Some thunderstorms in SEQ this afternoon. News Radio 94.5 has been broadcasting dead air for a while. Other Gympie are stations unaffected.
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SALT 106.5 seems to have been knocked off air by the afternoon storms.
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Water and salt never mix wellâŚ
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A lot is changing in the music business. Some time ago, musicians and record companies discovered that they now make more money from live performances than album sales, and adapted to that. Now it is becoming clear that a good song is a good song no matter when it was written, or a topical song that is worth reviving every year on a certain anniversary, could make just as much money as a new top hit.
What are the implications of this for radio?
Greatest hits formats may find themselves back in fashion again, as long as their music universe is full of great timeless songs with excellent musicianship, discarding those one-off disposable hits that were popular for a time, but do not have the quality of lyrics or music to make them timeless.
Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) formats may not be the licence to print money that they once were if they only concentrate on what is new rather than what is good.
Read more on the above link.
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Does anyone know if test transmissions of DRM+ have commenced yet on 95.9 from Mt Baranduda (Albury / Wodonga region)?
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There is only the one TX near Te Puke that is designed to cover Tauranga but the coverage bleeds over to Rotorua so they class it as covering it aswell even this Roto has its own FM translator on 95.1
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Is that a real station?
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No - and not a real frequency in Australia - ending in .2
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Ohhh does this mean there might be some DRM stations coming soon
Didnât know a broadcaster could obtain a DRM test license?
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Thatâs a very Kiwi sounding callsign.
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BAI are doing a DRM+ on FM (VHF) test for the ABC, as you probably know the ABC & BAI want to roll out DRM regionally in Australia, not DAB+, so this is a test to prove it works & itâs coverage. BAI have done DRM on AM (MW) trials before.
From what Iâve read, you can fit a full quality FM service in the standard 200kHz FM channel bandwidth & then another 4 DRM channels in the upper & lower guard bands making up the full 800kHz spacing between FM channels, so itâll be interesting to see how they manage the spectrum, will each broadcaster now get 800kHz bandwidth allocation to use 1 analogue FM & 4 DRM+ channels, (400kHz each side of the FM)?
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That sounds like a disaster in the making for DXers!
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Donât forget Sydney has âHope 103.2â
As far as I know itâs one of the only FM stations to end with an even number in Australia.
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Only one of four as far as I know (aside from LPONs on 87.6, 87.8 and 88.0)
2CBA/Hope 103.2 Sydney
3PVR/Plenty Valley FM 88.6 Mill Park
4BRZ/The Breeze 100.6 Mount Tambourine
4RBL/Rebel FM 99.4 Mount Tambourine
Plus the now defunct 3WRB/Stereo 97.4 Brooklyn/Tottenham.
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If youâre counting external territories, thereâs also 98.2 Triple J on Norfolk Island. I believe the community station on the Cocos/Keeling Islands uses 96.0, as well.
There are plenty of âunofficialâ transmitters in the outback that use even channels as well.
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not only would that spell disaster for DXers but would confuse consumers who wouldnât know which digital radio to buy. The avg consumer isnât going to know the diff between DAB+ & DRM. Australia really should stick to the same digital standard across the board & DAB+ makes better sense as no issues regarding QRM to existing analogue FM services, whereas using space in between stations is asking for trouble - even with issues such as IMD & harmonics & not just QRM to a nearby adj analogue FM signal
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Important to remember itâs only a trial at the moment & bandwidth for the service in the Albury region is only 200kHz so only planned to test with DRM+ (presume one channel). Whatever happens in future itâs going to take a long time for manufacturers (radios & cars) & the ACMA to accommodate the technology & plan for it etc.
I do wonder in future if expanding the FM band in Australia below 87.6MHz has been given consideration? Part of the spectrum might be ideal re immediate spectrum space to trial DRM+ with the one analogue channel on a larger bandwidth scale (excluding seasonal SpE vulnerabilities that lower VHF frequencies are more prone to).
@RFBurns mentioned:
Interesting
Now thereâs a interesting question.
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I have to agree. I understand DRM is superior in some aspects over greater distances but I just canât see how consumers will take it up. Weâre only now just starting to get DAB adoption and in cars etc and itâs been a snails pace. I just canât see another separate technology taking off.
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If they want to implement DRM+ with an 800 kHz bandwidth, I think it would be common sense to use a dedicated band; say 67-87 MHz. You might even need 30 MHz of spectrum. Of course these frequencies would be susceptible to Es interference in the summer months just like the OIRT and Japanese FM bands.
More likely though it wonât go anywhere and the default option of DAB+ will be adopted in regional areas, for better or worse.
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