I don’t quite understand why there needed to be an international agreement to create 9khz spacing on the AM band.
How does moving 2SM from 1270 to 1269 make a difference? How does moving 2UE from 950 to 954 make a difference? Why was 2CH allowed to stay at 1170?
This has bothered me for ages!
If you divide the AM band by 9 KHz instead of 10 you get more possible channels. Starting at 531, you progressively add 9 and whichever frequency the station was closest to they got - for some there was no change.
As stated earlier, it allows for more stations, those stations with frequencies ending in 0 AND divisible by 9 fitted both the 9 and 10 khz spacing (540, 630, 720, 810 etc).
3UZ identified itself as 930 The Greater 3UZ long into the 80s. It was when they changed format to “mUZic” in 1983 that they mentioned the 927 on-air.
Because AM/MW signals travel vast distances, especially at night, some can & do travel half way around the world or further.
All AM frequency assignments are done in conjunction with other countries (at least nearby countries) under an international agreement (not just 9 or 10kHz spacing agreements), certain frequencies can only be used in certain parts of certain countries, so one doesn’t interfere with another in a nearby or distant country.
For example, 783kHz is the old 2KA Katoomba frequency, it has been moved/reserved to be able to be used in Sydney from Homebush Bay. There’s no guarantee however, of ACMA giving it to me for a station in the middle of QLD, because it may interfere with another station on 783kHz somewhere in Asia or some other country further away.
ACMA would have to talk to Asian countries & South Pacific countries & probably even NZ before re-assigning 783kHz usable in middle of QLD, making sure there was no (or very little) possibility it’s use there could/would interfere with a station in one of those other countries.
I’m in a Facbook group with a guy in Alaska who runs a small radio station but loves DX’ing (@dxnerd & the other DX’ers in this group might know who I’m talking about), & at certain times of the year, just before dawn in Alaska, he has been able to hear Australian East Coast AM stations, ABC 1233 Newcastle is one he’s received & I think he’s heard a couple from Victoria & even 1 from Tasmania in the last 12 months what I know of.
Under the international agreements, certain AM/MW frequencies can only be used in certain parts of certain countries, but also they have international agreements for directional radiation patterns & transmit power levels.
As it stands now, AM OD stations in Australia have a maximum power of 2kW & DA of 10kW Day/Night Switched, if a DA station has to go OD for whatever reason, they must reduce max power to no more than 2kW, existing AM stations with a power over 10kW can stay as they are.
Random radio: noticed most breakfast shows these days are named after there hosts. The jo blow and billy B breakfast show. What are the best named breakfast shows? Back to the 80’s 3XY had the XYZOO, The Morning Crew was always popular, Eddie Mcquire on 3MMM had the Hot Breakfast which was a bit corny, my favourite was KRock which used The Big Mattress back in the 90’s.What are your favourite show names???
Not a breakfast show, but “The Big Rig Gig”, a night show which ran on regional commercial FMs in the early 90s that had something of a truckie theme with a bit of country music was a great name.
He’s even appeared on ABC News 24 and I think ABC Radio Hobart. A very rare moment for our niche and ultra nerdy hobby. It’s a wonder they didn’t seek out some ‘homegrown’ DXers to complement the story!
I do not bother talking about DXing in regular conversation, such is the stigma attached to the conversation and converser for the average person. There was probably more media interest in the early days of radio, though.
Yes remember going camping along the Upper Murray and listening to it on B104.9 (Albury). All the overnight truckers would ring in with traffic reports and general Truckie talk. Great radio
And in the 80s there was “The Nev Nicholls Roadshow” which was heard weekly on various regional AM stations mainly on Sunday nights which was country music aimed at an overnight interstate truckie audience.
And who could forget “Pillow talk” at 22:00 on Sunday nights on the Fox. Dr Sally Coburn, forget the announcers name. Dave somebody
Rocksat (sponsor branded by ANZ Bank and later the then Federal Dept DEET) from the late 80s/ early 90s brings back fond memories for me.
Hosted by Kevin Hillier on Wednesday nights at 9pm, he would introduce callers whilst also naming the station they were listening to eg. “We have Bob on the line now, listening to us on FM104 in Brisbane, What’s your question Bob?”. In Melbourne, the show moved from FOX FM to Triple M at one point.
Radio used to have so many good music based shows that are all gone now. I remember Rocksat, take 40 Australia, American top 40, Triple M used to go a top 30 rock countdown (can’t remember the name). Now days all radio stations flog is best of breakfast and drive shows. It’s crap
They had one called “The Rock Poll” (funny that since we just had the Fed Election!).
You’re not thinking of Planet Rock?
There use to be Planet Rock on TripleM and some of the regionals
Another show I liked from the mid-late 80s (with a boring-ish name)
The National Album Review
It was a very ‘focussed’ show - each week they had a ‘feature artist’.
Yep Planet Rock which was a weekly Rock 30 countdown. Classic Rock 102.5 in Deni used to run it on there Friday drive which was an interesting concept. The Album show was run on Sunday nights with Billy Pinell on the Triple M.
Sounds like an academic journal.
It was presented a bit like that too.
Very plain, no hype.