Radio - The Rock issues in car

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DjShadow

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#1926757 29-Dec-2017 21:36

xpd:

Switched to 100.1 as suggested, and was a lot better - now issue is, will the signal be good when I head back to town or will I need two stations tuned ? :-p 1st world problems...

100.1 is for Rodney, this is where RDS should work well and switch frequencies automatically for you (assuming you have an up to date headunit)

jarledb

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#1926796 30-Dec-2017 01:29

DjShadow:

One would of thought given the main studios for Mediaworks Radio being in Auckland that the sound qual should be better than the rest of NZ given they just have to beam the signal up to the Sky Tower to be broadcast.

I just had a look at RSM and doesn't appear they are using any booster transmitters for The Rock, they do that in Wellington where some stations are broadcast over several transmitters on the same frequency (my sony headunit hates this as the station goes static when its picking up 2 transmissions on the same frequency).

Can you get anything on 100.1 FM?

Are you sure they are using the same frequency? Only single frequency system for radio broadcast I know of is DAB.

You really don't want FM stations to be even close to each other in frequency, much less on the same frequency.

EDIT: Learn something new every day: Quora: Can a radio station expand their broadcast range just by using a second transmitting tower on the same frequency?

But notice: "usually are located to extend coverage into FM-band radio-signal "shadowed" valleys: areas behind hills and mountains that would otherwise receive poor signals from the parent FM station's transmitter due to the shielding/blocking effect of steep terrain to FM signals"

Using a system like this, you would want to only use the boosters in areas that don't receive a signal from the main transmitters (or other boosters). If you get a signal from both the main transmitter and the booster you will have interference instead of a stronger signal.

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MadEngineer

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#1927574 1-Jan-2018 11:00

I have the same in Palmy so I switched to Hauraki years ago. Sometimes I'll try listening to The Rock just for a change but they'll be playing some crap that combined with the poor reception just makes me change back to Hauraki again. Also noticed that The Rock seems to have less or no stereo separation.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Dunnersfella

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#1927598 1-Jan-2018 13:37

The Rock turns up as Mono on a few stereos I've seen... and that's around fairly central parts of Auckland.

Interesting...

jarledb

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#1927650 1-Jan-2018 16:10

Dunnersfella:

The Rock turns up as Mono on a few stereos I've seen... and that's around fairly central parts of Auckland.

Interesting...

Thats one way to get better coverage, but not exactly something thats smart to do if you are a music station.

Dunnersfella

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#1927656 1-Jan-2018 16:18

Going off memory here... but aren't FM stations received as mono if they're over 40k's from the transmitter?

I'd have thought they'd be beaming the signal from the Sky Tower, but I could be wrong.

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MadEngineer

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#1927786 1-Jan-2018 21:35

Depends on the signal strength typically. Radios will drop to mono when the stereo FM signal is too weak or not well tuned and they'll have an indicator to display this.

I definitely have my radio(s) showing stereo reception but I find I'm actually having to double check that if listening to The Rock.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

richms

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#1927787 1-Jan-2018 21:38

Last I listened to the radio it was clear they were not putting out the full stereo seperation. That and compressing the hell out of things to make them unsuitable for anything other than quiet background noise.

Only time I have heard obvious encoding artifacts was when travelling down south on one of the stations - cant recall which one because TBH they are all the same, very low bitrate link used and was also quite sibalancy.

I dont think they care about quality, so long as customers keep paying them why invest in quality?

Richard rich.ms

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