Resent Article on the THE GYMPIE TIMES:

Jim’s Antenna Gympie – Tim says different TV reception problems require different solutions.
Tanya Easterby

Channelling challenge for Gympie residents

By: Arthur Gorrie on 20th March 2013, 5:00am

DESPITE continuous technological “improvements,” regional television reception seems to keep getting worse.

The closure of the old analogue services broadcast from Gympie’s north has been accompanied by sometimes problematic digital reception.

And that will be followed on May 28 by a similar closure of analogue broadcasting in the region from Gympie to the Gold coast.

To quote one Mary Valley resident: “We seem to be regressing, but that’s what we call progress these days.”

From non-existent reception in black spot areas like Kilkivan and Wolvi to intermittent performance in many hilly or forested areas, it sometimes seems everyone is complaining about their TV reception.

Kilkivan resident and deputy mayor Tony Perrett says many areas across the Gympie Region have “marginal TV signal.”

“We’ve got satellite in Kilkivan and that solves a lot of problems,” he said, referring to the federal government’s $375 million-plus satellite system, available to people with nil reception.

“Digital in Kilkivan predominantly comes from Bundaberg, when we could get it at all.

“On our cattle property, which is to the north, the service comes from Toowoomba and sometimes the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg.

“Our satellite comes from the Northern Territory – it’s clear and reliable, but not local, so you don’t get local news.”

Mayor Ron Dyne says Channel 9 was “always the dicey one” when he lived at Lower Wonga.

“We had to have two aerials, one for signal from Toowoomba and one for Channel 9.”

At the Cooloola Coast, problems are sometimes caused by signals from different re-transmission sites “cancelling each other out,” according to Gympie Jim’s Antennas franchisee Tim Mathison

He was adjusting a phased antenna on a Gympie rooftop, after having just installed a satellite receiver at Wolvi, where there was no signal. Similar problems are experienced at Cedar Pocket, Kin Kin, Widgee “and Curra can have problems,” as well as Kilkivan.

Different problems require different solutions, he says. Sometimes you need all the signal you can get and sometimes you need a more directional antenna to find the signal you want.

Who would have thought it could be so simple?