Re Triple M Newcastle’s reception south. I am now able to get it pretty much permanently over 2ST at my location in Stanhope Garden in NW Sydney. This is since I made some minor adjustments to my outdoor fm antenna.
However I am unable to get any of the other commercial fm’s including 2NUR unless there is enhancements.
I understand Triple M has the same specs as the other Commercial fm stations, but does it’s broadcast arrays at Mt Sugarloaf spit out slightly more RF to the south then the others?
I also notice this in tropo it is significantly stronger then Hit / New and 2NUR.
All Commercial FM’s at Mt Sugarloaf are the same specs, Triple M antenna is above NEW FM & 2NUR below that on the same tower, Hit is on the other tower just below the ABC FM’s antenna, but it’s higher above sea level than the Triple M one, because the tower is on higher ground.
None of the commercials should throw more power South than any others.
Triple M, Hit & 2NUR all have 4 bay side mount antennas, NEW FM has a 6 bay side mount antenna.
Triple M, Hit & 2NUR antennas are all the same type, NEW FM’s antenna is slightly different.
Being a 6 bay, NEW FM can use less transmitter power for the same ERP as Triple M & Hit.
NEW FM’s antenna should throw power further out from the tower than the others as well, being 6 bay over 4 bay, but it depends on how each element/bay is phased with the others?
NEW FM’s antenna is half wave spaced also I think, I’m not sure but I think the others are full wave spaced which also changes how the signal is thrown out there (half wave = further out, generally speaking).
That could be it regarding Triple M.
I do remember Hit when it was X107 / Nx fm was much stronger across Sydney, back then Vox fm was much weaker in Sydney and did not cause the cochannel that it does today.
Nx fm was the strongest of the Newcastle commercial fm’s back then. I do think height is the key for dxing into Sydney.if only they could be all 20Kw OD.
This would be to protect the Central Coast commercials, so that the Newcastle stations don’t overspill into the Central Coast market. They would otherwise boom in at 20kw.
It also allows those frequencies to be used in Wollongong and Southern Highland at a lower power.
Most markets have some sort of FM black spot, on the Central Coast this is evident along the western edge of Brisbane Waters (Point Clare to Koolewong), and in Wollongong from Fairy Meadow up to Stanwell Park, there just aren’t enough frequencies to go around, same goes for NEW FM Belmont North, if they got a frequency, Hit and Triple M would want one too.
Yes I am aware of this, 2ST / VOX and Kix Country would have to move to different frequencies if this was to happen.
Regarding content wise Hit 106.9 / 101.3 and Triple M 102.9 / 107.7 play pretty much the same playlist these days, so people in each market would probably listen to their local version even if the other boomed in.
Look at Wollongong / Nowra with Power / Wave pretty much identical and booming into each other’s markets.
Hi all - been a MediaSpy viewer for a bit, but decided to sign up today to have an input on topics from time to time. I’ve noticed on NEW they’ve got a new announcer on weekends. He sounds great! Does anyone know who this is?
Good pick up by New FM.
Hopefully she stays long term and they can build up a presence on the station.
What ever happened to Sophie Tiller, she got the Heave Ho pretty swiftly a few years ago.
‘invested heavily’ is indeed correct… 2 installs (including the failed one at Floraville) plus other costs to Lake Macquarie Council for their own tower there as well.
