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FCC TV Channel Repack and the Radio Impact

WSOC-TV already has their new channel 19 antenna on site, as pics were posted on another technical forum. However, WSOC-FM 103.7 no longer shares the same WSOC-TV Channel 9 tower, so there should be no radio impact there.

While 107.9-WLNK shares the WBTV tower, WBTV is the only Charlotte TV station not changing channels. So there should be no impact regarding 107.9, unless at some point Entercom decides to upgrade their current Shively antenna. It was installed in 2005, and has more of a null to the west than their previous antenna, which was more omnidirectional. I would like to see them boost their signals west of Gastonia once again, as they are now more subject to interference.

There are no radio stations broadcasting from the WCNC TV tower, so no changes there. So the WJZY tower is the only site where radio stations may be impacted by the TV repack, as best as I can determine.
 
Alright something going on today. Perhaps technical problem or repack work. Because 95.1 and 97.9 radio stations are off the air or very reduced power. No signal here in Spartanburg County, Monday afternoon 6-17. And WJZY FOX-46 is also very reduced power, and TV signal is dropping out. But 96.1 radio signal remains on the air full power. All these radio stations transmit from the WJZY TV tower, owned by FOX. Perhaps radio stations must power down as repack work is done on the tower, as WJZY will move its new transmission antenna to the top of the tower in August. But they may have to run new transmission cable ahead of time. Or some other technical problem.
 
tylerSC said:
Alright something going on today. Perhaps technical problem or repack work. Because 95.1 and 97.9 radio stations are off the air or very reduced power. No signal here in Spartanburg County, Monday afternoon 6-17. And WJZY FOX-46 is also very reduced power, and TV signal is dropping out. But 96.1 radio signal remains on the air full power. All these radio stations transmit from the WJZY TV tower, owned by FOX. Perhaps radio stations must power down as repack work is done on the tower, as WJZY will move its new transmission antenna to the top of the tower in August. But they may have to run new transmission cable ahead of time. Or some other technical problem.
Click to expand...

Problem now fixed after 5pm. All radio stations and WJZY back to full power. Don't know if it was just a tech problem or preliminary repack work on the tower for WJZY.
 
tylerSC said:
Problem now fixed after 5pm. All radio stations and WJZY back to full power. Don't know if it was just a tech problem or preliminary repack work on the tower for WJZY.
Click to expand...

Must be tower work going on. Problem return today WJZY low power and no signal 95.1 .
 
WJZY tower

tylerSC said:
Must be tower work going on. Problem return today WJZY low power and no signal 95.1 .
Click to expand...

I receive email from WJZY confirming tower work has indeed begun on the tower. As a result, the radio and TV signals are at reduced power as the workers prepare to install a powerful new transmitter and antenna for WJZY. While the workers are on the tower, the radio stations must power down. They may be using backup transmitters. Meanwhile WJZY will place a new channel 25 antenna on top of the tower resulting in a stronger signal in the fringe areas. Don't know if 95.1 or 96.1 will move their antennas higher on the tower since the old 47 and 39 antennas for WJZY and WMYT may be moved. Remains to be seen.
 
Did they provide an ETA on when the tower work would be complete? I noticed 95.1 and 96.1's HD Radio Signals are not on as of noon today.

Steve.

tylerSC said:
I receive email from WJZY confirming tower work has indeed begun on the tower. As a result, the radio and TV signals are at reduced power as the workers prepare to install a powerful new transmitter and antenna for WJZY. While the workers are on the tower, the radio stations must power down. They may be using backup transmitters. Meanwhile WJZY will place a new channel 25 antenna on top of the tower resulting in a stronger signal in the fringe areas. Don't know if 95.1 or 96.1 will move their antennas higher on the tower since the old 47 and 39 antennas for WJZY and WMYT may be moved. Remains to be seen.
Click to expand...
 
Steve.Gates said:
Did they provide an ETA on when the tower work would be complete? I noticed 95.1 and 96.1's HD Radio Signals are not on as of noon today.

Steve.
Click to expand...

No. They said during the coming weeks WJZY would be reduced power as they prepare new antenna on the tower. They said new transmitter and antenna come September. But today June 30th no signal on WJZY, 95.1, and 96.1 in Spartanburg County. So work must be underway again.

But I wonder if 95.1 and 96.1 will move or upgrade their antennas on the tower while work is being done for WJZY. Or they stay the same?
 
95.1 and 96.1 down again today, along with WJZY. And apparently the new antenna for WJZY was placed by helicopter on top of the tower over the weekend, according to a photo on another forum. So apparently the major work now would be running new transmission cable up the tower for WJZY, and the radio stations must power down while work is being done. Don't know if any of the radio stations will move or upgrade their antennas at this time. But back on the air Monday evening.
 
The HD Signals on 95.1 and 96.1 and now coming up properly, at least over my way. Couldn't get a lock on them before. So this looks like progress.

tylerSC said:
95.1 and 96.1 down again today, along with WJZY. And apparently the new antenna for WJZY was placed by helicopter on top of the tower over the weekend, according to a photo on another forum. So apparently the major work now would be running new transmission cable up the tower for WJZY, and the radio stations must power down while work is being done. Don't know if any of the radio stations will move or upgrade their antennas at this time. But back on the air Monday evening.
Click to expand...
 
I'm glad I didn't get an antenna to replace cable but I'm still not certain what will happen to Charlotte stations with all the trees and that's why I haven't tried it.

For ABC programming, which is all that really matters, WXLV would get the job done. It is the most dependable station with the antenna I have and probably wouldn't give me any trouble.

But on both WSOC and WAXN I have been getting crawls warning people watching over the air that they might have problems because of the repack. They don't call it that but I know that's what it is.
 
test123 said:
WSOC-FM and WKQC are on the old WCNC-TV tower on Hood Rd.

I understand that Beasley made an upgrade to the backup system they have for their stations at the WFNZ site. I am guessing WNKS and WPEG will have to work from there while the work is being done at WJZY.

IHeart has a back up site for their stations on the tower on Stuart Andrew where the WSOC-FM studios were located. I guess WRFX could work from there. Not sure about WFAE.

t123
Click to expand...

Since WFNZ is now owned by Entercom, where does that leave ownership of the site on Radio Road? Beasley or Entercom or possibly even a third party? In this day you never know.

These days with frequency agile transmitters they can probably coordinate something. After all they can't do all the work at once, there are simply not enough tower crews to do all the necessary work. This is not work for ordinary people!
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Since WFNZ is now owned by Entercom, where does that leave ownership of the site on Radio Road? Beasley or Entercom or possibly even a third party? In this day you never know.

These days with frequency agile transmitters they can probably coordinate something. After all they can't do all the work at once, there are simply not enough tower crews to do all the necessary work. This is not work for ordinary people!
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure the Radio Road site is owned by Entercom. Beasley leases space on the tall tower for their backup setup. They may be able to combine more than one station into the antenna.

You are exactly right about the work not being for ordinary people. There are only so many heavy lift crews in the entire country.

t123
 
Last night I watched an hour-long special on the 70 years of WBTV. They showed close-up views of the Spencer Mountain tower several times. Is that still used? It's a great-looking tower.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Last night I watched an hour-long special on the 70 years of WBTV. They showed close-up views of the Spencer Mountain tower several times. Is that still used? It's a great-looking tower.
Click to expand...

The tower site on Spencer Mountain is still used although the FAA made them remove a good bit of the top section after WBTV moved to Dallas. WLNK has a backup transmitter there and WXL-70 Weather Radio is there along with some Ham stuff I think.

I don't think WBTV has a transmitter there.

t123
 
Repack underway

FCC repack has begun for TV channels, but WJZY is delayed until Sept. 11 due to UNC-TV delay because of Hurricane Dorian. WCNC new signal now much better to the western fringes and Upstate SC, although they may be on temporary antenna. No perceived changes to radio signals on WJZY tower.
 
The Charlotte Observer used to do an excellent job covering TV and radio. That's one reason I got so interested in the subject. Since Mark Washburn retired, they've ben pretty much limited to what Brooke Cain says, except she talks about Raleigh and some of the things she said were wrong when put in the Observer, such as "Jeopardy!" and NBC programming getting bumped to late night be the ACC Tournament. And lately there hasn't even been that, since most of that news was on the page with TV listings, which are now only in the supplement you have to buy separately. The TV stations have been telling us to rescan, but I don't think the newspaper has printed a single word about it.
 
WJZY repack issues

tylerSC said:
FCC repack has begun for TV channels, but WJZY is delayed until Sept. 11 due to UNC-TV delay because of Hurricane Dorian. WCNC new signal now much better to the western fringes and Upstate SC, although they may be on temporary antenna. No perceived changes to radio signals on WJZY tower.
Click to expand...

Update: Some technical problems remain on the WJZY FOX-46 tower, and it may be related to the radio stations on the tower as well. Apparently there is some sort of electrical arching problem, and WJZY is currently at reduced power until the problem can be corrected. Due to 95.1, 96.1, and 97.9 sharing the tower with FOX-46, the various transmitters and transmission cables must be wired appropriately to support all the full power broadcast stations. Apparently some technical problems remain to be resolved so WJZY can return to full power. But their new repack antenna placed on top of the tall tower does project a strong signal into Spartanburg County, despite reduced power.

The radio stations 95.1, 96.1, and 97.9 do not appear to be affected or reducing power. And apparently they have not moved higher on the tower or changed antennas while the WJZY repack work was done, but I have no confirmed information on that. And it is also unclear if the old Channel 55 analog or digital antennas remain side mounted on the tower, as WMYT signed off RF39 and combined the signal with WJZY on RF25.

And next year FOX TV plans to sell WJZY FOX-46 to Nexstar, pending FCC approval. Too early to tell if the radio station leases on the tower will be allowed to expire or be renewed, but no changes are necessarily expected. Remains to be seen. Nexstar also owns WSPA channel 7 in Spartanburg, WNCN channel 17 in Raleigh, and recently acquired WGHP FOX-8 in Greensboro.
 
WCNC channel 36, NBC Charlotte has also repacked to RF24 with a new top mounted antenna on their Dallas tower. But the directional antenna has more of a null to the west than WBTV or WJZY, so the signal is weaker in Spartanburg but I can still receive it reliably. But it would have been better if they had chosen an omnidirectional transmission pattern like their old analog 36 signal. WBTV and WJZY are stronger to the west of Gastonia and Shelby.

Have not heard of WCNC leasing space on their tower to any radio stations or upcoming plans.
 
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