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247

2SM is always the gift that keeps giving, for comedy.

With the league call until ten, Gilbert opened his show with a caller poll on what MP they’d like to see replace Turnbull.

The landslide began, old, croaky voices bellowing consecutively; ‘Tony’, ‘Tony’, ‘Tony’. A few must be lost audience from the ABC where the dreamers are all behind the four time turncoat, Julie Bishop.

With only a short show tonight, Bill must’ve directed James Yelland and the other lever pullers to save on producers, so no producer tonight. After the dizzying lurching between Julie and Tony, Graham decided to wrap up his not so bright idea earlier than he expected.

Onto a promo for 2SM and who should make the promo but the perennial GB actor/caller. This promo centred around her foreseeing the end of cows being milked in Australia.

So much potential for an alternative station in Sydney and a quality choice for the bush, but they blow it with a lack of nous.

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248

Would the cows be sent overseas to be milked!

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249

Exactly, not possible and this wasn’t the comedy promo.

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250

On this AM stereo in the Super Network topic, what of AM stereo for 2MW? Do their FM translators still relay the AM signal?

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251

Nope. Crystal clear FM now on all the FM translators for Radio 97. 103.5 has RDS but 104.1 doesn’t.

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252

Thank god, it was a real laugh to watch the sky light up and hear the AM impulse on FM.

104.1 needs RDS as a top priority. Be great to see it in the RDS list among the pages of choices for car radios on the coast.

And thank you @Mechsta for the speedy contribution!

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253

Agreed completely, considering it covers most of the Coast and all their competitors (even the Remote licencees on Mt Tamborine) have RDS, they look a step behind, especially given all the new cars receive it

On your original point, Radio 97 was indeed ‘Stereo 97’ at one point, but who knows how long it hasn’t been for now. I vaguely recall seeing a plaque down at Coolangatta thanking Stereo 97 for their sponsorship for one of the rotundas or barbecues down there

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254

I believe the C-QUAM Gear was switched off and removed in the early 2000s

Then there are crazy people like me who want to see it return again haha :slight_smile:

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255

Thanks for the info. And don’t worry, there’s plenty here that would happily see it return again too (hence my hunt for a device that can fully enjoy your work at 4WK :grinning:)

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256

It would have been an even better idea for 4AK to go AM stereo again too.

The old 4AK “Rock In Stereo” slogan could be reborn again.

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257

And in response, from earlier in the thread

:sunglasses:

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258

Thanks, that’s great news then too :+1:

259

Had the Motorola C-QUAM Exciter you see in the picture below on the work bench awhile back… Currently just waiting for a High Stability Crystal to come for it… then a few more things to happen behind the scenes… So watch this space :grin:

image
image3360×1718 1.73 MB

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260

Its a faint hope, but given vinyl has made a stong comeback, and cassettes are starting to make a comeback too, AM stereo could maybe, just maybe mount some sort of comeback too? One can dream anyhow.

I thought it sounded great, though it wasn’t easy in my experience to get AM stereo totally noise free.

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261

The quality of this sends shivers down my spine:

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262

Correct, when you hear AM 1287 Sapporo, you hear the whistle and impulse interference. Yes, the rest sounds great.

It’s clear the 4WK with no change but going FM received a boost from that. Whilst 4AK in stereo would sound good, it’s not going to make the difference moving bands did.

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263

A person I know will be attending the Pooncarie Cup on the weekend.

Pooncarie is a little down on the river in SW NSW.

It’s very remote, no major highway access.

In analogue days, Mildura TV was possible with high gain aerials, amp and good luck.

So what does have to do with the Bill’s stations, he doesn’t have any nearby surely?

Broken Hill, some 3 hours or so drive away.

Yes, the 2BH stick is 192km away from the Pooncarie pub and similar from the racecourse.

2BH are involved with the Pooncarie Cup and I’m told Pooncarie is quite the 2BH town.

This is an amazing result.

2BH have gone from a paper ERP of 500 watts and static rising fast by Cockburn over the SA border to a total powerhouse of the middle of nowhere.

I’ve written before of callers to Laws’ show from Menindee some 100+ km out and marking lambs on farms 200km away (their estimate).

In the ACMA FM conversion documents, I recall Super Radio’s own submission refers to a 4kW transmitter.

It appears the TX is running close if not at full power and the mast is capable of making a fist of it too.

In a world of FM conversions, SW shut downs and other losses of local coverage, this is a great effort by those who made it happen.

I am truly staggered by it.

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264

A BOG station running over-spec? Never

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265

:smiley:

They seem to run a pattern with this of being in test and then apply retrospectively for approval as evidenced in some markets where LAPs have been varied.

Great grounds for this fortuitous coverage with the SW switch off.

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266

I remember getting clear afternoon reception of 2BH near Wagga Wagga. So that doesn’t surprise me. On that basis, it’s little wonder that they didn’t convert to FM.