In my Current work I was having a political conversation with one of my work mates about how biased the media was and after he commented that the ABC was unbiased I had to pick myself up from the floor from fits of laughter and realised he actually believed this lol. I just could not convince him how leftist the ABC has become.

In my earlier years with Telecom I was sent to Mount Kaputar to fill in for a tech there. All I had to do was watch three televisions all day and if one went off the air I was to replace a transmitter valve. Well I tell you what after spending so much time watching TV for a job I became very disinterested in watching commercial TV as all the the plots were the same and the only difference were the actors. The quality of the programmes at the ABC were on a much higher level than the commercial stations and I believe its not really changed that much. But please kick the lefties out and give us unbiased reporting.

Back to the closure of Radio Australia, I've read that to continue broadcasting to China using the Internet the ABC has set up shop behind the Chinese "media firewall". They will therefore have to stifle any content that's embarrassing to the Chinese government, or get kicked out. Not a good move.

Well Radio Australia was terminated in the middle of the day yesterday. Not sure exactly when, because I was sleeping in the extreme heat, but it was gone by 12:40. The NT services are gone as well.

What was funny was that on 2RN (ex-2FC), at 12:55 they had a discussion on the subject, how people in NT who are away from the main towns depend on the shortwave services, and how it was totally impractical to set up a satellite receiver on a boat. But the ABC was totally cold-hearted about it, only thinking of the $1.9 million they will save. So, basically, bad luck.

If I was a billionaire I would buy the facilities and broadcast over the outback at my own expense....

They won't save the money and that is why they are so gleeful about it. The money will simply get redirected to more of their socialist grandstanding. If the ABC was a commercial enterprise with no financial input from taxpayers then it wouldn't bother me but since I am forced to help pay for it, the direction they are taking does bother me.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s one couldn't fault the quality of ABC news, documentaries and current affairs programmes. Different story these days with the political activism that surrounds every breath they take.

Noted in the September issue of Silicon Chip:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Restoring Shortwave Radio) Bill 2017

Type: Private
Sponsor(s): XENOPHON, Sen Nick
Originating house: Senate
Status:Before Senate
Parliament no: 45

Summary

"Amends the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 to: require the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to maintain three domestic shortwave transmission services for the Northern Territory that were operating up until 31 January 2017; and maintain an international shortwave radio transmission service for Papua New Guinea and parts of the Pacific."

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1055

Watch out they don't rush to demolish the facilities so it isn't possible, as happened with the HF transmitter on the Liverpool site that used to provide coverage for some north coast dead spots. PA tube deliberately smashed.

Ian, The Radio Australia site went on the market shortly after the close down. The following URL has the sale details.

http://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-commercial+farming-vic-shepparton+north-502377630

It seems that the property is still on the market. Would be a great buy for a cashed up Ham as happened to Coastal Radio VIA Adelaide!

http://coastradio.info/adelaide.html



Cheers, Graham...

There are two radio broadcasting stories in September Silicon Chip.

The first is "The unclear future of radio broadcasting in Australia", which covers the closing of ABC shortwave transmitters, and the unsuitability of AM, FM and DAB+, "leaving vast areas of Australia without a viable radio service". It suports the introduction of DRM as a solution.

The second is " Digital Radio Mondiale" (DRM): what's it all about?". DRM (Digital Radio Worldwide) a digital radio system that can operate at frequencies up to 30MHz (DRM30) and 47-108MHz (DRM+).
It seems that the present SW transmitters could be used in DRM30 mode to provide a country wide high quality radio service. BBC and Radio New Zealand currently provide DRM30 services to the South Pacific.

An issue for us vintage radio buffs is that if DRM30 were to be introduced, and replaced AM services, we would have nothing to receive. The toxic nature and disarray of federal politics at the moment probably means that changes to the broadcast system are very low in priority.

As good as DRM looks to be to suit our vast country's needs, we are safe for the present. Eventually we might have to think about DRM converters to AM.

Maybe Australia could sell its ABC to whoever owns the American ABC
though Australia probably wouldn't want a foreign company using so much RF spectrum.

ABC America wouldn't want to go there I don't think. The ABC's far left political bias would get in the road of ABC America's need to make money to survive commercially. Our ABC just takes $1.1bn per annum off the Commonwealth Government and uses it to brainwash people.

On a related note, CBS is the front-runner to by Channel 10. Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon (two of the present owners) look like being edged out by a better deal.