Swan Hill on and off.
- Permanent, but weak reception, of Melb, Seymour, Ballarat, Goulburn Valley.
Post-Digital:
- Best efforts have been Mildura and Horsham.
- FM radio from Qld via SpE happens occasionally.
I used some very high-gain antennas and amplifiers mounted up to 50ft above ground.
Hi and welcome.
Digital TV and the band restacking/s have certainly changed things (for the worse) for long distance TV.
Did you use a rotator or multiple antennas?
Due to tonight’s Tropo on steroids Middle Brother NBN 12 is causing havoc to the signal quality and C/N of ABC 12 Sydney.
If Middle Brother was horizontally polarised Sydney tv would be wiped out tonight.
This is the ABC 12 TV signal when Middle Brother 98.7 Classic fm was at local strength.
NBN 12 is a vertically polarised signal coming in from the side on my 10 element band 3 VHF yagi antenna pointed towards Artarmon / Gore Hill.
This is when the CCI was at its peak.
@RFBurns iI think you will find this of interest.
Any issues on the Central Coast tonight with the Sydney off air inputs to the local translators?
