Is RDS even allowed on Narrowcast stations? I thought they had be mono with limits on sound quality, nothing greater than 4.5khz if memory serves me correctly? Also wernt narrowcast stations just for horse racing and tourist info?
You might be confusing with the āNarrowbandā narrowcasters using NFM on the 152 & 173MHz bands. All ethnic broadcasters. Sound quality is communications grade only.
Iām not aware of restrictions on RDS usage for WFM narrowcasters on the FM broadcast band. Need bandwidth of at least 120kHz to reliably carry RDS1 at lower modulation levels, more for higher modulation levels. ACMA licences should show bandwidth allowed. Have seen some MW HPONs significantly exceed their licenced bandwidths.
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Narrowcast is for narrow/limited audiences. This includes tourist radio, but also niche music, foreign language, and religious stations.
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Thanks for clarification. Yes, i was mixing up narrowband vs narrowcast. Australia seems like such a complex radio regulatory environment, like someone trying to connect a patchwork quilt of unconnected interests.
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They are allowed the full 200khz occupied bandwidth just like any other station including Stereo, RDS and any SCA they wise to run
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Faith FMās Western Sydney radio station marker was been moved from the Mosman area back to itās rightful home in the the outer west. 
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Bet is still has more coverage then it is meant to have 
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Phaze FM breaches Radiocommunications Act
The ACMA welcomes the Federal Court judgement in its case against Phaze Broadcasting Pty Ltd (Phaze).
On 7 May 2024 the Federal Court published its judgement that Phaze contravened the Radiocommunications Act 1992. The Court found that Phaze was in possession of, and operated, unlicensed radiocommunications transmitters.
As a result, Phaze was required to forfeit three radiocommunications transmitters and was issued an injunction preventing it from carrying out further contraventions. It was also issued a fine of $8,000.
The ruling follows an investigation by the ACMA into allegations Phaze was breaching its low power open narrowcasting (LPON) licence by operating radiocommunications transmitters from an unlicensed address in Ballarat, Victoria.
Phaze has a number of LPON licences in the Ballarat area but was not operating at the locations specified on its licences. LPONs must be operated from the locations specified in the licence to minimise the risk of interfering with other radiocommunications devices.
In his judgement, Justice OāCallaghan found that a failure to comply with the licensing regime is harmful to the community of licensees who rely on the proper regulation of the spectrum for commercial purposes, as well as for defence, national security and other non-commercial purposes; and to the Australian community who rely on, and enjoy the benefits of, a well-managed spectrum.
An open narrowcasting service is a broadcasting service which by law must be limited in some way, such as being targeted to people in a particular location or who share a special interest.
A person operating an LPON service must do so only as authorised by their licence, which includes only transmitting from the location listed in their licence.
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Phaze FM must have really upset someone.
Perhaps this action & judgement will be a wakeup call to anyone else āifā doing likewise.
Rather odd change in station name (Fmwave) on their website.
https://phazefm.com.au/
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Screams a default WordPress template to me
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funnily enough the god botherers here lost their transmitter in the storm back in December and havent got it fixed yet so were Vision Propoganda free here currently
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Good point.
And great advice. 
Civil communications are always best.
If that fails, try a skilled & experienced professional mediator.
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A guy just recently left where I work to go join them, so I am sure they will be back on the air in no time
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Noise fm have now turned off their Stereo Pilot on 87.8.
They were having some issues with a garbled signal a couple days ago which sounded like a STL issue??? This has now been resolved but as a result the broadcast is now mono only.
Hopefully @riverfm can turn the stereo pilot back on again, the station sounded great in stereo.
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Thanks for listening, sorry we had a D2A converter fail, so have switched to Mono until its fixed. Should be back up shortly. Will keep you posted.
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How can Narrowcast stations occupy 200KHz when 87.6 87.8 and 88.0 are butt up right against each other without a guard band.
Their modulation needs to be 75KHz or they start being heard on adjacent narrowcast stationsā¦
Yes, itās supposed to be limited to 75kHz. However, Iāve seen narrowcasters using RDS, so they obviously arenāt limiting as they should be.
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Nope, as previously said, Narrowcast stations have the same 200kHz bandwidth other FM stations do, they are area limited in coverage, thatās how they donāt interfere with others on an adjacent frequency.
Not only are LPONās limited in transmit power they are field strength limited as well & canāt be stronger than a fixed measurement at 2km or 10km from the transmitter, if they are, due to antenna height or any other factor, the transmit power must be reduced to bring that field strength down to specification, so that means the transmit power might have to be under the 1 Watt or 10 watts transmit power theyāre allowed. They are not supposed to have a coverage area further than 2km from the transmitter site in residential areas & 10km from the transmitter site in non-residential areas, if they do, their transmit power (ERP) must be reduced.
Narrowband stations on the other-hand are restricted in their transmit bandwidth & for example those on the upper AM band (above 1602kHz) can only use 6kHz bandwidth where a normal AM station has 18kHz bandwidth.
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Wow! So how it was to me is, narrowcasters speak to each other if they share a region and set āAudio Gainā setting inside their transmitter and keep it as close to 75KHz as possible. Thatās why you can go to some areas and hear 87.6 87.8 and 88.0 clearly across the region on a modern car radio.
Iām not familiar with how RDS affects this but what was explained to me was based on non-RDS stations.
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