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WDTV translator in Harrisonburg VA in analog days?

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IM42A

Does anyone know if WDTV Weston (Clarksburg) WV ever had a translator in Harrisonburg (or possibly Staunton) VA during the analog era? I have a memory, and I don't think it is a false one, of seeing one listed in the translators section of Television Factbook, but it is not in any of the copies that are on the World Radio History site. I have seen many a TVFB in my day, and not all of them are on WRH.

At first it seems kind of counter-intuitive, but not really, as Clarksburg is roughly the same distance from Harrisonburg as Richmond, Washington, and Roanoke, and some Richmond stations had translators in Harrisonburg back in the day. It is certainly over more challenging terrain for a signal to be rebroadcast than Richmond is, but with sufficient height and finding a sweet spot, it would probably be by no means impossible. If KSBY San Luis Obispo CA could get a signal into Esmeralda and Nye counties in Nevada back in the analog days, Clarksburg to Harrisonburg would be a piece of cake by comparison.
 
It's also worth noting that Harrisonburg is close to several counties in West Virginia, such as Pendleton, Grant, and Hardy, and those counties would surely benefit from West Virginia news available OTA (WDTV was carried on cable in Franklin). Such a translator would have acted as infill for CBS in Harrisonburg, and would very likely have been receivable via knife-edge propagation in Franklin, Petersburg, and Moorefield, so it would have been a win-win for everyone. Any TV or radio transmitter in that area is subject to National Radio Quiet Zone restrictions, and a translator placed just right could have gotten around those restrictions.
 
IIRC didn't either WDTV and or WBOY or both, use an OTA antenna to pick up network feeds in the mid 1980's. I remember seeing the Channel 7 Wheeling logo in the right hand lower corner of one of them. Once the switch guy missrd a cue and I watched Wheeling commercials. What really surprised me is why they didn't get network feeds from a satellite dish. Many homeowners could afford them.
 
secondchoice said:
IIRC didn't either WDTV and or WBOY or both, use an OTA antenna to pick up network feeds in the mid 1980's. I remember seeing the Channel 7 Wheeling logo in the right hand lower corner of one of them. Once the switch guy missrd a cue and I watched Wheeling commercials. What really surprised me is why they didn't get network feeds from a satellite dish. Many homeowners could afford them.
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I do not know. I do know that WSVA (now WHSV) Harrisonburg got its ABC programming from WMAL (now WJLA) Washington, I'm assuming OTA, and would occasionally miss the cue and air their station ID. WKYH (now WYMT) Hazard KY got its NBC programming from either WCYB Bristol or WLEX Lexington and had the same problem. WYMT is now a well-oiled machine, a semi-satellite of WKYT Lexington, and is absolutely professional in every respect.
 
I have a recording of 'Black Fox' taped off KGWL-5 Lander WY (satellite of KGWC Casper), and after their ID, a brief KGWN Cheyenne ID could be seen in one local break. The 1995 western miniseries starred Christopher Reeve. Albeit, they seemed to be a de-facto simulcast of KGWN with syndicated programming at the same times (there's a promo on the tape for Love Connection at 11am weekdays on KGWC...and KSTF/KGWN also aired Chuck's show at the same time). Much like KIMA, KEPR and KLEW in a way.

The factbook had some interesting translator listings. There was a channel 10 at Lake Wenatchee (Coles Corner), WA that relayed KAPP-35 Yakima. I don't know how they pulled THAT off. The Enchantments (Mt. Stuart, etc.) are completely in the way of the KAPP signal, unless KAPP somehow knife-edged over Mt. Stuart and hopped into that area. And strangely, the other translators there (a channel 8 and a channel 12) relayed Spokane TV, and a vast majority of the translators in Chelan County relayed the Spokane stations. Even the unincorporated communities of Winton and Merritt, just east of Stevens Pass, got two Spokane stations via translators on ch 3 and ch 5 (160 miles east).
 


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