ABC, SBS Update.

Looks like ABC and SBS are gone again!

ABC and SBS

This morning the ABC is on the air! Can't say the same for SBS! I would think that these are only test broadcasts as the volume on some stations is going up and down. SBS is almost non-existant with the same number of stations as Adelaide and Brisbane all on 32kbps. Surely they won't keep all these stations! if so, why? I am listening to 774 which is the only station that seems to be ALMOST normal. It is good to hear ABC news on my dab radio
As I am writing most of the stations seem to have gone of air. They all have ? before their station names. I am still listening to 774. We can all relax, hopefully by next Wednesday at least the ABC will be up to speed. Wonder what SBS is up to?

UPDATE ABC stations have increased power a little during the day but SBS is still pretty bad! I see the website now says ABC & SBS to commence services on or around 1st July on low power. ABC sounds fine even on low power but surely SBS can do better!
Melbourne is now showing 39 stations. One, ABC Extra, is continously playing Waltzing Matilda and ABC Grandstand is duplicating Dig.

Article in todays Australian

This is an interesting article from todays Australian.

First national signal of new-wave radio hits cities

Had a listen to a number of stations today and all except the FRN stations sounded excellent. It seems that the Melbourne stations are now broadcasting at full power as they come in loud and clear with little use of the antenna. Previously the antenna had to be fully extended.
Listened to AW for about 20 minutes and thought that they had gotten over their problems, but NO... the problem is still there and was even worse today. Not being a tech or engineer I don't know what the technical term is but the speech just keeps repeating and today it became hard to even understand what was being said. I switched over to Magic the other FRN station and they were having the same problem. Whatever the problem is it is emanating from the FRN studios and not a fault of the DAB+ broadcasting. I checked the multiplex that the other stations are in with AW and Magic and they all sounded fine. Hopefully FRN can fix this soon!

I see PURE in conjunction with Pioneer had the official launch of their DAB+ products at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art today. Congratulations to Graeme Redman, Managing Director of Pure Australasia Pty Ltd, who has worked very hard to get these products up and running in Australia. I bought my first DAB+ radio from Graeme.
PURE and Pioneer have high hopes for their Pure Highway, the in car DAB + radio with FM tuner which will be marketed via Pioneers existing automotive distribution network of over 400 retailers. Hope it all goes well for them. I have enough digital radios so I will wait and see how this goes! Should be a big advantage though for PURE being able to use the Pioneer selling network.

Further Pac Star News.

News on Pac Star post, it was unfortunately only a test broadcast but the good news is that Pacific Star is planning extra digital content.

Pac Star.

This morning Pacific Star owners of AM stations SEN and MP are broadcasting a new station with just music under the name Pac Star. It is an eclectic mix of music with no ads and no announcers. It is being broadcast in stereo. Don't know if it is permanent or just something they are trialling. I say good on them, would be nice to see the "minnows" of Melbourne radio come up with something new. It is a mix of probably, MIX, pop and some of Koffee's chill and certainly not anything like MP. Check it out! This is why I like digital radio!

Have listened for some time to Pac Star and it sounds like a test as they have begun to repeat the songs. They have about an hour and a half of songs on a loop. Pity the mix was good;-(