WHOA! What magic you & your team have achieved @RFBurns - amazing improvements!
101.7 WSFM Signal sounding much cleaner. Previously WSFM reception suffered badly from multipath. Now so clean & powerful signal. The RDS decodes are massively improved, was bad before at around 30-50% BER, now 0% BER
The RDS clock needs to be re-synced (probably still on your to-do list) as it is running 1m49sec fast.
Naturally the audio improves when the signal not subject to as much multipath as previously. Signal looks stronger on SDR spectrum. Maybe music sounds punchier? Edit:I think tighter bandwidth compared to previously - which is great.
106.5 KIIS Signal sounding clean. Not quite as wide a bandwidth thankfully, as was too wide as previously mentioned. The RDS decodes are significantly improved & now almost a 0% BER during music, but 0% during talk.
Noted that RDS CT is missing.
Location as per PM; nearer to city.
Iād be keen to hear later of what work was done.
I may need more time to listen to a variety of content to evaluate, but these are my initial findings & all positive so far. Thanks for great work.
@RFBurns My initial results, whilst noting improvements, were somewhat rushed before I had to leave home & in hindsight maybe were a little premature. I was listening with the SDR in mono & after writing my initial reply I thought there was a little distortion with some content. When I switched the SDR from Mono to Stereo on my return this evening with both 101.7 & 106.5 I am noting more distortion & extra noise with content when comparing with 2DAY, 2MMM & JJJ signals.
Are any others experiencing this?
Re Multipath: I can see a little multipath on 106.5, but I am using a non resonate TV antenna.
And they are at it again.
You may remember a few posts up I posted about a song getting changed by Nova.
Right now KIIS973 are playing āCheap Thrills -
Siaā,
But the 1st verse has been changed from āturn the radio onā to āturn the KIISFM onā, it speeds it up so the word fits. Doesnāt even work/fit correctly.
They have been playing this version for ages.
Also in Joel Coreyās Head and Heart they have changed the lyrics to KIIS is number # 1
Cringe but no where as bad as the Novaās Turn up the Feel Good version , an instant channel changer.
The ARN FM stations have a good signal in the Upper North Shore, however their DAB stations are sounding softer than usual - it sounds like the volume has been turned right down on all of them.
Another one of these āEmergencyā signs, but in the middle of a park in Halls Gap VIC where cars canāt really see it! Taken a few minutes ago so getting a bit dark.
Itās the first one Iāve seen that isnāt positioned for passing cars.
For those patiently waiting to hear why I wanted to get reception reports for ARN Sydney services earlier in the week here it is.
ARN have moved WSFM & KIIS out of the Gore Hill transmission site, they now have a split site at Artarmon, with one set of transmitters in one building & another set in the other building, each building uses a different antenna system.
The Artarmon pre-existing hasnāt changed, it still uses the main FM antenna & still at the same power levels, the other building which now has the moved from Gore Hill transmitters, uses the (what was the community FM) side-mount antenna system & both ARN services run at transmitter power just over what HOPE, Koori & 2MBS use, to give roughly 55-65kW ERP.
Iām not on site today, but when I left yesterday KIIS was still on the new setup & WSFM was on the original setup, as we have an unrelated transmitter fault on the new WSFM setup.
Also for the Melbourne people, ARN have moved out of the BAI Eyre Rd site at Mt Dandenong & over to the TXA Observatory Rd site where Nova/Smooth used to be, Ornata Rd site hasnāt changed.
Thereās currently FM antenna works at Ornata Rd, so SCA will be currently using BAI Eyre Rd site (along with NOVA/Smooth)& ARN will be using Observatory Rd site.
Thanks for that update. Iāve noticed in recent months thereās a lot of back and forth with the signal strength of a few stations, 91.5, 101.1, 101.9, 105.1, (not sure about 104.3, never took notice.) 91.5 is currently back to full signal, but 101.1, 101.9 & 105.1 are still down around 5-6dBm.
Iām not sure, depends what the problem is? I know youāve mentioned it before, but then someone else here said it was okay, & if theyāve had other listener complaints they wouldāve fixed it, so Iām not saying there isnāt an issue, I havenāt been to the Winmalee site in quite a while for DAB, or even out West far enough to hear for myself, but so far youāre the only one who seems to have an issue with it?
Depending on your location, signal strengths could vary quite a bit when they change sites, quite possibly you get a better signal from the TXA Ornata Rd site, so with 101.9 & 105.1 being at BAI Eyre Rd now, that would be why & in the recent months they couldāve been changing sites back & forth due to works at either site or just because they want to, as far as 101.1, that could be because of the same reason, but now theyāre at TXA Observatory Rd you receive a weaker signal & 104.3 would be the same, though Observatory Rd antenna has a better pattern than Ornata Rd & it gets into more places better.
As far as 91.5 & 100.3, they only have/use the one site BAI Eyre Rd, so the only reason their signal would change is due to works on site that needs the power reduced.
I work as part of the TXA NSW/VIC Operations team, but am based in Sydney, so canāt really answer much more than that.
I wouldnāt necessarily say thatās because of the higher power, the power theyāre at on the side-mount may change as itās tested further, but itās roughly to meet the licences spec of not going over the levels of the nulls in the main antennaās pattern, as far as a normal listener would hear, Iāve tested North to home near Newcastle & thereās very little difference to hear, between the 2 antennas, even though the power is reduced on the side-mount, ARN engineers drove South last week & have said that it wasnāt until the Goulburn turnoff on the Hume that the reception from the main antenna was better. What Iād put the splatter down to is the new combiner filters on the side-mount antenna being tighter on the channel spread over the ones on the main antenna most likely.
I was looking at the ACMA records for the Koori, MBS & Hope stations & they give antenna heights of 160m, 142m & 150m respectively. Maybe with that antenna being a co-linear arrangement the antenna might actually be an average height or mean height between the top & bottom antenna.
Also looking at the Hope FM licence I can see they have two stations from Artarmon. Am I correct that their standby [station 2] uses the main higher height antenna of 2DAY/2MMM?
Yes probably an extra 20-30kHz or so of bandwidth. Difficult to take measurements with a variable modulating signalā¦
Definitely tighter.
What does the radiation pattern look like from 93.7 to 106.5MHz on the community array/standby (WS/KIIS) array? It is an extra jump of antenna BW up to 106.5 from 103.2MHz. Just curious as the 20MHz of FM BCB bandwidth is a lot to cover for a single antenna. Just wondering if thereās extra unwanted radiation pattern lobes or nulls up on 106.5MHz.
I reckon FM BCB signal multi-path is an increasing problem in an ever increasing amount of Sydney areas with the expansive construction of tall apartment buildings sprouting up everywhere.
@ozbark First part, I donāt know why ACMA has 3 different antenna heights, licensed antenna heights are always (or should be), the electrical centre height above ground (average terrain), which is often the physical middle of an antenna stack also, but not always.
Yes HOPE FM has a transmitter on the main FM antenna, itās a 3rd option (licence Station 2) they have, their main & alternate transmitters are both on the side-mount antenna.
Last question, the radiation pattern on the side-mount is almost omni-directional for all frequencies, the main FM antenna is directional with some null points in the pattern, but within the Sydney licence area you wouldnāt really notice the reduced power very much or at all normally in the null directions on the main antenna.
The side-mount is wideband, itās tuned for any & all frequencies on the FM band from 88.1 to 108MHz, the gain & radiation pattern across the frequencies does differ from bottom to top of the band like any antenna, exactly how much & at what frequencies, Iād have to look at the documents at work, but itās not a significant difference.
I think Triple R is on the Ornata Rd standby FM antenna at the moment?
Yes, everyone else are at their alternate sites due to work on the main FM antenna at Ornata Rd.
DTV & Commercial DAB are still at Ornata Rd.
SCA will probably move back to Ornata Rd when the FM antenna works are complete, if they want, itās up to them, the sites arenāt main & standby, theyāre alternateās.
TXA Eyre Rd tower is used for alternate DTV for 7, 9 & 10, thereās no FM or DAB antennas there, itās DTV only.
Thatās fine, thatās a very sufficient answer. Iām a fair distance from Mt Dandenong, and itās just more or less an observation. In the grand scheme of things, a signal thatās āoff the chartā vs ānearly off the chartā probably wonāt really matter, and as you mentioned itās a possibility that a slightly lower signal in my direction could mean a slightly improved signal in another.
I virtually always get 91.5, 101.1 & 101.9 at the same strength, except for reasons which you have pointed out. Images of 91.5 full strength vs 101.1 (temporarily) lowerā¦
Yes, good question. I see that information has been removed from the ABC website. Had to jump on web archive .org.
So -
1 November 2021 - 90.1 first on air.
May 2022 - 1st completion date given.
9 June 2023 - complete, 90.1 off air.
Thatās a 1+ year maintenance over run. I do recall weather related delays being mentioned. I only noticed a few things driving past, a temporary site toilet, a new coat of red and white paint and a ladder at the mid mast coil or insulator (or what ever it is).
