But was on AM as one of the last remaining commercial or local ABC stations on AM. It had to convert to FM and needed to do so on like for like specs with 94.9 instead of the wasteful multi site allocation for the greedy program split.
Again, ACMA being led up the garden path by the commercial lobby. The 2ST conversion is not in line with the legislation of efficient use of spectrum.
I agree with the submitters that Nowra needs an independent commercial station as the current two do not provide compelling choices. The vehicle dealership was spot on checking cars in for service: only a tiny fraction tuned to Nowra commercials.
Totally agree,
The other option which is more efficient on spectrum would have been to have 91.7 2ST transmitting from Knights Hill, but with a slightly different radiation pattern to 94.9 Power fm.
Wave / i98âs array is shielded on the left hand side to restrict the signal going out the side of the broadcast antenna towards the Southern Highlands.
91.7 2ST from Knights Hill could have had the shielding on the right hand side of their array to restrict the signal towards the Southern Highlands, and continue with 102.9 to provide exclusive Highlands content.
91.7 would then provide fortuitous coverage into Wollongong and better cater for the 40+ listeners in Wollongong which are under served.
With this setup 88.5 would not be required for Kiama, and 106.7 for Ulladulla. 106.7 could then be used to launch Triple J Batemans Bay from Mt Wandera.
And ARN would not have to pay rent / maintenance on 2 separate transmitter sites.
89.3 / 90.1 was also assigned to the ABC at Batemans Bay for News and JJJ. I think they got 100.5 for News because the government wanted it on air before WIN-3 could be switched off.
98.9 Triple J Illawarra is doing some weird things at the moment.
When you first tune in the stereo pilot light is constantly switching on and off, probably for about 30 seconds, and this is with a good moderate signal. After 30 seconds the stereo pilot light, and signal remains stereo permanently.
On my car radio where the signal is not quite as strong, the stereo pilot light and signal constantly switch from stereo to mono.
Has anyone else noticed this in fringe areas?
If anyone has the tools, might be worth analysing the signal to see how it compares to the other nationals from Knights Hill.
Thanks for the alert.
Itâs only happening on 98.9 2JJJ.
2ABCFM 95.7 is fine.
The stereo carrier of 98.9 is dropping from nominal -17dB down to -37dB every 6 seconds or so ( a 20dB drop) - not good. Iâve never seen that before.
You could report it to ABC Reception Advice Line if they monitor it over the weekend?
@Ant5476 I wonder if the techs are now investigating this problem?
I noted late this morning that Triple J Wollongong is weaker in signal strength, but the varying strength stereo pilot carrier problem appears to be gone.
The problem was still evident over the weekend.
Perhaps now on a lower powered standby TX whilst investigating?
In the end I did not get around to calling them, maybe someone else reported it?
I will check the reception on my setup when I get home.
Generally 98.9 Triple J is one of the weaker of the four high powered national fmâs from Knights Hill. Classic and ABC Illawarra the best.
Generally i98 and Wave fm are received better and their antenna is lower down and only 20KW in my direction.
For me. I usually find JJJ is strongest, then Classic then News. Local is hard to get a gauge on in normal conditions because itâs blocked by Lake Mac FM.
@Ant5476 It seems like all the Wollongong stations are still on reduced power.
97.3 is the best of them here.
It also seems like the ABCâs from Knights Hill have been on & off with reduced
power quite frequently over the past 12 months or so.
Or is it that radio reception conditions have just been so horrible with crap weather over the past year or so?
They had been doing work on the National fm tower at Knights Hill, that is completed now. All the fm stations had been on reduced power, or broadcasting from an alternative antenna on that tower.
The Triple J stereo pilot is a separate issue which has been resolved, however possibly they are using a backup transmitter that is not as powerful as their main transmitter. We will never know as we donât have someone like @RFBurns who works on site.
La Nino and the negative IOD is not good for tropo so conditions have been very flat lately.
Re the Wollongong Commercial, for me they seem to be just as strong as the national fmâs and they are on a different tower, lower down the mast, and only 20KW V 40KW in my direction. So maybe the nationals are still on reduced power.
It is my day off today and will be heading up the Gib and will post some photos up of the tower contains the 2ST arrays.
I am not trying hard but ABC 97.3 FM using my shower radio (donât judge međ) itâs not as good as before since they had the issue during Covid waiting for the parts to fix the transmitter. For my Thursday footy issue it was to 738 am or 549 am. Before 97.3 FM I leave on for Friday footy too. I am in north western Sydney.
As promised a photo of the Wingecarribee Council Tv Tower at the Gib between Mittagong and Bowral which I took this morning. The photo is taken from the south of the tower.
It looks like 2ST are using two mixed polarity array broadcast antennas, they are midway up the tower on the left hand side., a lot lower then 40m max antenna height which would be just below the UHF antenna stack. .They are facing due west, between Mittagong and Bowral.
I assume on the other side of the tower at a similar height is the broadcast antenna for 2WKT. A vertical antenna which looks similar to what the community stations use on the Central Coast. @RFBurns I will get you to check this for me.
I could not make out the broadcast antenna for music fm which is lower down the tower, and mixed polarity accord to its ACMA Licence specifications. Unless the two mixed polarity antennas are for music fm, which would mean 2STâs broadcast antenna would be the vertical ones at the top right hand side, just below the UHF stack?
There was some UHF receiving antennas not visible in this photo directed towards Knights Hill for the tv feed.
Not related to this thread but I will mention it here as it related to this trip, Canberra dab+ 8D was very good at the Bowral lookout this morning, registering up to 3/4 on the signal / Quality bar on my portable radio. Funny enough Canberra fm was weaker than normal.
For @dxnerd Braidwood Fm 2BRW was received up at the Gib, but was very similar to GNFM. suffering severe CCI from 2RSR. The best I got 2BRW was near the TV / fm tower. At the Bowral lookout 2RSR was dominating 88.9 to my surprise.
Lastly the road to the Bowral lookout is closed with large sections washed away from the heavy rain events. The only access is by foot, it is only a 200m walk so not too bad.
Iâve circled on your pic the only FM antennas I can see, I canât say who uses what ones though, on the Left side the 2 & 1 could be main & backup for the same station or they could be separate stations?
Also none of those are like the Gosford Community stations use, Iâve put pics of the Gosford community antennas when they got replaced with higher power elements when Rhema 94.9 joined the other 3 stations, they are located on the face of the tower just below the Hit 101.3 antennas, the ABC use mixed arrays on the wings of the tower. Those FM antennas on the left side of your pic are folded Dipoles, Gosford Communityâs & Lake Macquarie FM use straight Dipole antennas.
Though having said that, those Iâve circled on the Left side look too big to be FMâs, so Iâm not sure what ones on the left are FM or not from the photo, there is a folded dipole antenna on the right side in between the 2 mixed antennas in my circle too, but canât tell if thatâs an FM or not either?
Thanks @RFBurns for your detailed explanation, and also the photos of the Hit tower and the closes up of the arrays for the Central Coast communities.
Going by the ACMA specs for Music fm, the bottom fm antenna on the right is probably their one. Interestingly they went with a vertical antenna when they are licenced for mixed, maybe to offset 2BL / ABC CC? It also looks omni directional unless they are using the tower as shielding for their directional licence conditions, compared to 2WKT which is omnidirectional.
BTW if the two on left hand side are 2STâs the shielding of the tower and the terrain may explain why 2ST is not so good towards the east around Robertson.
I have mentioned this in the RDS thread, Classic fm Wollongong / Illawarra now has RDS, looks like it came online today.
I wonder if they have AF setup, as this was troublesome in Sydney when Triple J Wollongong / Illawarra tried it for the brief time they had their RDS active?
Fantastic recollections. Excellent insight to the site.
Amazing about the off air backup of SBS Sydney being lost in during heavy rain. Was that in analogue days @dutymainttech? All the more staggering despite broadcast quality receive antennae.
