8 October 1965
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Thanks for that. Same year as the local commercial station WBQ.
ABQ’s first relay station was ABC Darling Downs (ABDQ-3) which opened December 1963.
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Looks like ABNT3 Launceston was July 1963 so they must have been all in a reasonably quick succession.
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List of ABC launch dates in stages 3 and 4 of television roll-out in Australia.
There was still one more ABC regional station to come in Stage 4 – ABMQ4 Mackay.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Control Board, 18th Annual Report, 1965-66.
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Becasue TV came to Darling Downs before Wide Bay, large antennas were erected by some in the Wide Bay area, not only to attempt to receive Brisbane, but also the Mt Mowbullan transmitters as there was a direct path to there from parts of the area.
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Yes although it was before my time I know my aunt in Maryborough had a TV well before the local stations started. By all reports they tried fairly unsuccessfully to get Brisbane and possibly Toowoomba stations.
The huge antennas continued in Gympie of course through to the 80s as they could get Brisbane stations quite well with them, in addition to WBQ/SEQ.
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what was the reception like in that area?
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My aunt had such an installation in the Isis area. But when I saw it, was well after channels 6 and 8 had started. That wiped out reception of 7 and 9 from Brisbane. But reception from 3 and 10 from DD was quite watchable and TVQ O from Brisbane was very good. Of course reception was variable . with TVQ and ABDQ susceptible to co-channel troppo in the summer. I’d say that DDQ could have got some co-channel effects from Nambour under some conditions.
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Did it get better when TVQ and DDQ switched frequencies?
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I don’t know; however the antenna for DD was only designed for the frequencies of Channels 3 and 10. As far as receiving 10 from Brisbane, I’d say the reception would have been considerably worse than O because Band III (6-12) signals don’t travel as far as Band I (0-2).
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Wow, that’s something I had no idea about till tonight.
STV8 in Mildura did the same when it first started.
I suspect it was because the infrastructure/links already existed to carry the ABC program to Mildura but there was no facility to relay the commercial stations as far as Mildura.
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this guide lists AMV as carrying ABC News
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I believe ATV0 owner Reg Ansett was a big horse racing fan.
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Yes he was. Hence why he chose to open ATV on August 1.
RTN8 also used to show ABC News as well. Likely from Brisbane as the local ABRN6 initially relayed ABQ2 Brisbane (except for schools programming which came from ABN2).
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Quick question, what is that?
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I’m pretty sure it’s some form of NBN Big Dog plush toy…
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