Question for people in WA...

At night, what AM stations can you receive with good strength?

Being in Sydney all my life, we get Tasmania to Queensland, and SA, but never WA. With less stations over there, I wonder what else can be heard there?

A few years ago I lived in WA (Washington state, USA) As you'd expect, I could hear a few from California, and British Columbia.

Perth, WA is the world's most isolated city. It's a long way over there.

Also, ground is sandy so it's difficult to get a good ground plane.

By contrast most Sydney AM stations come from the salty swamp that is Homebush Bay. That's the reason you can get 702 (50kW) over most of NSW in the daytime.

Wa2ise, you should know about DX AM. I guess you know about the "border blasters" - 1MW transmitters just across the Mexico border in the 1930s. Apparently used to cover most of the States and through to Canada.

By contrast most Sydney AM stations come from the salty swamp that is Homebush Bay. That's the reason you can get 702 (50kW) over most of NSW in the daytime.

The transmitter for 702 (2BL, ABC Local Radio) is at Prestons, near Liverpool, and nowhere near Homebush.

"border blasters" - 1MW transmitters just across the Mexico border

... where Wolfman Jack became known coast to coast.

I believe Homebush had 2GB, 2SM, 2UE, 2CH and 2KY, but I'm not sure what's happening there these days as I read somewhere that residential encroachment meant that houses were in the path of a tower collapse.

GTC, you are wrong, sorry.

Prestons is 2RN (Radio National, not 702) and Newsradio on 630.

A drive around Homebush Bay will confirm.

This website shows 2RN (576kHz), 2PB (630kHz), and 2BL (702kHz) being transmitted from Prestons and 2GB (873kHz), 2UE (954kHz), 2KY (1017kHz), 2CH (1170kHz) and 2SM (1269kHz), being transmitted from Homebush Bay. Additionally, three community radio stations transmit from the nearby former 2UE mast on the edge of Bicentennial Park, which can be seen from Homebush Bay Drive between Concord Road and the M4.

Of course, I can't vouch for the accuracy of the site. There were a few articles published in the SMH around 2003 indicating that residents in the new high-rise developments in Homebush Bay wanting the transmission masts relocated due to the radio emissions though there is nothing further to suggest this work was ever carried out.

The Prestons transmitter site appears close to the Sir Roden Cutler Interchange, where the M5, M7 and M31 meet.

GTC, you are wrong, sorry.

I didn't mention ABC. Are you referring to post #4 by Robbbert?

Meanwhile, on that issue I note this 2003 SMH article saying that station 702 (aka 2BL) has been at Liverpool for 67 years:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/23/1045935279578.html

I've updated my post. Like the SMH article says, the ABC has been out here for a long time. It was a challenge to align radios with the enormous power blasting in from only 10km away. (50kW for 2BL, 50kW for 2FC, and ? for news radio).

Anyway, I note this thread went off topic from the very first reply, and I'm still waiting for someone from Perth to answer my question!

OK Robbert just to make you happy..all the way from WA.

Both the 2 radios I recently repaired with help from this site could easily pickup 5DN from Adelaide. There were numerous others but much weaker that I could not confirm who they were but given the antenna I was using I was amazed as the antenna consisted of about 20 of hookup wire just thrown out the workshop door onto the paving bricks.

Had I tossed the wire out across an adjacent tree I might have gotten better results but I was mainly chasing a slightly better signal to avoid the hash that the grid feed solar inverter generates during the daylight hours.
So was very surprised to hear 5DN when I was fiddling about a couple of times at night with both of those sets.

Lindsay

Ian's response about how an AM signal is transmitted is quite relevant to the original post. Back before the Internet I, amongst many others, used to communicate on CB radios, mostly at night. A better quality transmission was always possible by parking our cars at the shores of Sydney's many rivers. Locating ourselves up on top of high peaks such as Maroubra, North Ryde or the Blue Mountains had a negative effect. AM doesn't require line of sight but does need flat ground (or water) at the transmission site.

My guess is that the sandy and undulating surfaces of the WA and SA deserts would hamper transmissions in either direction. The distance probably doesn't help either, around 4,000km.

Thanks Kakadumh. I was wondering if you could hear the eastern states but seems not.

Back in the 70s when I started AM DXing on my 10-valve set (described elsewhere), the ABC and country commercial stations would finish up at midnight, thus clearing the band for stations far away. NZ was fairly regular, and one night I did hear some Perth stations.

These days of course, all the stations transmit 24hours, so such things are no longer possible.


Brad: I too used to be an avid CBer (base station only), even running a repair/modification business on the side. But that closed in the late 80s, and I've since forgotten most of the details. In fact, the CB boom (and the tales of the times) would almost qualify as vintage now, I guess.



Ian's response about how an AM signal is transmitted is quite relevant to the original post.
Yes, you are correct.

Quote "Prestons is 2RN (Radio National, not 702) and Newsradio on 630."

Does any of this explain why 630 Newsradio is unlistenable at night from just north of Wollongong, being blasted off the air by 630 ABC North Queensland?

When I'm out at Mittagong, News Radio 630 is perfectly fine. It runs less power than the others, maybe 10kw, might be the old 2JJ transmitter retuned. I guess you're just in the wrong area or something. News Radio is on 90.9 FM in your area, which should be much better for you.

I am referring to listening with AM valve radios. 630 is a bit weak even during the day. 576 is not very strong either. I guess both being at Preston and less power than 702 accounts for it.

A tuned loop antenna helps a lot for 630 during the day, but at night 630 North Queensland comes in strong and can't be minimised by directing the loop because it is on roughly the same line north from Wollongong as 630 Sydney, and loops pick up high angle sky waves well.

Of course 1431 is available to me for ABC radio national as well.