TBH the narrowcasting regulatory framework needs a reboot. It’s presently dominated by the ‘Two R’s’: racing and religion, and it has been that way for donkey’s. A cap on ownership and/or networking would introduce more diversity into the sector. It’s unlikely the regulators (ACMA+the Minister) would go for that, though, preferring lighter touch regulation in the narrowcast space.
The alternative would be to go free-for-all like NZ (at least with LPONs), but I can’t see that happening either.
Racing and Religion, does that include Satanism by any chance? It would be interesting to hear Satanic rituals on 747. If only someone had that amount of money to start up a station.
there is - i don;t know about the current one, but the last fundraising drive missed the target by a good amount (i recall the number $200,000 but i can’t remember if thats the exact number)
Pity 666 is not available on the Central Coast, then you would have the station for Central Coast devil worshippers!!!
And strange enough the unlicensed FM’s in NZ tend to sound miles better then many of the licensed LPON or HPON here in Australia
the problem with vision is the LPON strategy now. it was a decent idea to get going, but they have hit saturation in the cities - theres almost no LPONS for them to buy and if you move more than a few KMs from one you lose the signal. I live about 4km from a suburb with a transmitter (no idea where in the suburb it is in) and i can’t get a thing.
if your a vision listener at home, and jump in the car and you lose signal - you’ll switch and eventually you’ll switch at home. telling people to use an app - thats fine for me, i work in IT and have a car play equipped car, but not everyone has my skill and equipment
LPON Raw FM is continuous over much of Canberra and Queanbeyan. Maybe Vision should ask Raw how they do it.
Not if they want to play by the rules… (in fairness, who does?)
Re Raw… One word… Lockdown!
A little birdy tells me it will be back soon! 
@TheChase any update on getting Starter Fm on air?
With Vintage fm vacating the 87.8 frequency in Penrith this is now a clear frequency, apart from a very weak Radio Austral on this frequency.
Could 87.8 be made available from Kurrajong Heights?
BTW 88.7 Vintage fm from Razorback Range comes in quite well at my location in NW Sydney. I actually receive it better then 88.3 WS fm on my hifi with the outdoor Omni fm antenna. Is the service operating to it’s 1.64w specs?
Nah 87.8 can’t be near 87.6 and 88.0. Also isn’t Radio Austral leasing Vintage FMs 87.8s in Western Sydney.
Radio Austral from what I believe is coming from Razorback and North Sydney, they are not using 87.8 Penrith. Most likely I am receiving it from Razorback as it is similar strength to 88.7 Vintage fm.
Before Vintage went off air 87.8 and 88.0 both came from the Penrith area, not sure if same broadcast sites.
Maybe someone like @TheChase or @anon71206228 can verify if two LPONS can be cosited and 200khz from each other?
Not co-sited; I think there is a stipulated minimum of 5 km between LPONs on adjacent channels, perhaps 10-15 km for co-channel.
Cooma for example has 88.0 in town but 87.8 out at ‘4 Mile’, 5 km west of town at the Snowy Mountains Highway/Kosciusko Road intersection.
Thank you, that clears things up
Minimum separation distance requirements
To prevent interference between LPON services using the same or an adjacent frequency, LPON services are restricted to the minimum separation distance requirements:
LPON carrier frequency separation (kHz) 0 200 400
Separation distance
between 1W ERP LPON transmitters (km) 10 5 0
Separation distance
between 10W ERP LPON transmitters (km) 30 15 0
Separation distance
between 1W ERP and
10W ERP LPON transmitters (km) 20 10 0
Hope that table’s clear, numbers follow the corresponding first (kHz) list?
So interesting things with the Penrith 87.8, as most know by now Vintage FM stopped transmitting on 87.8 in Penrith to favour 88.7 from Camden as there primary license.
Vintage then have sold the license to River FM which applied to ACMA (And Approved) to change it from 87.8 to 87.6 to link it with their 87.6 from Kurrajong and surrounds.
As for Starter getting one of the 87.8s, Penrith is not an option and the 87.8 in Kurrajong is used by River FM as a filler.
We are still hunting for something and still persisting with 89.9 for now, time will tell in what will be successful.
AM 1656 is on again in Brisbane. Radio Rhythm (Indian) run by Suneel.
This was a Chinese service from Sunnybank Hills on a terrible rooftop mast on a lean, corner Calam and Compton Rd.
ACMA database now shows the site on the Oxley Creek floodplain, much better site for ground conductivity. Their range should be great, even at night across Brisbane, especially southside, Logan and Ipswich.
If you can receive this station, can you please post what location and if driving, where coverage drops off.
Very curious as it seems to be a good site and if is at 400w from a site not atop a roof, coverage will be good.
Thanks for the update Cranky, not my kind of music but I might check out the reach of the new site a bit while I’m out and about.
I’m surprised that Oxley Creek area isn’t/wasn’t ever used a lot more by AM transmitter sites - the land is useless otherwise (totally floodprone) yet would be great for ground conductivity as you say and is only a few km south of the city. Maybe it’s too wet, too big a risk for the TX gear?
I was looking for something else & stumbled across a licence that was issued 3 days ago on the 10th August, for the AM Narrowcast service on 747kHz at Gosford with day/night switching from adjacent to the Gosford Racecourse.
It’s licensed to L&T Nominees Pty Ltd at a PO Box in Brunswick West, VIC. anyone have any idea who they are, or what service they may be proposing here, according to the ACMA register its the only licence they hold, (currently).
That was quick - applications only closed on 23 July according to this:
https://www.acma.gov.au/apply-high-power-open-narrowcasting-licences
Might be a coincidence but the only incumbents I can think of based in Brunswick West are Rete Italia.