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CKWS-The Sequel

J

jiminCT

Guest
I figured out the logic behind Utica picking up CKWS. I was up at the Utica Zoo and picked up a clear shot of CFLY-FM out of Kingston. There must be a CKWS good signal somewhere in the area. Just thought someone out there may get a kick out this finding.;)
 
That's not all that unbelievable. Not too far away from that, in Boonville, they sit on the edge of the Tug Hill plateau. I once bought a TV from some shop there (forget the name), but they told me they get off the air TV from Syracuse, Watertown, Utica, Binghamton and Schenectady. Probably Kingston, too.
 
oldschooler1 said:
That's not all that unbelievable. Not too far away from that, in Boonville, they sit on the edge of the Tug Hill plateau. I once bought a TV from some shop there (forget the name), but they told me they get off the air TV from Syracuse, Watertown, Utica, Binghamton and Schenectady. Probably Kingston, too.
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I'd like to know what setup they have. I live up here and we get nothing. Only station I've ever gotten OTA is WKTV in the middle of a blizzard.
 
As a former employee of WKTV (many, many, years ago) I have a little insight on this subject. If you are high atop Smith Hill, you'll see WKTV's original tower from their days of being on channel 13 is still there behind the building. On that tower you will see many antennas for both receiving and transmitting. Some have not been used in many years . Some are still active. Some of them I don't think anyone has any idea what they are for.
WKTV used to be co-owned by Harron Cable and their head end was located in the WKTV building. Harron used some of these antennas to recieve stations off the air, such as channels 3, 5, 9, & 24 in Syracuse and ocassionally some Albany stations. WUTR sent their signal across the street via an underground cable straight from their master control switcher. Now one of these antennas may have been used, at one time, to receive CKWS off air. It is possible. However, I believe CKWS was received thru Eastern Microwave same as WNEW, WPIX, & WOR. The people that would know about this for sure, I am afraid, are no longer among us. The people that I did work with, that are still with us, probably wouldn't know for sure and would be guessing about receiving CKWS off air back in the 50's, 60's and early 70's.
And by the way, the slogan "broadcasting high atop Smith Hill" had totally different meanings at WKTV and WUTR.
 
therealjm12 said:
However, I believe CKWS was received thru Eastern Microwave same as WNEW, WPIX, & WOR. The people that would know about this for sure, I am afraid, are no longer among us.
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There was a discussion here about CKWS back in the springtime and I knew there was discussion about microwave links there. I went back and found the previous thread, and sure enough -- it was there. Scott Fybush chimed in ( http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,95709.10.html ) because he was just back from the CKWS trip which was the focus of the Tower Site of the Week article... and an engineer at CKWS told him the station did not provide microwave or any other kind of link for US cable systems.

On the first page of that thread (the above link goes to page 2), you yourself, jiminCT, noted that the CKWS tower is on a "very flat Wolfe Island" and it's a very powerful signal. You also mentioned a website called tvfool.com which showed Utica-Rome to be on the very fringe of the CKWS coverage area.
 
BobRoss said:
There was a discussion here about CKWS back in the springtime and I knew there was discussion about microwave links there. I went back and found the previous thread, and sure enough -- it was there. Scott Fybush chimed in ( http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,95709.10.html ) because he was just back from the CKWS trip which was the focus of the Tower Site of the Week article... and an engineer at CKWS told him the station did not provide microwave or any other kind of link for US cable systems.
Click to expand...

That's correct - but it doesn't eliminate the possibility of EMI or another common carrier picking up CKWS off the air on this side of the border and microwaving it to Utica or wherever...

s
 
That is still an impressive signal shot, no? The areas in Lewis and Oneida county are fairly hilly too. Then again..WKTV in Utica can be picked up in Schenectady and even Stockbridge MA, so I guess nothing should be that surprising.
 
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