@TelevisionAU was right. I’m also using Chrome and get the same thing that he gets.
ACMA ruled out any local jamming, any coverage limitation is via array design at TX site.
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The Geelong FM transmitters already have severe nulling on their transmission site at Murradoc Hill. That as well as community radio station Golden Days Radio on 95.7 MHz (and 3WBC on 94.1) makes it difficult to receive Bay FM or K Rock in metropolitan Melbourne, in particular Southern and Eastern suburbs.
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1341 3GL off air again at the moment
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3gl is back up on 3141am
I wonder if Grant Broadcasters has premission from the ACMA to bring 3gl back online
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I guess “3GL IS football!” is totally out of the question? It’s not as if there is an 1179 to complain anymore, is there 
Actually…
Football on narrowcasters have happened before in Geelong. The 89.3 licence - sub-leased to Country FM, then the Kix Country brand - allowed for 96% country music and 4% football broadcasts. Country FM broadcast the Bellarine league, and then Kix broadcast the GFL.
So, it is not out of the question that 3GL could broadcast the GFL.
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I think it was a reference to use of the slogan which was a play on the old “3KZ Is Football” slogan.
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I personally think DRM is the only viable option to bring Digital Radio to Regional Australia. It’s far cheaper (no new allocation of spectrum needed, existing infrastructure can be used with a simple DRM modulator fitted, its cost to implement is far cheaper, there is no third party rights as DRM is open source, chip sets are already available on mass and most of all it is suitable for AM and FM and also allows simulcasting the analogue signal with the DRM signal as it fits within the permitted bandwith. It would just take the will of the government to firstly change over all SBS, ABC and Community radio to DRM and the rest will follow. One other main advantage is the broadcaster remains in complete control of their DRM service using existing transmitters, antennas and a 50 Watt DRM on FM service gives the same coverage as a 1 Kw analogue service with more than half the running costs of DRM as apposed to analogue. With Australia being so big, DAB+ is simply not feasible in regional areas where as DRM is affordable and very simple to implement at minimal cost. I have a DRM receiver and the ABC test on 747 Khz was amazing, even the shortwave stations I listen to via DRM is incredible to say the least. High Quality FM sound on Short Wave and AM.
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Agree @Brad1, thank you for your detailed contribution.
The disappointing capitulation of government and the subsequent regulator, ACMA to accept the lobbying of CRA has resulted in the delayed and stunted roll out of DAB+.
DRM would solve coverage problems for many of their own member stations yet they refuse to accept the error of their ways. DAB+ was always a spectrum land grab during the heady days of the DTV restack and radio again appears the pauper with an inadequate amount of bandwidth to genuinely replicate all radio services let alone CRA’s member lobby.
Consider River 949, DAB+ coverage would barely reach its boundaries, requiring expensive multi site options and a loss of fortuitous coverage. Via DRM, excellent coverage could be replicated.
Infrastructure provider BAI also stands to benefit from DRM if government funding for the national broadcasters are forthcoming.
From the BAI sites (the historical ABC AM sites), further uptake or DRM may be possible via DRM on HF. As @Brad1 and many more have commented, HF coverage using DRM can be engineered for great quality coverage.
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It was short-sighted of the ABC to drop their domestic SW services from the NT based 50kW SW transmitters & DRM on HF for a country like Australia would be ideal if cars or vehicles could have the appropriate hardware & firmware implemented.
The quality of ‘some’ of the stand alone DRM table top radio were less than impressive & some rx manufacturing projects didn’t last long or get off the ground.
There would need to be some serious discussions between the Aust Gov & vehicle manufacturers & broadcasters to get this happening on SW, but in the small Australian market is this even possible? Would be easier to implement for MW.
Re DRM & SW there was this article:
DRM decoding is cheap to do with an SDR & PC software - but this is only for nerds like me.
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While the main issue with DRM at the moment is the lack of receivers on the market, the new DRM1000 receiver module announced a few months back should help boost the number of receivers on the market. Given that DRM is being heavily used in the Indian market I would expect plenty of receivers being produced in the coming years.
As far as DRM is concerned, as the AM band slowly sees stations drop off (especially from FM conversions), the ABC should be supported to launch a DRM network relaying ABC Local Radio. This would be a vital resource especially in emergencies as DRM has the capability of relaying text information as well. This should be a major priority given that there are vast swathes of the country not served adequately by any form of terrestrial radio (especially with domestic HF switched off) and given that this is a country prone to natural disasters.
Ideally, any DRM receivers rolled out would also be capable of receiving DRM+, given that DRM+ can be run in a ‘hybrid’ mode alongside analog FM there would be opportunities to start rolling this out over time. I’d also recommend using the 76-87Mhz band for DRM+ exclusively, with say 4 audio streams per DRM+ channel could could easily have plenty of extra services on offer to help drive uptake.
Given that our radio market is heavily decentralised, DAB+ was never really the appropriate solution in Australia even in the capital cities. It works well in markets like the UK where there are big nationwide networks relaying identical programming nationwide, and in an area of relatively high population density, but here there is so much state-by-state and city-by-city variation, and the population spread out so much, that DAB+ (and even small-scale DAB) is an inefficient use of spectrum.
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Getting back to 3GL, can the HPON ever be re-classified legally to a commercial one as i know that in the States station licences have been converted from comm to non-comm status and back?
http://3gl.com.au
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I would think it highly unlikely, given that if the licence was converted to commercial (which would be unprecedented in itself), the ‘2 to a market’ rule would dictate that Grants would have to sell it off.
Probably. But tbh i don’t think it’s ever been done before here. Might open a can of worms. And we know the industry (and ACMA?) is not exactly screaming for more commercial licences.
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In theory, yes, it just requires an change to the radio licence area plan. These do get updated from time to time, generally when existing licences request a change such as adding a translator site, but also for AM-FM conversions and new licences. The ACMA have a document which details how to request a change, but I think the hardest part would be justifying it as necessary in a way that would actually be given consideration.
https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-02/ACMA%20B92%20%20Guidance%20notes.pdf
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Would they have to auction it, like the last bunch of new metro FM licences were? When was the last time a new AM licence was auctioned off in Australia?
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The ACMA have been generally just putting aside all freed up AM frequencies, not making any new on band allocations, either commercial or narrowcast.
But if Grant wanted more commercial stations, they could just apply for DAB transmission, then they could have a “3GL Digital” with all the commercialised content they want…
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The last commercial AM licence to be auctioned off in this country was 6EL Bunbury, which was bought by AMI Radio for $120,000 in November 1997. It commenced service on 31st March 2000.
Source: ABA NR 118/1997
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I knew you’d have the answer @TV-Expert - thank you for sharing that.
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