Correction - Imparja has the most coverage throughout rural and outback
Australia, not in the cities.

Di wrote:
We did a trip through the Northern Territory late last year via
caravan, using a tv with a standard definition tuner. Digital tv was
only available in Darwin, analogue everywhere else within towns. The
station that has the most coverage through the Territory, and in fact
throughout Australia, is called Imparja. They used to broadcast
Neighbours because of their affliliation with Channel 10 from
Queensland. However that association was discontinued last year
(2008) and I don't know whether they even get Neighbours now. I
never saw the show the whole 2 months we were away. Mind you, my
husband, King of the Remotes, would have clicked past it at high
speed if he had seen it g I tried checking the IMparja guide for you
but there is no
information on the program, whether this is due to it no longer being
carried by them, or due to the fact all the channels haven't started
the 2009 seasons of such shows tand don't, till late January or early
February.

Frank Slootweg wrote:
John H wrote:
Hi Frank,
Well,
Firstly re the analogue side of that device....is it compatibale
with Australian Pal system, or for US NTSC system.
(I cant determine where you are located), thus may not or will not
work in Aust if not PAL analogue tuner.
From their website I cant work out if the device is multi system
accessible/selectable or not. ie PAL, & NTSC etc

Thanks for that! I'm from The Netherlands and we also have PAL (like
the rest of the *civilized* world! :-)). The website was Pinnacle's
general UK site, but I will buy the device in The Netherlands, so it
should be OK, but I will check the outside of the package and if it's
unclear I will let them note that I can return it if it's non-PAL.

re Rural areas.
Most have reasonable analogue, but not all, without a High antenna
system as transmitters can be up to 100Kms from where you are.
Some have digital access from transmitters that also are a long way
from where you are.

eg I have a son on a farm 350Kms Sth East from Adelaide in Sth Aust.
and they get local transmitter of analogue about 80kms away with a
40ft mast plus antenna boosters otherwise only get local translator
abou 52Kms away.

Their Digital channels are also coming from the 100Km distant
transmitters, but fade in and out in day and work reasonably at
night with the 40ft mast and antenna boosters.
So what level of signal you would get with a USB or similar receiver
into a PC remains to be seen and will greatly depend upon where you
are in the regional area(s).

Re outback.
Most outback places have just about zero signal for ordinary
terrestial TV unless thay have a satellite dish and get signal from
satellite, which has the free to air stations re-transmitted on
them. So the whole situation could/would be very hit & miss.

Around major cities there should be no problem, but that isnt where
you appear to be going.

My wife isn't going to like it one bit, me putting a 40 feet mast
and electronics in our bags, but heh, *you* said it, not me! :-)

But all kidding aside: Thanks very much for your detailed
information!

I'll see how we go. After all, it's only a small device to take
along, not very expensive and it might be fun to play with on these
cold days (it's minus 10 degrees C here)!

Thanks again.