ABHN was on 5A and 8?
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ABHN 5A (Newcastle) was the primary transmitter, and there were translators ABHN 6 (Murrurundi), ABHN 8 (Upper Hunter) and ABHN 8 (Merriwa)
Source: ABC Annual Report 1984/85
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I wonder what was the point of the 5 letter callsigns?
There wouldn’t be any more than a few thousand people in Southern Cross/Bullfinch, so surely they would get the same feed as Central Agricultural?
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Same thing happened in QLD - every translator had to have a unique call sign it seemed.
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Another piece of useless information given it was so insignificant, that prior to aggregation, its one of the few places in that area that could receive both 11-8 Television (NRTV) and 9-8 Television (NEN). This was good for people in those areas nearing aggregation because NRTV and NENs morning schedule varied significantly between 9am and midday each weekday mornings and mid afternoon into the evening. from 1988 until 1990 , the only programming these two shared at roughly the same time weekdays were GMA, Midday Show, Days Of Our Lives and Young And The Restless. On weekends it was only Sunday and that aired at the same time as 60 Minutes aired after the movie on NEN from 1988 onwards.
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Port Macquarie could get perfect reception of both pretty much 24/7, and if you were on the hill on Pacific Drive near say Flynn’s Beach, on a good day, you could probably get NBN-3 as well. Though there were very few NBN-3 antennas in Port Mac.
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I was more talking on the Great Dividing Range in the fringe areas, but point taken. Kempsey was the same if we are being honest. The motel on the way into town heading north had 11-8 and 9-8 Television in 1987
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Yes, Kempsey as well, particularly South Kempsey and at Fredrickton, a few kms out of town. But no real chance of NBN-3 there though.
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NEN9 would have been very weak in Dorrigo at best. ECN8 would have been easier.
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I remember seeing some tower mounted NBN-3/ABHN-5 antennas just South of Tamworth 30 years ago. Would’ve been very marginal reception, but all that was possible before NEN-9 began in 1965.
It was a bit like that around Swan Hill and Sea Lake/Birchip too before BCV-11 at Goschen began. i.e. Marginal reception of BCV-8, and around Birchip - BTV-6 as well.
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There are still a few of those tall towers around in Tamworth, not very useful these days except maybe for faint Newcastle/decent Muswellbrook FM radio reception, given VHF 3 was in the same FM radio frequency range.
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True, I wonder how Nowendoc used to go with the channels pre aggregation
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I wonder if ECN had of been allowed to merge with NBN whether NEN would have joined CWN and CBN and if that happened whether CBN might have later demerged and joined MTN. I also wonder se scenarios took place, whether MTN would have been incorporated into the Northern and/or southern regions of NSW respectively.
Or whether the above would have all been disregarded and we ended up with what we have
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Not very well I imagine… I had a look on Street View, and I could only see one building with a TV antenna (looks like it’s the local police station *) and it was mounted on a telegraph pole, way up in the air.
'* perhaps required to watch ‘Cop Shop’, ‘Prisoner’, ‘Division 4’ etc to keep up with modern policing trends.
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Would it still have been called Midstate Television?
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Quite monopolistic if ECN merged with NBN tbh.
Taree residents would’ve been miffed. Pre-Aggregation nearly everyone got ECN/NEN-8, NBN-3 and ABC. A choice of 3 channels, not 2.
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Was listening to the podcast Backchat that featured former Brisbane Lions/Western Bulldogs player, Jason Akermanis.
He mentioned growing up in Mildura, they only had two TV channels. Seems the needle hasn’t moved too far in nearly 40 years.
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Mildura has a lot more channels and networks present now than it did 40 years ago.
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