we spent a night in Lee MA last week. The cable system had a station from Hartford Ch 3, Boston Ch 5, Springfield Holyoke 22-57, Adams 19, and the usual suspects from Albany. I imagine that most people can receive only 1 digital OTA, maybe 2 or 3 if they live on a hilltop (in Lee and in many areas of the Berkshires) so this is one area where it really makes sense to have cable..And a lot of choices for the evening news.
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A pretty nice Cable system!
- Thread starter vibe
- Start date
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necrat123
Guest
vibe said:
Two corrections. They actually carry channel 3 from Springfield, the "sister" to WFSB, it was placed on the cable system about two years ago.
There are no more Hartford affiliates on the system. (Despite the fact a good number of people who subscribe to the system work in Connecticut.)
Also they don't carry WCDC-TV from Adams, but rather the primary, WTEN out of Albany. They receive all the Albany stations (6, 10, 13, 17, 23, 45, 55) via the fiber interconnect in Albany, and that plant carries the 10 signal not 19's. The Springfield stations (3, 22, 57), Boston's 5, NECN and NESN are all received via fiber from Comcast now.
What is funny about the plant is, if you have digital cable, you can watch both NECN and Time Warner's Your News Now out of Albany. They also have NY1 on the digital lineup.
Before Time Warner took over the Adelphia system , they carried 19. That changed when TW took over the system. I am guessing the channel lineup card you had was an old one.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
At least to the SSW toward here in Poughkeepsie, NY, the WCDC signal is poor. As a DTV DXer, I have received WCDC only once in the past year or more, and that was a few weeks ago on July 11th. I usually get WNJU-47 from New York City (Digital channel 36) here 24/7 with a solid dependable signal. I am exactly half-way between WCDC and WNJU, and usually can't get WCDC at all even with a good directional antenna.
WCDC duplicates WTEN, including the subchannel 19.2, which is a weather channel, that displays the WTEN and WCDC call letters continuously.
Screen shots of my DTV DX, including WCDC-19, can be seen at my flickr site, indicated below.
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necrat123
Guest
WCDC-DT's antenna is side mounted on that big beefy self supporting tower they have. The antenna is facing due north-north-east on the tower. (For the record, the WAMC FM's antenna is on the south-south west side of the tower).
WCDC's old analog was a flame thrower, the digital certanly is not, at least not until they top mount it.
WCDC's old analog was a flame thrower, the digital certanly is not, at least not until they top mount it.
I can add that in Rutland Ma at least 60 mi OTA from Mt. Greylock, one could get Ch 19 with a 99 cent UHF loop antenna with a near city grade signal. Not quite but eminently watchable. With a rotator, 19 was perfect. i remember because i could get the high quality ABC's out of boston, prov-new bedford, manchester nh, springfield ma as well as poor but watchable pictures on both ch 8's (new haven and mt. wash) and of course from mt greylock.
but that was then....
But Lee MA must have real poor OTA reception and this is one area where cable is really needed.
but that was then....
But Lee MA must have real poor OTA reception and this is one area where cable is really needed.
RBW said:
I did catch a very rare non-simulcast WCDC-TV (Channel 19) overnight test back in 1977. Apparently, they were doing some maintenance on Mt Greylock that early Monday morning around 3:00 AM. WTEN was not on the air, but WCDC was with color bars and visual ID's (with WTEN/10 and WCDC/19) and the voice of late George Leighton ("The Voice of God") saying "WCDC-TV Channel 19, Adams, Massachusetts" (with NO WTEN!). No doubt George's dual station ID's were edited to only include WCDC during this test. Other than that, WTEN and WCDC have been full-time sisters since the 50's.
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necrat123
Guest
Reception in Lee is a very quirky thing. Lee is a fairly large town in square milage with some pretty decent sized hills that run both around and through it. The center of town is in a low spot surrounded by terrain but the neighborhoods just west of downtown do sit in a rise. That rise was a decent spot for reception of both Albany and Hartford. Springfield, despite what TVFool says is an absolute no show in Lee. There is a spine of Mountains that runs north from the Connecticut border to Washington, MA., that are higher than the highest point in the Springfield area (Mt Tom). It's unusual, back in the analog days of TV, I was able to see WWLP analog 22, in North Adams without much effort, yet in Great Barrington, almost 15 miles closer, it was completley terrain shielded. For years there were only two really soldily reliable signals in the market, WRGB 6 and WCDC 19. You will find in Lee, that the FM dial you can hear the Springfield area's three strongest FMs without much trouble (WFCR, WHYN-FM and WAQY). Great Barrington (which is on the same system) is a much different story. There are basically two sides to town, and depending on which side you lived on, determined what you received, and none of it was reliable. That cable system is actually part of the oldest cable system in Massachusetts. The system was originally only in Great Barrington and went under the name High Fidelity cable. And if the name sounds familiar, it was funded and run by the same people who ran High Fidelity Magazine (which was based in GB.) When the cable system was built, the headend tower was constructed (and still stands) on the top of Warner Mountain where the Butternut Basin ski area is. The tower, which is 150 feet tall, is on top of a hill which stands almost 2000 feet above mean sea level. Needless to say, the receive site is nothing short than amazing.
They used to carry WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX on the cable system from New York City, and they received them over the air using a pair of cut yagi antennas only 90 feet up the tower! (Later on, when they decided to carry WCVB, the head end guys simply turned the WNYW TV antenna due east and picked up WCVB over the air from Boston.). The amazing thing was the original pickup of WSBK was also over the air using two tuned UHF parabolic dishes. This would later be switched to a Microwave feed around the same time HBO was carried, as the two used the same microwave paths. The cable system used to also have a broadband FM carriage too. So whatever they received on Warner, you received at home. Imagine a non directional antenna, 2,100 feet above sea level with NO nearby FM transmitters. To say the reception was amazing. They switched to a "remodulated" FM system, where they had 20 RCA FM modulators that drifted like a son of a gun, but still carried stations they could receive. They had one on 98.3 for WTRY (I believe WSHZ) out of Troy. It wasn't unusual to hear WDAQ, WHAI or WSUL on it! They had another one for 105.1 for WBBS (local FM in GB), which used to sign off at 11pm every night. There was one night, WBBS signed off, and WWLI out of Providence was in so strong, I thought WBBS had gone 24 hours! Now a days, Time Warner has yanked the FM plant. (Although Adelphia might have).
They used to carry WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX on the cable system from New York City, and they received them over the air using a pair of cut yagi antennas only 90 feet up the tower! (Later on, when they decided to carry WCVB, the head end guys simply turned the WNYW TV antenna due east and picked up WCVB over the air from Boston.). The amazing thing was the original pickup of WSBK was also over the air using two tuned UHF parabolic dishes. This would later be switched to a Microwave feed around the same time HBO was carried, as the two used the same microwave paths. The cable system used to also have a broadband FM carriage too. So whatever they received on Warner, you received at home. Imagine a non directional antenna, 2,100 feet above sea level with NO nearby FM transmitters. To say the reception was amazing. They switched to a "remodulated" FM system, where they had 20 RCA FM modulators that drifted like a son of a gun, but still carried stations they could receive. They had one on 98.3 for WTRY (I believe WSHZ) out of Troy. It wasn't unusual to hear WDAQ, WHAI or WSUL on it! They had another one for 105.1 for WBBS (local FM in GB), which used to sign off at 11pm every night. There was one night, WBBS signed off, and WWLI out of Providence was in so strong, I thought WBBS had gone 24 hours! Now a days, Time Warner has yanked the FM plant. (Although Adelphia might have).
Necrat said:
Oh, how I loved that broadband FM plant they used to have back in the 70's. I was a recent transfer to Great Barrington in the fall of '77. I missed the FM stations I used to get back OTA in Randolph, MA (some 150 miles away). When the Berkshire Cable TV people installed the service in November of '77, I was sad to see that no Boston TV stations were not present at the time. There were plans to add WRLP-TV Channel 32 in Greenfield to get Bruins Hockey and Red Sox Baseball from WSBK-TV. Those plans were quickly doused big-time when the word came that Springfield Television (owners of WWLP and WRLP) would be turning in the license of Channel 32 effective in April, 1978. Channel 32 would not be added after all. Eventually Bruins and Red Sox games would be carried on the system via WSBK-TV sent on microwave in May of '78.
Now the best part. What I didn't know at the time (until I figured it out a couple months later) was that the cable system had an FM service which carried almost ALL of the Boston FM's as well as many NYC FM's and of course the Albany FM's as well. They simply had a folded dipole on the mast, complete with the usual amplifier stage. When the trops would come in, BOY it was a DX'ers paradise! Imagine hearing WBEN-FM in Buffalo like a local! Many of the Montreal FM'ers like CBM-FM/93.5, CBF-FM/100.7, were present at times. It all depended upon the conditions. Hearing my old friend WROR/98.5 from Boston ("The Golden Great 98!") coming in way out there in clean Stereo made my day. Wolfman Jack never sounded better! And hearing WCAV/97.7 from Brockton at times was a treat. (Little did I know that I would join that station as an employee, some 4 years later!). I don't know why the system switched from a great broadband set-up to a re-constituted one with 20 pre-set modulators and nothing else? Having the best DX set-up anywhere from a tower five miles away on top of a mountain was the BEST! Having a fairly selective receiver at home, didn't hurt either!
I always thought the berkshires were a little different, a little more innovative than the rest of MA. That cable system in GB was WAY ahead of it's time and probably worth every earthy crunchie dollar.Just kidding.
With the vagarities of digital, I'm not sure that the Greylock DTV 19, could be received in most of Lee. Of course one could find a hot spot somewhere w/ an indoor antenna but watching dancing with the stars in the bathroom or attic might not be one's definition of entertainment.
With the vagarities of digital, I'm not sure that the Greylock DTV 19, could be received in most of Lee. Of course one could find a hot spot somewhere w/ an indoor antenna but watching dancing with the stars in the bathroom or attic might not be one's definition of entertainment.
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