No-go for Bald Hill transmitter

By Lachlan Ellis

An idea for community radio coverage to be boosted by a new transmitter at Bald Hill will not come to fruition, with a warning from Telstra meaning the idea is unfeasible.

A Sebastopol man contacted the Moorabool News and said that in some places in Bacchus Marsh itself, he was unable to listen to local station Apple 98.5 FM.

He suggested a transmitter be set up on Bald Hill – but Apple FM President Karellyn Dangar said that even if the money was available to establish it, the idea wouldn’t be feasible for one main reason.

“To get the transmitter up there would cost between $30,000 and $40,000, we have looked into it. The thing is, if we got a grant for it and put it up there, if we interfere with Telstra’s signal- who are up on Bald Hill, they have informed us they will cut our transmission. We can’t take that risk,” Ms Dangar told the Moorabool News.

However, the radio station is working on getting its coverage more stable.

“We’re staying where we are out at Dog Trap Gully Road out at the rifle range. We’ve been doing major repairs after the Easter break…the cherry picker is broken down at the moment, but as soon as we get that sorted, we’ll be able to tweak our dish up there and it will be pumping at full capacity,” Ms Dangar said.

“It’s pumping at 94 or 95 per cent at the moment, it’s slipped a bit. We’ve got our technical guru Andrew working on it…on certain areas the coverage does die out, it’s beyond me why it does. Sometimes it’ll die down and then come back again…we can get all the way out to Portarlington.

“We don’t get all the way into Ballan unfortunately; we’ve got to do some work and get into Ballan.”

While the idea of a Bald Hill transmitter has been floated “for eight years now”, Ms Dangar said, Telstra’s warning that transmissions could be cut means the transmitter will not be pursued.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-05-17/8

in the 17 May 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.