Which is exactly what I was hinting at - two messages above 
Agree I wouldnât be putting a wager on it. Time will reveal all I guess.
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Agree completely with this, especially given the lower-frequency bands seemingly have far less value for telco etc than those higher up, this approach would make complete sense.
Of course, this is a conversation that should have been had 15 years ago, not now in an age where the very future of terrestrial radio is being questioned, and after one digital radio technology has had 10+ years in the marketplace.
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I think this is the way itâs going to have to go. DRM is a bit late to the party I fear.
If they can find some efficiencies with DVB-T through the use of MPEG4 and preferably DVB-T2, this might open up a few more frequencies in the VHF Band 3 for regional use of DAB.
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It depends - they can sell 21MHz more of 600MHz band spectrum by shifting one of the UHF blocks down to be channels 10/11/12.
The return on that is likely to far outweigh worry about shifting some markets from UHF to VHF and how many households would need new antennas for that, at a time when OTA television viewing would be even lower than now.
The other issue is you wouldnât get band clearance until 2026 or so - they could maybe clear VHF10, but that depends what transition model they choose as to whether the UA channel is needed.
I certainly wouldnât want to be a radio station hanging on for TV leaving that spectrum to get Digital going.
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You can walk straight through to Queensland from NZ from Wednesday. Return and begin on DRM from Allora in your spare time?
Coverage would be superb if the right freq for the stick. Simulcast is available with DRM on 963.
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Something to keep in mind guys, I havenât read the ACMA papers but talking with our Broadcast Network Engineer, the Government (& ACMA) want to move all TV broadcasters into 3 channels (multiplexes), ABC/SBS will have one, & the 3 commercials will share 2 using MPEG 4, DVB-T2 is off the table.
As a result another re-stack will happen, & theyâll likely clear the upper 2 UHF blocks to sell to Telcos.
This could mean VHF (Block A) is needed to be used Regionally where itâs not now, this may also mean that thereâll only be VHF TV Channels 9 & 9A available for DAB+, which is not really enough spectrum for DAB+ everywhere.
They may even try to clear the top 2 1/2 or 3 UHF TV blocks & SFN the ABC/SBS on one channel in VHF, thus fitting in & using VHF TV channels 9 & 9A regionally for TV as well?
In that situation maybe Sydney would use VHF Ch. 6, 7, 9 (ABC/SBS), Newcastle 8, 9 (ABC/SBS), 10 & the Illawarra 9 (ABC/SBS), 11, 12? Itâll probably never happen but itâs possible.
Taking away half the TV channels is all well & good, but thereâs already enough problems with SFNâs & TV channel block being used too close to each other & causing interference during ducting events, & this will only make it worse, though SFNâs will probably have to get larger which will create other issues. Take Sydney & the Central Coast, they use SFNâs in all UHF blocks now, maybe in the future they will have to be one or maybe 2 very large SFNâs only for the translator sites on the remaining UHF blocks?
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Good grief. Why am I not surprised (given demand for spectrum by the telcos) âŚ
How many monkeys can one fit into a car?
Whoâs driving it & whoâs navigating it? Doesnât matter, just selfish & disordered bureaucratic monkeys. Just shut up & keep squeezing them in.
Yes sounds like less channels & more horrible compression & another nail in the
coffin for free to air terrestrial TV I fear, especially for people like myself who dislike
tolerating digital artefacts & compromised audio quality from highly compressed TV channelsâŚ
Agreed.
And if anyone thought 4K or 8K TV transmissions in the country were a possibility - think again.
Would be interested seeing a link on the topic from ACMA.
Is ACMA just a patsy for the government?
Thanks for the update @RFBurns
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If the government and ACMA were to go with this option and ABC / SBS were to be on 9 on a SFN Sydney / Newcastle / Illawarra. What would this mean for Wollongong reception in Sydney? Would combining two band 3 VHF antennas one pointing towards Sydney and the other towards Wollongong cancel out ABC / SBS?
I could always point my VHF antenna towards Wollongong and the UHF at Kurrajong Heights for Sydney.
I just hope with future restacks ACMA donât make the same mistake again by putting Newcastle and the Illawarra on the same frequency unless they SFN ABC / SBS, and put the commercial stations on seperate frequencies. Co channel would be a massive issue with ducting.
Lastly Newcastle and Wollongong tv going to VHF would be a massive task, all viewers in these regions would require a new tv antenna.
Existing broadcasting arrays would need to be replaced. Maybe in Newcastle the NBN tower could be used by swapping out the old NBN 3 antenna with band 3 VHF antennas?
In Wollongong they would have to use the old BA analogue tower at Knights Hill, from what @RFBurns said in a previous post the guyed towers would not be suitable for mounting band 3 arrays in their current setup.
It is a pity DVB-T2 is off the table, watching the 4K trials got me excited for what the future of TV could have been. With the spare channel (10) being removed gets rid of the easy upgrade option.
Sorry for the long post.
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Country and metro blackspot viewers wonât be happy if they are told they have to buy another antenna if ABC/SBS is moved to an SFN on VHF.
Will also mean SBS will have to run the same ads on both metro and regionals, and ABC network name would need to be the same e.g⌠âABC Sydneyâ and âABC NSWâ (this should be easy to fix as programming is the same),
Will be further issues in border communities - particularly Tweed region.
And those ttat are fed off air will require a new input method.
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This means that rural / metro blackspot areas would require a combo VHF / UHF antenna?
Also lots of tv towers and combiners would need upgrading for this to work.
The government better get a good price for the spectrum to pay for all the fucking around this option would cause.
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Using up the VHF spectrum & putting ABC/SBS on one channel in an SFN may never happen, thatâs just a possible option I thought of.
They are dangling carrots to entice the broadcasters to agree to consolidating on 3 channels & giving up spectrum for the telcos, but Iâm not sure the carrots are big enough.
Iâm pretty sure the TV broadcasters wonât give up UHF spectrum & put themselves behind the 8 ball if they canât get access to what is really TV spectrum in VHF band 3 that DAB+ uses.
First the TV broadcasters have to agree to giving up the spectrum, then re-stack planning will have to be discussed & planned, so it could be 5 years away yet, before anything real world happens.
I know some of you think DRM canât happen as theyâve missed the boat, & people wonât know what radio to buy, but radios will be both, if we have both in Australia, just like an AM/FM radio, some of you arenât old enough to remember before FM radio was a thing, & all (& still into the early 1980âs most) radios were AM only, especially in cars, DAB+/DRM will be no different.
Thereâs over 3 million cars in Australia been sold with a DAB radio since 2011, but some of those are approaching 10 years old now, & wonât be on the road any longer, but then thereâs also over 2.5 million cars with a DRM radio been sold in India in the last few years.
South Africa has at consultation stage for licensing, a Dual DRM/DAB+ Digital radio policy, so Australia wouldnât be going it alone with a dual standard digital radio usage.
With more & more countries taking up DRM usage, & others with multi standards, within a few years, in my opinion, DRM/DAB radios will be as common as AM/FM radios are/were.
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I also take it that with radios increasingly being software driven it would be much easier to push DRM/+ than, for instance, getting FM into car radios 40 years ago.
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I further read the green paper, they are talking about 84mhz of spectrum being freed up in the 600mhz band.
If my maths is correct it seems they want to clear 51-40 (690.5-613.5)
Which leaves 6-39 for dtv broadcasts.
This leaves 4 blocks of 3 channels in the UHF band, and 2 blocks of 3 channels in band 3 VHF. This can be stretched further by ABC / SBS being on a SFN on channel 9 as @anon71206228 suggested.
Moderators feel free to move this to the dtv technical discussions thread.
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ACMA has today released its Consultation Paper for a Proposal to vary the Remote Central & Eastern Australia radio licence area plan: https://www.acma.gov.au/consultations/2020-12/proposal-vary-remote-central-and-eastern-australia-lap-consultation-402020
Still nothing about the consultation paper for the replanning of the FM band in Perth at this stage, which is scheduled to be released before the end of the year (according to FYSO 2020-24), unless it gets delayed again.
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A latest opinion piece by Brad Smart.
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I donât get why AM and DAB are being considered into the future, they need to restack, reduce spacing and utilising the simulcast thing they do in some places for stations like ABC Radio. Everything needs to be on FM. AM is really only something that should be used for very regional and remote areas.
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No point complaining, weâve just gotta suck it up.
He says, writing for the fourth time about community radio stealing audiences from poorly run, highly syndicated regional commercial stations 
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Itâs strange they donât understand that the reason ABC and community does so well in the regions, is itâs actually relevant and local.
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Smoothfm is been playing these weird songs theyâve never played such as Style by Taylor Swift and I Donât Care by Ed Shereen and Justin Bieber.
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Yeah, what a bunch of weirdos.