TV station frequencies Avondale, Qld.

Paul_oz53 · Post by **Paul_oz53** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 12:20

Hi all,

What is the easiest way to get the frequencies and transmitter location(s) for Avondale Qld? Nearest city is Bundaberg. My brother lives at a farm there but is suffering bad to no reception and asked my advice.

I tried to follow the digital ready link in other posts but it's dead. I'm in hospital at the moment so restricted to the phone only. I'd appreciate any help you can give me to help him.

Thanks, Paul

Grumpy_Geoff · Post by **Grumpy_Geoff** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 13:31

I know little about this, I've just seen this site previously, and had a quick squiz -
https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/QLD/774-Moore-Park
https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/QLD/773-Miara

prl · Post by **prl** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 14:18

An alternative that's more general is that the ACMA's List of transmitters with a licence to broadcast allows you to search for nearby transmitters by postcode and location (but the returned information doesn't seem to be very useful to me). They also have a link to Google Earth KMZ placemark files that allow you to look at transmitter locations in Google Earth. When you click on a transmitter icon in Google Earth, you get a popup with the channel details: callsign, channel number, frequency, power, polarisation and antenna height.

Looking in Google, it confirms that the closest transmitters to Avondale are in Miara and Moore Park, as GrumpyGeoff has posted. There's a transmitter at Burnett Heads that's a little further away.

The three transmitters are all fairly low power, 200W, and seem to all be part of the same Single Frequency Network. They all transmit on channels 29, 30, 31, 32 & 33. Elliot Heads also seems to be part of the same SFN, but it's even further away from Avondale than Burnett Heads.

Miara is about 12km and Moore Park is about 13km line-of-sight from Avondale.

However, you may get the best coverage from the transmitters on Mt Goonaneman Woowoonga, which serves the general wide bay area. Those transmitters are on channels 6, 7, 8, 10, and they all transmit at 45kW.

Which transmitter your brother's set up for will depend on which way his antenna is pointed. North-east for Miara and Moore Park, pretty much due south for Woowoonga.

Another useful resource is the ABC's http://reception.abc.net.au/. That gives suggested transmitters for your location and you can also see coverage maps for the ABC transmissions from those sites. It was there that I saw that the Woowoonga might be your best options. Because in each case the channels are grouped and the transmitter powers at each site are all the same, the ABC coverage maps should also be a reasonably good guide for the other broadcasters.

There's an annoying thing about the ABC coverage pages, though: when you click on the Maps tab, instead of being able to choose between the coverage maps for the two suggested transmitters for Avondale, it shows you the coverage for the recommended transmitter (which is Woowoonga) . It offers to let you choose the coverage for each of the "channels", but not to look at the alternative transmitter in the list. Of course, all of the "channels" come from the same frequency on the same transmitter, so it's a distinction without a difference. Sometimes I wonder about some web designers.

Paul_oz53 · Post by **Paul_oz53** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 16:07

Thanks Grumpy_Geoff and prl, really useful information on all counts.

My cursory look at these pages tells me that easy, clear communication was NOT a design criteria!

I see the series of coastal repeaters at the holiday parks are not rated with any stars, suggesting that they are all very short range. Interesting is that there is no mention of Bundaberg in the ACMA data but his aerial points that way.

My brother tells me his aerial is horizontal, as are his neighbour's aerials but the channel info seems to suggest they should be vertical. The horizontal transmitters on VHF appear to be at Gladstone West, which is North West of him, not South East where his aerial points. I wonder if his aerial is 180 degrees wrong for Gladstone ! (I did tell him this could be the case.)

As prl suggests, his better VHF option appears to be Woowoonga (with vertical polarisation). I could be in for a long phone call or two or three while he sorts it out.

Paul_oz53 · Post by **Paul_oz53** » Sat Mar 28, 2020 12:23

To finish the story, my brother tells me he's getting good reception with the aerial pointed towards Gladstone. Apparently, it was loose and moving in the wind.

Not sure if he tried the southern option but I suspect not as he was uneasy about switching to vertical polarization.

Thanks guys.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Mar 28, 2020 12:25

Great to hear that it's sorted!