Why are the TV towers where they are?

[troyriley]

All of the TV, and most radio towers for that matter, are located in the same general area... about 5 miles north of downtown near Shorewood a couple miles from the lake. The elevation for the towers ranges from about 610-640 feet above sea level. This location means (for a non-directional station) that about half of it's signal is being broadcast to the fish in Lake Michigan, although some people along Michigan's shore with a good antenna and favorable conditions can receive the stations.

To me, a more ideal location would be directly west of the city, perhaps near Waukesha, where the elevation is roughly 850 feet, give or take. The same height tower a station has over by the lake would extend the coverage in each direction, with a little less "wasted" signal over the lake.

I guess this thought came from Fox 6's new antenna being mounted on their tower north of downtown. They are installing a new antenna on the top of the tower, gaining a little height from the old digital antenna a hundred or so feet lower. They would have already had twice the improved height if their tower had been on higher ground to the west.

That's just my random logical thought for today.

[budda]

Cuz,.Well all the big sticks in Shorewood are from years ago. Based on what you have said sounds like you think they just put them up? They use the towers because of height and equipment locations. As well as the property. But I guess each station could move every tower to the west buy new land ya da ya da. that is just not going to happen. Anolog towers where built when not much as far as people were west north or south. JMO{fart}

[troyriley]

No, I realize most of them were put up years ago, with the exception of CBS 58. They had an opportunity to erect their tower in a more ideal location. They did, fortunately, put up a taller tower than the other stations.

[techboy]

It has to do with the FAA and the airport runway landing patterns.  Ch 4 put up the first tower on Capitol drive in the 50's.  That locked up that area long before the airport expanded.  After that, the others ended up close by because they could get FAA approval without much hassle.  Ch 6 originally had a tower on Port Washington road near the county line.  And of course ch 19/18 transmitted from downtown for decades.  New UHF antennas can be directional, and I know for sure Ch28/4 is patterned to suck in over the lake so as to not to waste signal there.

[wxndave]

One has to remember that when these towers were built the viewing population was on the east end.  We are lucky in this market that all the towers are in the same area.  Once you point your antenna at the farm you should get most of the stations.  

Moving any of these stations west would cause real problems.  The channel assignments for the markets around us would limit how many channels would be available in Waukesha.  The FCC uses a 120 Miles spacing between stations on the same channel.  You move 25 miles west and now you run into problems with other markets.  If they could move, they would have to run less power and become more directional.  Which means a station would lose coverage.

[AA9VI]

Madison isn't that far west either.  It's good to not have too much overlap of the stations coverage patterns to preserve market areas, advertising, etc.  If you look at the Milwaukee antenna patterns many stations have this cardiod-sorta looking thing that has most north to south gain and some on the west with little over the lake.

But I get your point.  The area is not high, it's almost in a hole and the county or city has some regulations keeping the tower heights low.  West of town may get them up another 100', they'd be able to have higher towers, and have better coverage.

There's also that issue of adjacent channel interference.  The antennas have to be REAL close for that not to be an issue, ironically enough.  WITI, WISN, WMVT are on 33, 34, and 35.  They are almost tied in that location for that reason.  Chicago has a similar issue with their stations' antennas being on the Sears with adjacent channels.

[John L]

As for coverage going out to Lake Michigan, it isn't being wasted. There are some fancy boats and ships that have TVs on them and people on those boats do watch TV.

-John L.

[troyriley]

As for coverage going out to Lake Michigan, it isn't being wasted. There are some fancy boats and ships that have TVs on them and people on those boats do watch TV.

-John L.

However, if the towers were west of the city on higher ground, the extra height would compensate for the distance away from the lake. The fish and the few boaters out there would still be able to watch TV, either from Milwaukee, or from Grand Rapids.

[John L]

However, if the towers were west of the city on higher ground, the extra height would compensate for the distance away from the lake. The fish and the few boaters out there would still be able to watch TV, either from Milwaukee, or from Grand Rapids.

Fish watch TV???  I suppose if they do they would watch Fishing shows so they can learn to know what is bait vs food and be taught to look for anything that might have a metal hook and line connected to it to learn to stay away from something like that and go and teach them in thier schools.

Its no wonder why fish aren't biting like they used to.


-John L.