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Got a history of translators? How long have they been around?
- Thread starter ixnay
- Start date
Even Hartford/New Haven, the 29th largest market out of 210 markets today, had a couple. WVIT-TV (NBC) channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford, didn't always have the 3 million + watt signal and cable coverage they enjoy now. For a few years they operated channel 79 in Torrington (central Litchfield County) and, most importantly, W59AA channel 59 licesned to West Haven. By the mid-90s, that was shut off to make way for WCTX-TV (MY) channel 59 of New Haven. [Channel 59 started out with lower power and was known as WB affiliate WTVU-TV in 1995.]
Unlicensed TV boosters began popping up out west in the early and mid 1950's. These were usually a large antenna, an amplifier, and another antenna on the other side of a hill or mountain to re-radiate the signal on its original frequency. These were prone to oscillation (transmitted signal gets back into the receive antenna), and caused interference if you were in an area where the original and retransmitted signal overlapped.
The solution was to convert (or translate) the incoming signal to another frequency, and the FCC began licensing translators in the early 1960's. Originally, channels 70-83 were set aside for translators, but this specturm was lost to cellular services in the early 1980's. Now channels 52-69 are being cut from the TV spectrum. FM translators came along in the early 70's.
Most translators are in mountainous areas of the west and Appalachia or rural areas distant from nearby cities (Alaska, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.). I grew up in Ottumwa, Iowa, where we had translators for several of the Des Moines stations and public TV. Most of the time they were OK, but since they did pick their signals up off the air, there could be interference or sometimes a different station on the same frequency would be picked up and repeated.
Translators have gone away in some areas, etiher because of better coverage by TV stations (such as the example of WVIT above), availability of cable and satellite TV, or lack of financial support. Some translators are owned by the originating stations, but others are owned by non-profit groups, or local government.
The switch to digital is affecting the translator service. Some translators had to change channels or sign off to accomodate the additional frequencies assigned to full-power stations for digital signals. The translators themselves will have to switch to digital, although they are not bound by the 2009 deadline. The cost of conversion is likely to put some off the air.
There has been a lot of testing of digital translators in Utah, and there is some good news. With good line of sight, not a lot of power is needed for coverage, so some digital translators have better coverage than their analog counterparts. The higher quality signal also helps when translators are daisy chained (some communities received signals that had originated in Salt Lake City and were repeated 5 or 6 times).. Digital translators can either repeat the full bandwidth digital signal (including HDTV) or they can multiplex several stations in standard definition. Exisiting analog translators can be modified to use digital signals as the input.
Another plus for digital translators is the ability for channels to be remapped. So the translator viewer sees the station they know as channe 5 on their TV as channel 5, even though the signal is actually being received on channel 43.
The solution was to convert (or translate) the incoming signal to another frequency, and the FCC began licensing translators in the early 1960's. Originally, channels 70-83 were set aside for translators, but this specturm was lost to cellular services in the early 1980's. Now channels 52-69 are being cut from the TV spectrum. FM translators came along in the early 70's.
Most translators are in mountainous areas of the west and Appalachia or rural areas distant from nearby cities (Alaska, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.). I grew up in Ottumwa, Iowa, where we had translators for several of the Des Moines stations and public TV. Most of the time they were OK, but since they did pick their signals up off the air, there could be interference or sometimes a different station on the same frequency would be picked up and repeated.
Translators have gone away in some areas, etiher because of better coverage by TV stations (such as the example of WVIT above), availability of cable and satellite TV, or lack of financial support. Some translators are owned by the originating stations, but others are owned by non-profit groups, or local government.
The switch to digital is affecting the translator service. Some translators had to change channels or sign off to accomodate the additional frequencies assigned to full-power stations for digital signals. The translators themselves will have to switch to digital, although they are not bound by the 2009 deadline. The cost of conversion is likely to put some off the air.
There has been a lot of testing of digital translators in Utah, and there is some good news. With good line of sight, not a lot of power is needed for coverage, so some digital translators have better coverage than their analog counterparts. The higher quality signal also helps when translators are daisy chained (some communities received signals that had originated in Salt Lake City and were repeated 5 or 6 times).. Digital translators can either repeat the full bandwidth digital signal (including HDTV) or they can multiplex several stations in standard definition. Exisiting analog translators can be modified to use digital signals as the input.
Another plus for digital translators is the ability for channels to be remapped. So the translator viewer sees the station they know as channe 5 on their TV as channel 5, even though the signal is actually being received on channel 43.
WMC NBC 5 in Memphis used to have a translator on channel 9 in Dyersburg, TN, where I grew up. It went off some time in the 70's when cable really took off.
KAIT ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR had a translator on channel 11 in Blytheville, AR that was noted in TV Guide in the channel guide in the front of the schedules. I think it was on well into the 80's, but I'm not sure when it went off.
KAIT ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR had a translator on channel 11 in Blytheville, AR that was noted in TV Guide in the channel guide in the front of the schedules. I think it was on well into the 80's, but I'm not sure when it went off.
In Canada, because of the vast remote areas as one moves further away from the American border, low-power and high-power translators existed very early on, for both TV and AM radio. In particular, the CBC started installing what they called LPRTs (low-power radio transmitters) in the 1950s. For example, CBL in Toronto had 15 LPRTs in Northern Ontario by 1957, in communities as far away as Dryden. Others were located in communities such as Marathon, Chapleau, and White River.
On the TV side, there were several translators on the air by 1958, although I doubt any of them were extremely low powered. CJOX/10 in Argentia, Newfoundland rebroadcast CJON/6 in St. John's; CFCL/2 in Elk Lake and CFCL/3 in Kapuskasing rebroadcast CFCL/6 in Timmins, Ontario; CKSO/3 in Elliot Lake, Ontario rebroadcast CKSO/5 in Sudbury. And in Quebec, two translators in the 70-83 band were approved but not yet on air in 1958; those were CFCM/75 in Clermont, to rebroadcast CFCM/4 in Quebec City, and CJBR/70 in Estcourt, to rebroadcast CJBR/3 in Rimouski. When CHBC in Kelowna, BC went on the air, it already had two translators at Penticton and Vernon. In 1962 CHAB/4 in Moose Jaw added a translator CHRE/9 in Regina, and around the same time CKCK/2 in Regina had started its first translator at Colgate. Throughout the 1960s the CBC added translators throughout the country, some of which rebroadcast other stations on a delayed basis since they were too far from the originating station to rebroadcast directly. By the end of the 1960s, there were quite a number of translators in Central and Northern Ontario; CKVR/3 in Barrie had low-power translators in Huntsville, Parry Sound, and Haliburton; CHEX/12 in Peterborough had them in Minden and Bancroft; CFCL in Timmins had added more translators by then; CFCH/10 in North Bay had a translator CJTK/3 (no longer broadcasting) in Temiscaming, Quebec. And the CBC French network had a number of translators in Northern Ontario rebroadcasting CBOFT from Ottawa, in communities including Timmins, Sturgeon Falls, and Sudbury.
On the TV side, there were several translators on the air by 1958, although I doubt any of them were extremely low powered. CJOX/10 in Argentia, Newfoundland rebroadcast CJON/6 in St. John's; CFCL/2 in Elk Lake and CFCL/3 in Kapuskasing rebroadcast CFCL/6 in Timmins, Ontario; CKSO/3 in Elliot Lake, Ontario rebroadcast CKSO/5 in Sudbury. And in Quebec, two translators in the 70-83 band were approved but not yet on air in 1958; those were CFCM/75 in Clermont, to rebroadcast CFCM/4 in Quebec City, and CJBR/70 in Estcourt, to rebroadcast CJBR/3 in Rimouski. When CHBC in Kelowna, BC went on the air, it already had two translators at Penticton and Vernon. In 1962 CHAB/4 in Moose Jaw added a translator CHRE/9 in Regina, and around the same time CKCK/2 in Regina had started its first translator at Colgate. Throughout the 1960s the CBC added translators throughout the country, some of which rebroadcast other stations on a delayed basis since they were too far from the originating station to rebroadcast directly. By the end of the 1960s, there were quite a number of translators in Central and Northern Ontario; CKVR/3 in Barrie had low-power translators in Huntsville, Parry Sound, and Haliburton; CHEX/12 in Peterborough had them in Minden and Bancroft; CFCL in Timmins had added more translators by then; CFCH/10 in North Bay had a translator CJTK/3 (no longer broadcasting) in Temiscaming, Quebec. And the CBC French network had a number of translators in Northern Ontario rebroadcasting CBOFT from Ottawa, in communities including Timmins, Sturgeon Falls, and Sudbury.
Kentucky Educational Television used to maintain many translators, now they are down to three. http://www.ket.org/agency/visit/transmitters.htm
ixnay said:
RecNet (http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/fmq.php) doesn't show any - they're usually pretty reliable.
In looking at RECNet I found out that WREG CBS 3 in Memphis has a translator on channel 62 in Malden, MO, which is something I never knew before.
What was always fun were the translators that were unattended and ran 24/7 even when the intended parent station was off. I knew someone in South Florida who told me that the old WCIX translators used to be that way. Given the ideal location for tropospheric DX in the Gulf area, he said over the years when conditions were right, at one time or another he had seen these translators repeating channel 6's from Orlando, Tallahassee, Augusta, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, and even Cuba when WCIX was off.
Florida used to have a handful of translators in the 70-83 range before those channels were taken away from TV. Back when WINK-11 was the only station in the Ft. Myers area, there were a couple of translators each there and in Immokalee (all with channels in the 70's -- forget which, exactly) to bring ABC (WPLG-10) and NBC (WCKT-7) signals from Miami. There was also a ch. 70 translator in White Springs (near the Georgia border) that repeated WJKS-17 out of Jacksonville. That one could be seen easily -- it was in a small clearing along U.S. 441, maybe 20 or 30 yards from the roadside. The tower and antennas remained there for years, long after the translator went dark.
zman said:
LaSalle/Peru also had the old WEEQ, channel 35, which was a repeater of WEEK (NBC) in Peoria (originally on channel 43 until 1964, then 25 thereafter). Channel 35 in this area is WWTO (TBN).
When did all of these translators in LaSalle suspend operations, and did this result in at least part of LaSalle County being placed in the Peoria/Bloomington market for a while instead of Chicago? Also, I'm surprised there was never at least a translator for PBS in LaSalle/Peru (possibly a translator of WTVP-47 Peoria or WTTW-11 Chicago).
...when I was a teenager in the early '70s, both WBAY-TV/2 Green Bay and WISN-TV/12 Milwaukee were on translators in the Channel 70-79 range in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Both stations' VHF signals were easily enough tunable to begin with. CBS, to which both stations were affiliated, must have loved it ;-) ...
BRNout said:
Depends on the channel. If it's below channel 52 (and doesn't conflict with someone's digital channel) it will definitely be allowed to upgrade to digital. Many translators in Utah are upgrading, and more than a few in other states. On the other hand, many translators *aren't* converting and will indeed go away.
Regarding the translators in Fond du Lac, I managed to see the WISN translator in Madison once. It's the only station I've ever seen above channel 69. Some translators up there still have valid licenses (?!) (the FCC has approved the change of control of their licensees) though I STRONGLY suspect they're operating on STA below 70.
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