Bushwalk Australia

Thinking a radio for weather forecasts would make day to day planning on the SW coast walk easier. Can anyone recommend a radio, frequencies and broadcast times if it is worth it . Thanks
fitz

ABC radio Hobart on 936 am would be the best frequency. Some weather details would generally follow the news (mostly on the hour) but someone else may be able to suggest the time of most detailed forecasts. (I'm in Northern Tas so it's probably different down there).
Another suggestion: some rellies did the Western Arthurs recently and accessed weather info on the net via their mobiles. Not sure about SW track though.
Check this forum's topic "Mobile Phone Coverage - Tasmania".
They also took an old Radio Shack Realistic am-fm radio which apparently worked quite well. Sometimes the older radios work better than the newer ones!

ABC radio is the best option. It depends on the day of the week (eg weekends are different) - but i think just before the news at 6am there is a full "call of the card" - ie the whole weather forecast is read out - eg district forecasts, outlook etc. I think this may be on radio national. The local ABC radio has limited forecasts with the news - but they tend to talk to one of the forecasters at the bureau around 6:35am and 7:15am (these times can vary) and this can give you a good idea of the forecasts for the next few days. High up - eg on the Western Arthurs - FM reception is excellent (and much better than AM reception). In some parts of Tasmania - the ABC stations are broadcast on the FM band as well as the AM band. ABC FM - does have local news and a detailed forecast on one of their news bulletins (I think it is the 7am news) - all the other news bulletins are national ones with city temperatures every now and then.

On the South Coast - I would think reception would be pretty crappy - perhaps only AM during the evening. But then on the coast - bad weather is not that bad compared to the mountains.

Dave

http://www.abc.net.au/reception/freq/tas.htm will give you all the frequencies. Hobart RN is still on AM, but maybe some of the West Coast FM stations can be heard further South.

Deep in the south-west I have found the best reception to get a weather report is around dawn - yes just before and after 6am on the abc is the go as they go around the state (most days - yes weekends even the weather goes on holiday!). Apart from the inland reports the weather for the fishermen for the west coast is also very useful as well. As the sun gets higher static increases quickly - yes we try both AM and FM. In the evening, there is so much static its almost impossible to hear until sunset but in summer thats so late that they are no longer giving detailed weather for each area. In the late evening getting Hobart and Launceston weather only is pretty useless. We use a one battery Sony radio - not the cheapest model but picks up stations much better than the real cheapies do.

Regards
John Chapman

Thank you, just the info I was after.
Fitz

The most detailed weather report I have heard on the ABC is broadcast at 12:35 pm in the Country Hour, week days.
One Friday they had someone from the bureau on who gave an excellent report - just what they should do leading up to the weekend.
So I phoned them (ABC) to congratulate them on such a detailed report for a Friday and suggested they make it a regular feature.
If more people commented on / suggested a more detailed weather report on Fridays in the country hour at 12:35, they might actually do it...

s the weather for the fishermen for the west coast is also very useful as well.

And the freq, days and times for this is?

Depends where you are in the state ABC Local radio
Hobart - pretty strong transmitter am 936
Then there is Northern Tasmania
Launceston fm 91.7 They do a good weather report at about 0635 & 0735 weekdays.
Also lots of repeaters around the north of the state. Not sure what you can pick up on the West Coast.

Roger

Here is a link to the Tasmanian ABC frequencies (both TV and Radio)

http://www.abc.net.au/reception/freq/tas.htm

I have been all through the ABC site and found the freq stuff and looked at their little maps.

And no mention of any fishing weather reports???

The program information on the ABC web pages is next to useless. Who cares who is talking (the ABC appears to be focused on the cult of personality rather than content?), what topic (weather) are they going to talk about when (a time) is the useful stuff. I did telephone the ABC a couple of years ago after having the same frustration with their web pages then and they said they really did not know when the weather call would be made each day until it was done and I should listen all morning from 6.00am onwards to find out. Luckily I was over 1000km away and could not walk down the studio and throttle the chap for being such an idiot. True he may have been telling the truth but what sort of service to the community is that?

Previous SW wanders have found JJJ as noted by other posters above to provide good signal but their weather info is a little brief.

I have been able to listen the cricket during the night to keep up with the Ashes series being played in England at the time on an AM freq. But I do remember it wandering off to static now and then. Not enough to be a bother.

grump, grump, grump...

Wander

perhaps a call to BOM direct might be more illuminating. Generally they are a much more user friendly crowd and I'm sure they must have some sort of schedule for their on air bulletins - or perhaps have a better suggestion.

Hobart contact numbers are Tel: (03) 6221 2000 Fax: (03) 6221 2045

john r

Called BOM as suggested (thanks muchly jcr_au) and their info was they do a Country Hour Cross after the 12.30pm news on local ABC radio and this includes the coastal waters (ie fishing) and districts forecasts and this woudl be the most complete forecast they do.

The only downer with this is I already know the ABC 936am broadcast is pretty rough during the day as noted by others above, or was that in another thread or in another forum? Anyhow I'll give it a go.

Migh try and keep an ear out for the Maydeena and Strahn local radio on the FM band as well.

What type of radio will you be using. For remote area camping (with the patrol to carry the weight) I've got a degen radio which has pretty good reception, but also weighs 450 gms with batteries and 10m aerial

Another option could be to take a sat phone and get a friend to look up the bom website & ring thru the forecast


john r

jcr_au wrote:l

Another option could be to take a sat phone and get a friend to look up the bom website & ring thru the forecast


john r

Expensive way to get a forecast.....

I have a mp3 player size am/fm radio which weighs about 50grams......