[Brayds2006]

In what may be the last new thread of the old Forum, I'm wondering about Long Distance TV. I'm reading a bit about it, and it appears in some small examples, it's possible on a normal TV. Obviously the weather would help in this, but i'm wondering whether it's possible to recive other television signals, and has anyone had this happen?

[Kevin]

Brayds2006, on 18 February 2010 - 04:49 AM, said:

In what may be the last new thread of the old Forum, I'm wondering about Long Distance TV. I'm reading a bit about it, and it appears in some small examples, it's possible on a normal TV. Obviously the weather would help in this, but i'm wondering whether it's possible to recive other television signals, and has anyone had this happen?

I had very long distance television when I was there

Under normal circumstances though it's not that common. I have heard many cases of Victorians' receiving signals from Tasmania when the weather conditions are able to bounce the signal across the ocean. I'm sure similar things can happen on the outer reaches of land coverage areas as well but I'm not sure of where and how.

In Perth it is possible to receive GWN with an antenna but it needs to be setup in a certain way for it to work. Not really any point these days because GWN and Seven are pretty much the same but in the past there was some benefit in receiving GWN in the city.

Not sure about anywhere else.

[cpandilo]

It generally depends on your location and the conditions. At times some viewers who are at the right place at the right time can get a spell or two with the right weather conditions they get a signal for a short amount of time before the signal becomes too weak and the channels disappear. I know of someone who gets both metro and regional signals regularly because, IIRC, they have one antenna traditionally pointed towards the metro transmitters and another that's pointed directly to regional transmitters.

[Mister Man]

Brayds2006, on 18 February 2010 - 05:49 PM, said:

In what may be the last new thread of the old Forum, I'm wondering about Long Distance TV. I'm reading a bit about it, and it appears in some small examples, it's possible on a normal TV. Obviously the weather would help in this, but i'm wondering whether it's possible to recive other television signals, and has anyone had this happen?

The first thing are the frequencies used by any given services (If GWN in Bunbury and Seven Perth shared the same frequency it would be impossible to receieve GWN as Seven would overpower any signal from Bunbury for example) You may also need a special antenna as antennas are built to receieve certain frequencies. Then there is the whole distance/signal strength thing.

The nearest GWN signal would be Bunbury which is 2-300KM south of Perth so that's a bloody long way to pick up a signal.

[Kevin]

Mister Man, on 18 February 2010 - 07:55 AM, said:

The nearest GWN signal would be Bunbury which is 2-300KM south of Perth so that's a bloody long way to pick up a signal.

I know of some people in Perth who were able to receive a clear GWN signal many many years ago with just a standard antenna but it needed to be a certain height and positioned correctly for it to work.

As I said, not really any point these days unless people want to watch GWN News... everything else is the same as TVW anyway and the picture quality on TVW is far better than GWN.

[Mister Man]

Kevin, on 18 February 2010 - 08:58 PM, said:

I know of some people in Perth who were able to receive a clear GWN signal many many years ago with just a standard antenna but it needed to be a certain height and positioned correctly for it to work.

As I said, not really any point these days unless people want to watch GWN News... everything else is the same as TVW anyway and the picture quality on TVW is far better than GWN.

I know it's possible from Mandurah but maybe Perth's southern suburbs as well considering the advancements in antenna technology.

[Kevin]

cpandilo, on 18 February 2010 - 07:54 AM, said:

It generally depends on your location and the conditions. At times some viewers who are at the right place at the right time can get a spell or two with the right weather conditions they get a signal for a short amount of time before the signal becomes too weak and the channels disappear.

That's half of the problem... you can't rely on the signal holding when you're receiving one from somewhere else.

Even if a signal appears to be clear and stable one day, it can disappear completely the next day and not come back. It really does depend on a number of factors but the weather plays a bit part in that.

With analogue you have a better chance of holding an out-of-area signal (although, it will most likely be a snowy picture with dodgy audio) but with digital it's a lot harder. Not worth the effort IMHO.

[cartman]

I've heard similar stories, such as people living in the outer southern suburbs of Sydney like Waterfall and Sutherland, receiving PRIME / WIN from Wollongong. Likewise people in Penrith are generally able to receive PRIME / WIN from Katoomba etc.

As Kevin has pointed out though, it's hardly worth it unless you're lucky enough to receive the signal without any extra effort. These days PRIME / WIN are just simulcasts of their network partners SEVEN / NINE so unless you want to watch the local news I really wouldn't bother personally.

[cpandilo]

cartman, on 19 February 2010 - 12:43 AM, said:

These days PRIME / WIN are just simulcasts of their network partners SEVEN / NINE so unless you want to watch the local news ....

Though I wouldn't call WIN as near a total simulcast of their respective metro station as PRiME is. WIN has Alive & Cooking, classic Crawford's dramas, generally less infomercials, weekend lifestyle programming, etc.

This post has been edited by cpandilo: 19 February 2010 - 08:27 AM

[button pusher]

Brayds2006, on 18 February 2010 - 05:49 PM, said:

... it's possible on a normal TV. Obviously the weather would help in this, but i'm wondering whether it's possible to recive other television signals, and has anyone had this happen?

A normal TV as opposed to...?
I can reasonably often from suburban Perth. Back when Perth had Access 31 and was using a sick transmitter I could sometimes pick up WIN Bunbury better than 31.

cpandilo, on 18 February 2010 - 08:54 PM, said:

It generally depends on your location and the conditions. At times some viewers who are at the right place at the right time can get a spell or two with the right weather conditions they get a signal for a short amount of time before the signal becomes too weak and the channels disappear.

Correct.
A relatively cool evening after a warm to hot day is usually conducive to radio waves travelling farther. And the lower frequencies travel futher terrestrialy than high ones.
The location does indeed help. If your antenna is already pointing in the general direction of a distant TX then the liklihood is greater.
I used to be able to pickup Geraldton ch11 occasionaly from coastal suburban Perth, but that was before digital as Ten use that channel for their digital service in Perth.

Mister Man, on 18 February 2010 - 08:55 PM, said:

The first thing are the frequencies used by any given services (If GWN in Bunbury and Seven Perth shared the same frequency it would be impossible to receieve GWN as Seven would overpower any signal from Bunbury for example) You may also need a special antenna as antennas are built to receieve certain frequencies. Then there is the whole distance/signal strength thing.

The nearest GWN signal would be Bunbury which is 2-300KM south of Perth so that's a bloody long way to pick up a signal.

None of the frequencies used at Bunbury (Mt Leonard) are the same as Perth. It is fairly difficult now to receive Bunbury GWN Ch3 and ABC Ch5 because they are in the FM radio band and they are effectively obliterated by the FM radio stations in Perth.
Bunbury is only 150k from Perth.

Mister Man, on 18 February 2010 - 09:00 PM, said:

I know it's possible from Mandurah but maybe Perth's southern suburbs as well considering the advancements in antenna technology.

Mandurah (and Pinjarra) now has its own local set of transmitters situated on the scarp behind the Alcoa refinery which transmits the usual rural stations of GWN, WIN, ABC and SBS.
The southern suburbs of Perth should be able to get Bunbury fairly easily but that would require either a second antenna or turning the existing one around for ideal reception.

[Brayds2006]

Right, I understand it A little better now. It appears that radio signals are easier to recieve from further away, as tuning through the radio brought up signals from as north as Armidale and as south as Muswellbrook.

[button pusher]

Brayds2006, on 19 February 2010 - 04:50 PM, said:

Right, I understand it A little better now. It appears that radio signals are easier to recieve from further away, as tuning through the radio brought up signals from as north as Armidale and as south as Muswellbrook.

IF that's FM radio then it is about what I would expect to be able to receive fairly often, if Tamworth is where the receiver is.
For AM radio the dial should be chock full at night.

[Brayds2006]

button pusher, on 19 February 2010 - 09:26 PM, said:

IF that's FM radio then it is about what I would expect to be able to receive fairly often, if Tamworth is where the receiver is.
For AM radio the dial should be chock full at night.

The stations I heard were both on the AM band. Mind you, this was at 3PM when I listened to these.

[Kevin]

button pusher, on 19 February 2010 - 05:26 AM, said:

For AM radio the dial should be chock full at night.

I noticed that happening here in Orlando a while back when I was changing stations in the car very early in the morning and heard a promo saying I was listening to some station in Atlanta (which is in Georgia, the next state to the north).

At first I thought it was a station here just airing a raw feed of the Atlanta station but that isn't the case - it was actually coming from Atlanta. During the day a local station does broadcast on that frequency but the Atlanta station has the rights to the overnight hours (broadcasting from Atlanta with 50,000 watts of power).

[Brayds2006]

Kevin, on 20 February 2010 - 12:15 AM, said:

I noticed that happening here in Orlando a while back when I was changing stations in the car very early in the morning and heard a promo saying I was listening to some station in Atlanta (which is in Georgia, the next state to the north).

At first I thought it was a station here just airing a raw feed of the Atlanta station but that isn't the case - it was actually coming from Atlanta. During the day a local station does broadcast on that frequency but the Atlanta station has the rights to the overnight hours (broadcasting from Atlanta with 50,000 watts of power).

Night rights for a frequency, wow. Also, there's alot of TV Stations in the US, and 50 states, 48 of those in one grouping. There would have to be some good instances in the US, at least some of the time.

Also, is it kind of odd that this is possibly the most active topic of the year?

This post has been edited by Brayds2006: 19 February 2010 - 09:41 PM

[Kevin]

Brayds2006, on 19 February 2010 - 08:40 AM, said:

Night rights for a frequency, wow. Also, there's alot of TV Stations in the US, and 50 states, 48 of those in one grouping. There would have to be some good instances in the US, at least some of the time.

In the north-eastern US they always get channels from different states without much hassle. Cities like New York, Philadelphia, Jersey City, etc have full coverage of each other's channels all the time because they're so close to each other.

There are many cases of multiple channels affiliated with the same network in the same area, usually because the smaller states are so close to each other (each state usually has their own network affiliate agreements). They all air the same thing at the same time with the only difference being the local news.

For example, you can easily receive WNBC (NBC affiliate in NY) in Philadelphia and Jersey City and the same goes for receiving WCAU (NBC affiliate in PA and NJ) in New York city. It works for others too.

Those examples aren't "long distance television" but I know that I was able to receive WNBW (NBC affiliate in Gainesville, North Florida) in Orlando for a short time but then I lost the signal and couldn't get it back.

Not really worth anything though - most US stations are affiliate based, just as they are in Australia, so unless you're interested in local news from a particular area then it's not worth the effort to get a signal from elsewhere.

It's pretty much impossible here now anyway because analogue TV was switched off last year.

Brayds2006, on 19 February 2010 - 08:40 AM, said:

Also, is it kind of odd that this is possibly the most active topic of the year?

So far