I found that, the further you were from the Sugarloaf TX site, the harder it was to get a decent UHF picture. It wasn’t just hills that killed it, trees hindered reception too.
As for the ABC, UHF had a better picture / image quality as long as you had line of sight. 5A always looked washed out for some reason, even with no snow or ghosting. NBN-3 didn’t have that issue.
I think NBN installed a new Channel 3 transmitter and refurbished their VHF array around 2000 iirc.
I guess the ABC didn’t bother and soldiered on with their 1976 unit. Reflections off adjacent TV towers and hills can create issues with washout too.
The washed out look was evident even in the late 80s and no hills impacting on reception.
I wonder if the 5A TX was just a poor quality one?
Channel 3 went just about everywhere. If you lived in a ditch (plenty of those around Newcastle), NBN3 was rock solid. You’d get ghosting but a strong signal. 5A was not as good but still very watchable. UHF? Forget it. You’d be watching shows in a blizzard. It’s easy to see why NBN didn’t want to go to UHF. Even now, there are a few translators around suburban Newcastle because of the hills issue.
Speaking of 5A, did RTS have trouble with that frequency?
Yes, with digital, there are now 5 translators in the Lower Hunter whereas analogue only had 2 translators since digital is “all or nothing” compared to analogue being “snowy/ghosty but somewhat watchable”.
Not that I ever noticed. Rts-5a was off the same tower as ABRS-3, but ABHN-5A probably had reflection issues with signals bouncing off the NBN tower or an antenna array that created phasing issues close in.
The latter was a big problem with the old HSV-7 array on Mt Dandenong.
Another one from the ‘Newcastle Herald’ on what Newcastle/Hunter viewers could expect from Prime, NBN and NRTV in terms of local content and what lessons were learned from aggregation in Canberra
NRN-10 had to change its frequency after a few months because of interference from ABRN-6 Richmond/Tweed.
That’s interesting, I knew there were issues with VHF Band III channels overlapping/interfering on adjacent frequencies eg. 6 and 8 could interfere with 7, but I had thought there weren’t any issues as long as there was one vacant frequency in between ? (VHF 6 had centre frequency of 177.5 mhz and VHF 10 was 212.5 mhz and both 8 mhz wide, so couldn’t be a 2nd harmonic or anything?)
Seems an unusual situation. Since there are other instances of a channel 6 being adjacent service area to a channel 10.
I could understand more if it was interference from another channel 10 like DDQ which seems quite likely that would happen during troppo events. I know that in Brisbane, ABDN 2 from Coffs would interfere with the local ABQ 2 so I could easily imagine the two 10’s interfering.
IF (Intermediate Frequency) stage tuner oscillator interference.
Typically 33-39 MHz. That’s why at same or near-sited analogue TV transmitters you would not have Channel 6 and 10, but rather 6 and 11.
Wasn’t Armidale on Channel NEN10?
Yes, but it was only low power… 140 watts and was only really an infill for the northern side of the town since it’s in a gully.
Originally NEN-1 and only 5 Watts. I think it got hammered by tropo ducting from Sthn Downs and Taree at times. Its ABC translator also changed from 4 to 5A for similar reasons.
Not that I’m aware of. I do know that ABRS3 went a lot further due to being on a higher power.
1981 Australian crime series “Bellamy” opening and end credits from a tape recorded off Austrian national broadcaster ORF (the episode was dubbed in German)
Ivar Kant’s Played Chris Hemsworth Character Kym Father Barry Hyde the Principal of Summer Bay High in Home and Away in the 2000’s and is Nick McCallum the 7news Reporter in Bellamy as well?
what brought you to think that?
