00:02It's the sound ABC Radio Perth listeners have learnt to live with.
00:09And trust us, we've heard you.
00:12Heading north and south.
00:13It just drops out.
00:14And the quality is quite scratchy, it's quite crackly.
00:17So on February 23, ABC Radio Perth will move from 7.20am to 102.5fm in a once in a
00:26generation
00:26upgrade bringing clearer sound to more than two million people.
00:30The secret behind the quality of FM radio starts with what's in the ground.
00:36Ground waves need the soil to act a bit like a conductor and unfortunately for Perth, dry
00:41sandy soil is a terrible conductor.
00:43AM or amplitude modulation relies on signals travelling across the ground through an earth
00:48mat buried in the soil.
00:50FM or frequency modulation works very differently.
00:54Its transmitters sit high on ridges or towers, sending signals by line of sight.
01:00FM uses less power and doesn't depend on soil conditions.
01:05AM is also highly susceptible to interference.
01:09A challenge for AM radio that you may have noticed while driving along the freeway in Perth
01:13is our railway network.
01:15Those electrified train lines create interference, making listening to AM almost impossible.
01:22Here's what I mean.
01:23So Rockingham Beach claims, how often do you guys get together?
01:27Radio National will also switch to 103.3 FM and News Radio will be available on both
01:33585 AM and 104.1 FM.
01:37ABC Radio Perth and Radio National will simulcast on AM and FM for six weeks before their AM transmitters
01:45are switched off in April.
01:46AM will continue in regional WA exactly as it does today and emergency broadcasting remains fully protected.
01:54102.5 FM in ABC Radio Perth's 102nd year on air.
02:00is a working suceder that 1033 AM working in the 19th century, which means président light
02:03for the next day.
02:03You
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