As in Short Wave...


yes there are 2..

5055 - 4KZ audible here all night and early morning. Max strength of 4.

5045 - Aussie Radio, audible 24x7. Strength varies between 4 and +20. Being audible all day indicates it is local. It seems the transmitter facilities may be hired from a service provider. Also, there only seems to be one announcer, so I assume the content is pre-recorded and maybe controlled by computer. Very few adverts, although I suppose they'd like more. Enjoy it while you can!

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While on the subject of short wave, during the daytime the bands are practically empty. I think the communications department (or whatever they are called these days) should permit all commercial stations to operate a short-wave outlet up to a power of 50KW if they so wish. The department would simply allocate a frequency to allow nationwide coverage. We know the ABC isn't interested.

I also think the FM band should be expanded to start at 54 MHz.

What do you people think?

That would be great, another indicator for amateur 6M band conditions.
JJ

Well nobody is using Band 1 so why not?

Or how about allowing analogue TV at low power on Band 1? I reckon 50 or 100 watts out of somewhere like Kurrajong would cover a good swathe of Sydney's western suburbs.

As far as the SW bands are concerned, how about going digital? It is being done in some parts or the world.

I don't know about digital shortwave. It would mean having to buy something that's never been made or sold here. I know there's a few existing transmissions but does anyone listen to them?


Thinking more about Band 1, I know some amateurs have wanted a band around 70MHz for whatever reason. This could be accomodated by using 54-70 for experimental low-power TV transmissions, then 70-72 for hams, then 72-108 for FM.

Did you know there's a whole bunch of narrowband FM stations in the 150-151MHz range? Been there for years. These could be relocated to the new 72-88 part of the band.

Also, the frequency range 29.7 to 50 MHz is used for what? Anything?

It may as well be allocated to the amateurs on a temporary, secondary basis until a more productive use is found.

However, if the usage of the 10 metre band is anything to go by, the hams would probably ignore it.

Used to be military AFAIK

29MHz,36MHz and 40MHz sections are used for model aircraft, boats and cars.
But then most have migrated to 2.4 GHz.
Except the model speed boats and yachts, because the water spray at times causes total signal loss and in some systems on 2.4GHz to “Unbind”.
So I guess modern technology is not always better. .
JJ

66-88MHz is commercial 2 way band, There are a few government agencies that are not ready to relocate just yet, as well as some smaller licensees

There are a few 40-42 MHz link licences in use in NSW as well

Hi Robbbert,

I don't believe there are enough listeners to make it worthwhile.

The high costs of electricity probably would also negate connecting to the grid but I suppose alternative energy supply could be used but that could initially be expensive.

It is nice to listen to something else other than AM and FM , however, the average listener wouldn't really think of shortwave.

Most people I've ever had contact with were overseas dxer's or swl's.


Even 4KZ is limiting hours to around midnight at the latest and coming back on early mornings which I think might be a lack of listeners..

OZY Radio I thought was coming from up high in Western Sydney. Vertel site 75 Mount Hercules Road RAZORBACK RANGE NSW 2571
RAZORBACK RANGE 5.045 ACCORDING TO ACMA .

Yes , I agree existing stations should be allowed to use domestic HF but with few frequencies being available then overcrowding would happen.

In outback areas I believe it should be regarded as 'safety of life' in some cases as the HF ABC stations in the territory have closed.


Best regards

Tim Gaynor

Hi Tim,

I thought OZY Radio might be your station relocated to Sydney. They certainly play an excellent selection of Australian music.

Thanks for the transmitter info, I know exactly where that location is. It isn't that far from my place, and explains the good reception.

For anyone in Sydney interested in looking, drive the Old Hume Hwy to the top of the Razorback (between Camden and Picton), you'll see Mt Hercules Rd going to the west, drive along it for about a km, and you'll see a bunch of transmitting and repeater towers.

The problem with using the 60m band is most Australian radios don't include it in their SW band. If they'd thought about it, it would make sense to allocate stations to the 41 and 49m bands for daylight operation.

I pulled out a wooden-cased Precedent radio (6AN7, 6BH5, 6BD7, 6M5, 6V4) and its SW band is 60m to 25m. When connected to the telephone line it does a good job of getting Ozy Radio all day.

Seems OZY-radio suffered some kind of transmitter failure early today. It is extremely faint. never rising above 0, and not audible at all most of the time. Hopefully they can fix it soon.

Well, I had forgotten to update this...

5055 4KZ is still there, but goes off the air for most of the night. So it can only be heard for a short while at dawn, and for a few hours after sunset.

OZY radio is now on 4835, but the strength is considerably weaker than when it was on 5045, with reception being quite patchy. It tends to broadcast for a week or so, then take a break for several weeks, and then mysteriously appear once again.

OZY radio has been off the air for longer than usual, and its website died, so perhaps it has ended?

4KZ continues on as usual.

" We know the ABC isn't interested."

Robbert, I wonder if there will be any change in this since the Australian Govt. is trying to increase its influence in the various Pacific Islands countries, as shown in the events in Port Moresby in New Guinea during the APEC conference?

I seem to recall that years ago there was controversy with Indonesia about Radio Australia reports, and this eventually led to ABC getting out of shortwave. Hopefully there will be a reversal of this policy as major Pacific powers are still broadcasting on SW at with high power. Australia is in the region and should be doing the same.

Regarding digital technology Ian, this may not be appropriate for poor Pacific Islands countries if SW broadcasts are re-established to these countries. If so it would keep the SW bands on our radios relevant.

Any thoughts from anyone on any of this?

The problem is that they sold the main site at Shepparton (or at least it was for sale), and the transmitters at Geraldton and Bathurst Island (Darwin) were either rented out to broadcasters in our region, or decommisioned. It would cost them a lot more than the paltry $1.9 million they saved to get things working again. So, I still don't think any help will be coming from the ABC.

As for the NT stations, as is typical for Govt organisations, they were refurbished, then shut down weeks later. The current state of them is unknown to me.

I don't know about the "major Pacific powers" bit, pretty much the only station on the air during the day is China. New Zealand is still there too, but I wouldn't call them a major power. Solomon Islands (I think it is) is on 5020, but it's only meant for domestic consumption.

Don't forget, Governments (especially ours) are usually just a bunch of hot air. I don't think they will do anything when you consider an election is just around the corner. As we know Labor is likely to win, and they'll just throw all the money at the illegal boat people and other useless projects instead, just like last time they were in power.

As for China, they just made Panama an official ally, and expect more of the same in the region. You might ask why Panama would do that? Don't forget, America invaded them back in the 80s, then used their people for experiments with laser weapons (I saw it on a British documentary on TV). I'm sure there's many more nations that have no love of America, just waiting to be plucked.