They’ve used 96.1 in previous years as well.
I agree there are more suitable choices … And you also have 95.9 Local Radio from Port Stephens that has a good signal into the Newcastle CBD … that could cause issues on for older receivers too.
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And not to mention 96.3 Triple J Taree that comes into Newcastle CBD too.
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Don’t recall this being bought up here before, but have found a very interesting report from the ACMA, who did an audit on a sample of LPON licences in Victoria.
https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-12/Outcome%20report_LPON%20audit%202022.docx
Astonishingly, the non-compliance rate was 85% (out of the sample of 34). While many were due to record keeping, there were also quite a number of licencees not on air, 6 instances of overpowered transmission and 2 instances of transmitting from the wrong location.
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Only six and two?
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I’m not surprised by any of those figures at all.
I’m probably more astonished that ACMA actually undertook an audit of LPON in the first place AND that the non-compliance wasn’t above 90%.
The number of unused LPON’s unused after 6 months from issue is farcical, and there’s many that extend beyond 10 years unused.
And transmitters that run open carriers for years & years & radiate spurious carriers all over the band etc.
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Must agree that I too was surprised to see ACMA actually undertake an audit.
What it does show (to me anyway) is that the LPON system is clearly being abused, when an overwhelming majority of licences are non-compliant in some way.
I’d question whether it is even worth keeping LPONs altogether, if it is only a very small minority that is actually doing the right thing.
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I’d keep the system but impose ownership and networking restrictions, in particular prohibiting the operation of services that exclusively relay third party content (for example, John Smith of Cooma relaying Vision). But again this would be very hard to police in practice.
The only other alternative would be to opt for the NZ LPFM model whereby individual services aren’t licensed at all. There’s some decent eclecticism on offer over there in LPFM services.
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I do like the NZ LPFM system, one of the big benefits is the number of frequencies on offer. Here in Australia, id like to see 88.2, 88.4, 88.6. Etc on offer for Low Power Narrowcasters.
In terms of the LPON Audit, Will be interesting when the ACMA commence their compliance Audit of Community Radio and Commercial Broadcasters.
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Yeah that will be interesting considering how some LPON are run
Example one here in Toowoomba that runs hundreds of watts on a 1w license and runs a quasi commercial format, yet nothing has been done despite complaints about it 
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I was at a Commercial Radio transmitter site recently in regional NSW, the commercial service was licenced for 200 watts ERP (as its a translator) however they were using a 2000 watt transmitter outputting just over 2kw into a directional antenna, which would give them ERP above 2kw. If the ACMA were serious they would audit all players (community, commercial, narrowcast, even nationals).
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anyone want to buy a radio licence?? Grab them before SEN does!
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SEN will have to fight both the Happy Clappers and the Weet-Bix mob for them.
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Who is that?
The Seventh-Day Adventists. They own the company that makes Weet-Bix, and they have a whole bunch of FM LPONs that they either own or lease under the Faith FM banner.
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Offband AM is the place to be! I reckon you couldnt give these away.
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But you have the potential to reach intrepid DXers in Finland! (See the ‘ Random Radio’ thread).
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Stupid question from a novice, but let’s say you could get one for nada, what roughly would your operating costs be? You’d need to lease a site (which would be tough/expensive these days in any built-up city), plus power, and of course tech support anytime the TX went down. Are we talking a figure with five zeros after it every year?
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I know people that have FM transmitters in their houses. So basically, the cost of the transmitter, the antenna, and whatever equipment you need to play stuff. Then on top of that is electricity and APRA/AMCOS fees (for music licensing). So it’s not very expensive to do.
AM is a different story. It’s expensive to set up, needs wet land for the antenna, and a wide area. Plus no one wants a big antenna like that near their house, so it needs to be somewhere on a large property or out of the way. So unless you have land like that, yes, it will need a lease and could be expensive.
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This is new. ACMA Register of Radiocommunications Licences (RRL)
A bunch of 1 watt narrowcasters, licenced for about a week, transmitting from the ABC studios in Melbourne on the same frequency allocation as Bendigo FMs.
Anyone know what event this is for?
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According to ACMA 87.6 River and 88.0 Faith fm have changed broadcast sites. They have moved from Grass Carts to the Archibald Hotel at Kurrajong Heights.
Pulse fm is now the only one at Grass Karts.
I wonder if the antenna at Grass Karts can only accommodate Pulse at full power so the others had to move?
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