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Author Topic: Narrowband A.M. Radio Aussie Stations? Interesting tidbits that Boomer found.  (Read 1278 times)

Offline ThaDood

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“I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy
is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York and he
meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is
exactly the same, except that there is no cat.”
-Attributed to Albert Einstein, but I ripped it from the latest Splatter .PDF March 2025 issue.

Offline NQC

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Hey Thadood,

Odd that these are referred to as “narrow band” .

Is this the Aussie term for X band ?

I would not think it refers the mode of transmission somehow.


de NQC
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Offline ThaDood

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Um... Now, I have to remember where I read about where 'Narrow-Band' has more to do with limited audio frequency bandwidth of these stations, like no more than 3 - 4kHz. (Not exactly hi-fi, is it?) Still, doesn't seem to stop these stations from playing music over them.
“I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy
is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York and he
meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is
exactly the same, except that there is no cat.”
-Attributed to Albert Einstein, but I ripped it from the latest Splatter .PDF March 2025 issue.

Offline Brian

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Hey Thadood,

Odd that these are referred to as “narrow band” .

Is this the Aussie term for X band ?

I would not think it refers the mode of transmission somehow.


de NQC

The spacing of the channels is 9 kHz, the same as Europe, so no need for audio less than 4.5 kHz width providing adjacent channel transmitters are sufficiently apart, location wise.
So I guess it refers to the band.

Offline europirate

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I guess they are refering to 'narrow casting' rather than 'broad casting', as these stations won't generally be receivable on a normal radio in Australia & New Zealand.

Although the band is 531–1701 kHz with 9kHz spacing like Europe there are a few low power stations above 1602 kHz for things like weather, traffic and tourist info.

I my experience of travelling in and around NSW, car radios stop at 1602 and like everywhere else in the world folks aren't buying new AM radios, it's FM and DAB all the way.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2025, 0757 UTC by europirate »
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