As we head towards another break for Christmas it is time again to thank the loyal membership of this website for another year of contributions. From the occasional comment or query right up to those who submit regular photos and documents, all of this continues to make this website a great resource for those entering the vintage radio fraternity, but even for seasoned chaps such as myself who sometimes relies on the results of questions asked by others. It always goes without saying that without the input of many of the regulars here a site like this cannot be successful.

Early in the new year I will be shifting the site to the NBN. Despite its hype and the promises made by both the conservative and socialist sides of politics, I've heard a few horror stories about the NBN so I can only hope that in my case the move will be a successful one. If all goes well then download speed of the site should improve for members and guests. It will also provide a bigger pipe for the image and document submission service that should become available soon.

One final reminder that the narrow version of this site will be closed down on the 31st December. In the last week or so I have dispensed with uploading images and documents to the narrow site - there doesn't seem a point to it since there's only two weeks left before closure. The only URL that will work after the 31st December will be https://vintage-radio.com.au/ so please keep this URL in your browser favourites. The standard site comes with SSL security to help with protecting your password from being sniffed by an online intruder.

In finishing, I wish all members and guests a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I've heard a few horror stories about the NBN

So have I.

The area where my workshop is located is slated for NBN in 2017 -- they cannot be any more specific than that at the moment -- and I have already had to run the gauntlet of the bureaucracy getting the fire, security and lift lines registered. The first problem being that their way out of date cadastral system did not recognise the address.

I gather that it can be a hassle to retain your phone number(s) if desired, as when the copper is disconnected Telstra apparently puts the associated numbers in an unallocated bin, and you have to place a reconnect order with your provider to get them back.

Let's hope your imminent transition is a smooth one.

Thanks Brad for all the work done in keeping this site running. I dread the day when the NBN comes to my street, quite frankly am more inclinded to stay with my 4G wireless modem which works quite well for my needs.

Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.

Being in a city you tend to over look things outside of it: I am rural. Mobile here has been hopeless from day one. The only way a 3G modem would work was with a co-linear antenna. 4G hopeless.

I now have NBN from a tower it's died around eight times in around a year and one outage was over 17 hours. The NBN box this end has clearly got no filters as NBN considers AM to be dead. So it wipes out AM reception & also gets into FM. So much for compliance.

The other thing is that the majority of these towers have no mains backup. So in an emergency in a rural area if anything happens to the power the NBN & Mobile fails;; So you are then left at the mercy of the batteries in the landline exchange, if it has been maintained?

Recently we had a period from May to July where the landline exchange spent more time not working than working. Within this period of not working a neighbour died: We can speculate that she, or a machine, tried to ring for help on a dead line: Furious Telstra activity after that.

The last thing rural areas need is to transfer the landline phone to NBN, in so doing, lose possibly the only communication viable in an emergency.

Not a lot of thought put in, seems to be all about cheap & maximising profit margins.

Some of my family live in regional NSW and they have told me that a lot of people who have subscribed to NBN Wireless have needed to install their own boosters to get a half decent signal. It's hard to imagine why a lot of people think the whole landmass should just be awash with a wireless signal. It clearly isn't suitable for all types of Internet users and the latency that is commonplace with wireless, mobile and satellite signals would, for example, prevent this website from being in-house.

The original NBN plan was a scrawl on the back of a beer coaster and regardless of which side of politics ends up cutting the ribbon on the finished product, that's exactly what $40bn+ was always going to buy - a network designed by politicians on a beer coaster.

The other thing is that the majority of these towers have no mains backup

All the ones I service in NSW do, Cant see why that would be varied in VIC. Minimum run time, depending upon load is around 10 hours.
3 hours of no mains is the trigger to attend site.


Ben

It appears to be no different here: It's obviously too sensible for them to have someone close handy to the ones that don't need a helicopter to get at & ring say AusNet here or whoever it is wherever to see why the power went out, if it did.

It seems they have copied Telstra who seem to know little about communications, when it comes to customers.

Marc