Australasian television frequencies - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

What led to the differences

What are the important underlining circumstances that led to the different allocations?

Universally the VHF low band channels of (0), 1, 2, and 3 were allocated on an ad-hoc basis in Australia and NZ without any trans-Tasman coordination.
Australia decided against adopting the 405 line system, and indirectly forbade its experimental transmission in the VHF band until the 625 line system could be launched.
Only after AU-VHF-6 was allocated did NZ adopt the same VHF high band allocations as Australia.
There never have been any ongoing attempts at coordination of TV allocations in Australasia until the 1990s.
Australia adopted 7 MHz channel spacing (PAL B) on UHF as the 8 MHz allocation associated with later versions of PAL and SECAM had not emerged.
New Zealand considered using 405 lines
405-line
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting....

for television, but adopted 7 MHz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

625 lines
576i
576i is a standard-definition video mode used in PAL and SECAM countries. In digital applications it is usually referred to as "576i", in analogue contexts it is often quoted as "625 lines"...

on both the VHF low band and high band. New Zealand's initial choice of frequencies in the VHF range (CH: 1, 2, 3) was done on an ad-hoc basis. The ad-hoc allocations in the VHF low band immediately led to substantial discrepancies with Australia's VHF TV service allocation for channels allocated before AU-VHF-6.
The NZ 405 line allocation principal only affects NZ VHF CH1, CH2 and CH3.
Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

all adopted 8 MHz channel spacing (PAL G) on UHF more or less in unison due to their later adoption of PAL.

The important differences

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

evolved different TV frequency allocations for historically different reasons

Both Australia and New Zealand use 7 MHz channel spacing (PAL B) on VHF, but the frequencies and channel numbers differ even more substantially now because of Australia revising its VHF TV band usage.
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

adopted Zweiton stereo, and NZ adopted NICAM
NICAM
Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks...

stereo.
For analog PAL service the only difference is the placement of the NICAM
NICAM
Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks...

carrier vs the Zweiton carrier, for broadcasters using NICAM
NICAM
Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks...

. NZ however uses its own special NICAM offset that is not used in Europe, while Australia's Zweiton service is unchanged.
The Australian spectrum regulator, the ACMA made a mistake in the 1960s when it was allocating television frequencies. There is an allocation for a UHF(?) channel that is 6 MHz, when it should be 8 MHz. For analogue television a 6 MHz allocation in an 8 MHz band is relatively harmless. This smaller allocation only created minor planning headaches for broadcasters and regulators. However for digital television it appears that the frequency will have to normalized to 8 MHz or allocated to other uses like Radio Astronomy.

Important similarities

Except for a channel offset factor for Australia: Australia, NZ, Fiji and PNG have the same UHF band allocation for TV broadcasting.

Australia

Channel obsolescence related to DVB-T transition

With the introduction of Digital Television in Australia VHF channels 6-12 and UHF 28-69 will become primary.

Modified channels (2001–2004)

With the introduction of digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

into Australia in 2001, VHF (Band III) channels 10 and 11 were moved up by 1 MHz.
- This allocation change allowed a full 7 MHz for a new channel (9A).
- VHF channel 12 was added following the new channel 11 to compensate for the change.

Obsolete channels (2011–2013)

VHF (Band I & II) channels 0-2 and 5A will cease to be used for television when analogue television broadcasting ceases.
Channels 0, 1 and 2 will be specifically be phased out as they are not suitable for digital television due to Radio Frequency Interference issues.
Television broadcasts on channels 3, 4, and 5 were discontinued in most regional areas in 1991 and 1992. Since the frequencies for these channels overlapped the range used for FM radio, any television broadcasts on these channels prevented the allocation of new FM radio licences, predominantly in regional areas.

Other impacts

VHF Low Band DX using ITU TV Band (I) and part of Band (III) from NZ may disappear with the transition to DVB-T.

NZ

Channel obsolescence issued related to DVB-T transition

Channels 1, 2, and 3 may be made obsolete with the adoption of DVB-T, but this may not occur until 2015.
VHF Low Band DX to and from Australia may disappear with the transition to DVB-T.

Australasian region VHF low band obsolescence issues

In some parts of the world, like Europe, the VHF TV band is used by other services because UHF has propagation qualities that are better suited for densely populated urban centres and regions.

Why VHF will remain in use in Australasia for TV broadcasting

NZ will keep using the VHF band, as VHF has propagation characteristics that allow it to serve large regions with modest power requirements.
However some of the NZ and Australian VHF low band channels [(0 Australia only)), 1, 2, 3] and [4, 5A Australia only] may be reallocated to bring the region into line with a more common VHF high band allocation scheme.
Due to similar economics of broadcasting in rural Australia, it is expected that the VHF high band (above 5A) will remain in use with no appreciable changes.
With the introduction of Digital Television in Australia (using channels VHF 6-12 and UHF 28-69), VHF channels 0-5A will cease to be used for television when analogue television broadcasting ceases.

Channel numbering issues

Currently neither Australia

Australia

, New Zealand

New Zealand

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

nor Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

intend to normalize the numbers in the channel frequency table.

VHF Frequency allocation table

DVB-T channel allocation note

The allocation for terrestrial television must be seen in terms of uniform 7 MHz blocks after the cessation of analogue television (with a 250 kHz guardband).
After analogue television transmissions have ceased, only the preferred main carrier wave centre frequency should be listed as DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...

embeds both audio and video into one datastream.

{| valign="top"
|-valign="top"
|
{| class="toccolours" border="1" style="text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse"
|+VHF (Australia

Australia

)
! width="50" align="right" |Channel
!Video (MHz)!!Audio (MHz)
|-
|0||46.25||51.75
|-
|1||57.25||62.75
|-
|2||64.25||69.75
|-
|3||86.25||91.75
|-
|4||95.25||100.75
|-
|5||102.25||107.75
|-
|5A||138.25||143.75
|-
|6||175.25||180.75
|-
|7||182.25||187.75
|-
|8||189.25||194.75
|-
|9||196.25||201.75
|-
|9A||203.25||208.75
|-
|10||210.25||215.75
|-
|11||217.25||222.75
|-
|12||224.25||229.75
|} Australia note: with the coming of Digital Television, channels 0 to 5A will be reallocated to other uses.

Australian channel 12 was discontinued decades ago but is being reintroduced with digital television, generally for the ABC

ABC Television

ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....

.
{| class="toccolours" border="1" style="text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse"
|+VHF (New Zealand

New Zealand

)
! width="50" align="right" |Channel
!Video (MHz)!!Audio (MHz)
|-
|*1||45.25||50.75
|-
|*2||55.25||60.75
|-
|*3||62.25||67.75
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
|#4|| 175.25||180.75
|-
|#5||182.25||187.75
|-
|#6||189.25||194.75
|-
|#7||196.25||201.75
|-
|#8||203.25||208.75
|-
|#9||210.25||215.75
|-
|#10||217.25||222.75
|-
|#11||224.25||229.75
|}

(*) Not part of the Australian VHF allocation table at all, a "unique to NZ" frequency allocation.
(#) Offset from the Australian VHF allocation table by -2 channel units, starting at base channel AU-VHF-6.

UHF Frequency allocation table

DVB-T channel allocation note

The allocation for terrestrial television must be seen in terms of uniform 8 MHz blocks (for NZ) and 7 MHz blocks (for Australia) after the cessation of analogue television.
DVB-T and PAL utilize a 250 kHz guardband.
After analogue television transmissions have ceased, only the preferred main carrier wave centre frequency should be listed as DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...

embeds both audio and video into one datastream.

{| class="toccolours" border="1" style="text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse"
|+UHF (Australia

Australia

)
! width="50" align="right" |Channel
!Video (MHz)!!Audio (MHz)
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
|28||527.25||532.75
|-
|29||534.25||539.75
|-
|30||541.25||546.75
|-
|31||548.25||553.75
|-
|32||555.25||560.75
|-
|33||562.25||567.75
|-
|34||569.25||574.75
|-
|35||576.25||581.75
|-
|36||583.25||588.75
|-
|37||590.25||595.75
|-
|38||597.25||602.75
|-
|39||604.25||609.75
|-
|40||611.25||616.75
|-
|41||618.25||623.75
|-
|42||625.25||630.75
|-
|43||632.25||637.75
|-
|44||639.25||644.75
|-
|45||646.25||651.75
|-
|46||653.25||658.75
|-
|47||660.25||665.75
|-
|48||667.25||672.75
|-
|49||674.25||679.75
|-
|50||681.25||686.75
|-
|51||688.25||693.75
|-
|52||695.25||700.75
|-
|53||702.25||707.75
|-
|54||709.25||714.75
|-
|55||716.25||721.75
|-
|56||723.25||728.75
|-
|57||730.25||735.75
|-
|58||737.25||742.75
|-
|59||744.25||749.75
|-
|60||751.25||756.75
|-
|61||758.25||763.75
|-
|62||765.25||770.75
|-
|63||772.25||777.75
|-
|64||779.25||784.75
|-
|65||786.25||791.75
|-
|66||793.25||798.75
|-
|67||800.25||805.75
|-
|68||807.25||812.75
|-
|69||814.25||819.75
|}
{| class="toccolours" border="1" style="text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse"
|+UHF (NZ

New Zealand

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

)
! width="50" align="right" |Channel
!Video (MHz)!!Audio (MHz)
|-
|25||503.25||508.75
|-
|26||511.25||516.75
|-
|27||519.25||524.75
|-
|28||527.25||532.75
|-
|29||535.25||540.75
|-
|30||543.25||548.75
|-
|31||551.25||556.75
|-
|32||559.25||564.75
|-
|33||567.25||572.75
|-
|34||575.25||580.75
|-
|35||583.25||588.75
|-
|36||591.25||596.75
|-
|37||599.25||602.75
|-
|38||607.25||612.75
|-
|39||615.25||620.75
|-
|40||623.25||628.75
|-
|41||631.25||636.75
|-
|42||639.25||644.75
|-
|43||647.25||652.75
|-
|44||655.25||660.75
|-
|45||663.25||668.75
|-
|46||671.25||676.75
|-
|47||679.25||684.75
|-
|48||687.25||692.75
|-
|49||695.25||700.75
|-
|50||703.25||708.75
|-
|51||711.25||716.75
|-
|52||719.25||724.75
|-
|53||727.25||732.75
|-
|54||735.25||740.75
|-
|55||743.25||748.75
|-
|56||751.25||756.75
|-
|57||759.25||764.75
|-
|58||767.25||772.75
|-
|59||775.25||780.75
|-
|60||783.25||788.75
|-
|61||791.25||796.75
|-
|62||799.25||804.75
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
|}

Current Australian Channel Allocation by State/Territory as at 2011

The following tables demonstrate the number of frequency allocations in each state an territory of Australia. It is interesting to note the reduction in allocation to the VHF Low band - Channel 2 remains in high use in most State Capitals as the original frequency allocation of the ABC (now ABC1). A number of channel allocations have been transferred from Chs 3,4 & 5 since the introduction of commecial FM radio broadcasting in Australia. These allocations are likely to change considerably over the coming years as more and more stations convert their remote repeater stations to digital.
Analogue Channel Allocation

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:200px; height:200px" border="1"
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Channel
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|ACT
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|NSW
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|NT
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|QLD
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|SA
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|TAS
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|VIC
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|WA
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Nationwide
|-
|-
|0||||4||||1||||||||||5
|-
|1||||4||||2||||||||||6
|-
|2||||7||||6||1||1||1||2||18
|-
|3||||4||||1||||||||2||7
|-
|4||||||||||||1||||||1
|-
|5||||||||||||||||1||1
|-
|5A||||4||||6||||||||2||12
|-
|6||||11||3||19||1||3||||17||54
|-
|7||1||6||4||14||3||2||2||13||45
|-
|8||||8||6||27||4||5||||23||73
|-
|9||1||8||4||17||3||1||2||16||52
|-
|9A||||||1||1||||||||4||6
|-
|10||||14||4||19||5||2||2||18||64
|-
|11||||8||4||13||||5||||16||46
|-
|12||||1||||||1||||||3||5
|-
|28||1||8||3||3||2||3||1||7||28
|-
|29||||4||||7||1||1||||7||20
|-
|30||||9||1||7||1||1||||2||21
|-
|31||1||7||1||3||1||4||1||6||24
|-
|32||||7||||8||2||2||1||5||25
|-
|33||||9||||10||1||4||||2||26
|-
|34||1||5||2||5||1||3||||5||22
|-
|35||||3||||8||||2||||4||17
|-
|36||||2||||2||||||||3||7
|-
|37||||1||||2||||2||||2||7
|-
|38||||1||||||||1||||3||5
|-
|39||||12||||10||2||3||1||||28
|-
|40||1||5||1||7||||4||||7||25
|-
|41||||11||||9||||1||||1||22
|-
|42||||12||1||5||2||3||1||3||27
|-
|43||1||7||1||8||2||6||||5||30
|-
|44||||10||||7||||1||||12||30
|-
|45||||9||1||7||2||2||1||4||26
|-
|46||1||12||2||13||2||6||1||6||43
|-
|47||||10||1||5||||4||||1||21
|-
|48||||6||1||8||2||2||1||3||23
|-
|49||1||9||1||12||2||4||4||5||38
|-
|50||||9||2||6||||3||||2||22
|-
|51||||2||2||10||2||2||1||2||21
|-
|52||1||18||1||18||4||5||6||4||57
|-
|53||1||11||3||17||7||11||||7||57
|-
|54||1||11||5||21||4||9||||9||60
|-
|55||1||38||4||30||5||10||5||7||100
|-
|56||1||19||9||24||7||13||6||13||92
|-
|57||||17||29||31||7||12||3||28||127
|-
|58||1||36||9||35||6||8||6||27||128
|-
|59||||18||10||35||8||9||7||27||114
|-
|60||1||26||40||56||14||8||2||54||201
|-
|61||1||31||8||35||5||8||5||23||116
|-
|62||||19||10||35||11||11||6||28||120
|-
|63||1||32||43||58||22||9||3||56||224
|-
|64||1||32||7||34||4||1||3||20||102
|-
|65||||17||13||32||11||||6||22||101
|-
|66||1||34||46||65||29||||3||55||233
|-
|67||1||20||7||19||3||||1||17||68
|-
|68||||9||11||20||3||||6||14||63
|-
|69||1||22||37||53||17||||3||41||174
|-
|Total||22||659||338||906||210||198||91||666||3090
|-
|
|}
Digital Channel Allocation

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:200px; height:200px" border="1"
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Channel
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|ACT
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|NSW
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|NT
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|QLD
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|SA
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|TAS
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|VIC
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|WA
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|Nationwide
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
| |||||||||||||||||
|-
|-
|6||1||4||2||6||2||||3||7||25
|-
|7||||5||||7||1||1||3||9||26
|-
|8||||3||2||6||3||1||3||5||23
|-
|9||||5||||3||||1||1||9||19
|-
|9A||1||4||||4||||2||3||5||19
|-
|10||||4||||4||||1||2||1||12
|-
|11||1||5||||7||3||1||3||7||27
|-
|12||1||6||||7||2||||5||4||25
|-
|28||||3||||3||||||7||2||15
|-
|29||||6||1||3||||1||5||4||20
|-
|30||1||9||1||2||2||||3||||18
|-
|31||||5||1||2||1||2||5||2||18
|-
|32||||6||1||2||1||1||4||2||17
|-
|33||||7||1||2||3||||5||||18
|-
|34||||10||||4||3||1||7||2||27
|-
|35||||4||||3||2||1||1||||11
|-
|36||||7||||14||1||6||5||1||34
|-
|37||||11||||5||1||7||11||||35
|-
|38||||7||||5||2||2||3||1||20
|-
|39||||1||||3||5||5||2||||16
|-
|40||||10||1||6||4||6||7||1||35
|-
|41||||5||||5||2||3||9||2||26
|-
|42||||2||||12||1||3||3||2||23
|-
|43||||7||||13||1||3||8||1||33
|-
|44||||2||||3||3||2||7||||17
|-
|45||||5||||7||2||6||4||3||27
|-
|46||||6||||12||1||2||8||||29
|-
|47||||2||||10||4||4||4||1||25
|-
|48||||7||||8||2||3||5||1||26
|-
|49||||3||||13||1||||4||1||22
|-
|50||||3||||8||1||2||10||||24
|-
|51||||7||||7||1||1||17||||33
|-
|52||||5||||10||4||2||7||2||30
|-
|53||||11||||14||5||2||18||4||54
|-
|54||||5||||15||1||3||12||1||37
|-
|55||||12||||12||6||3||12||4||49
|-
|56||||14||||25||1||2||10||5||57
|-
|57||2||4||||18||2||2||10||1||39
|-
|58||||10||||10||6||4||11||3||44
|-
|59||2||18||||18||2||1||10||3||54
|-
|60||||5||||14||1||4||14||1||39
|-
|61||||15||||11||4||2||11||||43
|-
|62||1||15||||20||2||1||10||2||51
|-
|63||||7||||15||||3||13||||38
|-
|64||||10||||10||2||5||15||||42
|-
|65||1||15||||17||1||11||10||3||58
|-
|66||||4||||12||3||3||11||||33
|-
|67||||9||||8||||1||18||1||37
|-
|68||1||7||||15||||1||9||1||34
|-
|69||||||||3||||||10||||13
|-
|Total||12||337||10||443||95||118||378||104||1497
|-
|
|}

External links

New Zealand

Australia

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.