I reckon that’s the most likely…
Still, a VERY elaborate installation to get just one more channel.
VTV 6???
Do you mean GMV6?
That was at least 20 years ago.
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the antenna installation could be that old?
Quite Possibly.
Wouldn’t a storm or something have blown it down by now, if it were that old?
Probably someone with a hobby for DX’ing. Does anyone know if such an antenna is good for also picking up long distance radio?
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No, it wouldn’t be much good for that, since VHF Band III (180-220 Mhz approx) is well above both FM and AM frequencies.
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The TV antenna used would be either tuned only for one channel for just for channels 6-11 where as FM is equivalent to channels 3-5.
A good installation shouldn’t get blow down.
The analogue TV stations for Murray Valley were
ABSV2 64.26 National V
BCV10 209.25 Commercial V
SBS44 639.224 National H
AMV47 660.224 Commercial H
VTV50 681.224 Commercial H
Which matches the installs - Vertical VHF plus a horizontal UHF.
The antenna type seem common - the main street and most suburban streets
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It’s even above the SMR freqs of 162-165 and even above the Vicpol analog freqs 163-164.
Maybe Milair (Military Air) scanning???
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True, but if the channel it is designed to pick up ceased to exist with aggregation, why would someone bother to keep it in order?
As far as I can tell, the analogue stations were as listed ie a combination of Vertical VHF and Horiz UHF. The digital stations are all hoiz UHF, so the top part of the installation is still needed and would be used. It seems to be extremely common for people to still have their original analogue TV antennas in use. There isn’t any maintenance required.
It’s a triple stacked, phased array VHF Band III antenna. Common type, drive to the fringe of metro coverage to see many examples of this in use.
All look the same, covers VHF 6 - 11.
Some of the elements are bent or missing, so it’s a pre aggregation install (unnecessary if aggregated).
The surface area is the attraction with a phased array.
Double stacked with the right wavelength separation is the limit of what most will install.
For this photo, I wonder if the original owner is still there to answer questions?
I spotted this the other week on my journeys in a local area (what seemed unusual as I’ve never seen this in the area before). Not a very HQ picture, but you wouldn’t know what purpose all of these antennas serve @TV.Cynic? Just curious.
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The short answer is Amateur or HAM radio - different antennas for each band used to transmit/receive. It would be possible for someone to work out the band for each one - the largest is probably a multiband . The one with the elements hanging down is CB I think.
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Yes, I’ve seen a few double stack set ups around, but I’d never seen a triple stack before, hence my post.
Perhaps it’s a few houses sharing an installation.
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Strange if it is to receive the locals, as ABC was on Ch2 in Swan Hill/Kerang, hence you’d need Band I reception as well. Though with that mast and arrangement even a coathanger could receive local Ch2 at watchable levels I guess
It would have been to receive BCV8 from Bendigo back in the early days of TV when there was no local transmitter in Swan Hill.
Amazing that it has survived reasonably well. Most of those legacy antennas in country towns are falling apart.
Mind you, the feeder to it probably fell off years ago. Don’t know why people didn’t pull them down when aggregation arrived and all you needed is that little UHF yagi you can see there.
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That would make sense, but would mean the rig would date back to the 1960s? Swan Hill got its own transmitters in 1967 according to the ever-reliable @TelevisionAU, so you’d presume it must have been before then?
You’re right that there’s fewer and fewer of these big setups still around, and most that are are in appalling condition. There’s just no need anymore to receive distant channels, and DTV makes that task even more complicated now if you were to try
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Ah, try Riverland SA, most would prefer Adelaide or Mildura signals.
Same with SE SA, if can be received from Western Vic, high gain antenna will go up for most people.
I would like to see if houses, hotels or other building along the north coast of Tas have antennas for long distance reception from Mt Dandenong across Bass Strait? Never saw much of it when I was on holiday there.