WMVT-DT Tower Work

[wxndave]

Starting today if the weather holds,  channel 35 will be off the air for 7-10 days due to antenna work being done.  All other station transmitting from the top of the tower are going to off the air during the daytime work.  10&36 analog will transmit from the old tower location during this work.  Channel 8 will be turned back on once the tower crew is off the top level of the tower.  This will also affect Ch 61, 25 and 40 during tower work period only.  Ch 35 is the only station that will stay off the air for the duration.  The crew has to move some antennas around on top of the tower and has to disconnect the ch 35 feedline.

MPTV HD will be on TWC the entire time.

Dave

[StarvingForHDTV]

Thanks for the head's up on this.

[GBK]

Looks like with the deadline approaching will have some outages coming up between all of the various stations trying to make the timelines.

[Richard H.]

I don't understand your post about channel 35 and channel 8. I receive my HD OTA. What over the air channels are affected? Currently I have no 36.1.

Thanks

[wxndave]

While the tower crew is working on the top of the tower there cannot be any DTV or Analog stations on air.   Channel 35 and 36 are off from this location due to a needed adjustment in antenna position.   This move requires the the crew to disconnect these antennas before any adjustments can be made.  This will occur during the daylight hours before 8am-7pm.  Ch 35 has to have parts shipped out and that will take up to a week before they might get them back and installed.   When they tell me more I will post additional information.  This project has nothing to do with the July 1st  full power deadline.  

Any other questions about this project please feel free to ask and I will see if I can get the answers.

Thanks
Dave

[kevbeck122]

I don't understand your post about channel 35 and channel 8. I receive my HD OTA. What over the air channels are affected? Currently I have no 36.1.

Thanks

Channel 35 = 36.1
Channel 8 = 10.1

[tazman]

I should have checked here first instead of getting pissed at my OTA box and rescanning 3 times and finding no PBS digital channels.  Good thing I have an FTA setup so I can still watch all the PBS stuff including PBS HD and Montana PBS. :bang:  :blush:

[wxndave]

Thurday should not see an outage of  55-1, 18-1, 24-1 and 10-all.   Work will resume friday.  

Dave

[lowatt]

Thanks for the info, I was wondering were 36-1,18-2,24-1,55-1 and 10-1 were!
18 and 24 do come back sometimes, but all are out again today. I had gone as far as checking cable connections, but then luckily, checked this forum.

When I have time, I will add a second antenna to get Madison channels, I currently get all Milwauke channels (30 miles away) and hopefully will get Madison channels (50 miles) when I aim an antenna that direction. My Samusung 26" has 2 antenna inputs so will be easy to switch.  

How much luck do people have with OTA from 50 miles away? I have rooftop UHF directional antennas, the Zenith with 6 elements works great, but will by a Radio Shack UHF with about twice that many elements.

[N9RGX]

How much luck do people have with OTA from 50 miles away? I have rooftop UHF directional antennas, the Zenith with 6 elements works great, but will by a Radio Shack UHF with about twice that many elements.

I have a bravo tuner. I am in Racine about 2 miles from the lake at about 640 feet AMSL. I have a 50 foot rise about a block away in every direction. The antenna is some old log periodic pointed north for Milwaukee and also a UHF corner reflector at about 25 feet above ground.

Chcago Stations (65-85 miles away from me)

9.1 (19D) Always
44.1 (45D) Always
50.1 (51D) Always
7.1 (52D) Often
5.1 (29D) Sometimes
11.1 (47D) Sometimes

I don't have an easy way to see signal strength on my tuner.

It really depends on the troposphere. If a thunderstorm is just south of Chicago I get more, often many analogs in MI and IN too.  If there's a thunderstorm between me and Chicago all could atleast pixilate.

There must be a very persistant duct al the way along the lakeshore. I must say that where I am is pretty good for TV considering. I have line of sight to nothing and the horizon is a block away in every direction. I am amazed that I can get TV at all.

My Milwaukee stations are 4.1, 10.1, 12.1, 24.1, 36.1 & 55.1.  I am also sure glad I looked here as I was shocked to see all my cheannels gone. I already knew about 10 & 36 as I found it on their webpage -but I didn't know the others would go too! I don't have cable and it was a shock to look at my TV and find there were 2 stations!

[jfelbab]

...How much luck do people have with OTA from 50 miles away? I have rooftop UHF directional antennas, the Zenith with 6 elements works great, but will by a Radio Shack UHF with about twice that many elements.

I'd pass on the Radio Shack and get a Channel Master 4228 for more signal strength.  I bought mine locally for around $40. This is arguibly the best UHF antenna in the market today.  It is a 30" x 40" x 6" array. It is also very effective in the VHF-Hi band as well.

[wxndave]

All the tower work is done for Ch 36 & 35.  They finished Sunday afternoon and tested over night monday morning.   At this point there should not be any other outages scheduled for this tower.  

Dave

[StarvingForHDTV]

That's good to hear.  It was fairly quick too.  Thanks for the update.

[pretzelkid]

How much luck do people have with OTA from 50 miles away? I have rooftop UHF directional antennas, the Zenith with 6 elements works great, but will by a Radio Shack UHF with about twice that many elements.

I'm 52 miles from Milwaukee, 55 miles from Madison and 72 miles from Chicago and receive Milwaukee and Madison channels equally well and even Fox 6 is coming in better since their move to the big antenna and once they boost power I expect them to come in just fine.
I have a 55 ft Rohn tower with a Winegard 7084 combo antenna with pre-amp and rotor. I'm sure the height helps but even when I had just a roof tripod and a big RatShack combo antenna and pre-amp I was able to get Milwaukee and Madison channels pretty easily although that was pre-digital days.
My reception of chicago stations is much more difficult due to geography...being close to the lake and the land rising southeast of me and lots of mature trees in the way. Summer has made it worse (leaves on the trees and higher humidities) but I can still get UPN 50 and NBC 5 pretty well and recently seeing more of FOX32 since their power boost.

So yes...50 miles is very doable and 2 or 3 degrees difference in the Madison towers shouldn't be a problem with a fixed antenna

[lowatt]

That Channel Master is rated for 60 miles, while the yagi type I was looking at is only 40 miles, so I will go with the better one, it's logical for a 1 time expenditure to get the better one.  

I'm not an engineer, but just lengthening the row of directional elements on the antenna doesn't seem like it would help much for a better signal, but when I see that 8 bay bow-tie, with all those additional dipoles to receive the signal, that looks like it will do a better job. I assume the wire mesh is to block interference coming in the back of the antenna.

It's too hot to go up on the roof right now, but later in the summer or when it is cool out, I will put it up and give it a test. There is plenty of room on the chimney for a second antenna. That antenna website is great for giving the exact best direction for the antenna based on street address.

Is it necessary to use a ground wire? I don't have one for the first antenna, but if I put up a second, maybe they should both be grounded.

It's good channel 36-1 is back, "Great Lodges of the Canadian Rockies" had some great scenery!