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KOMO-TV Digital....Movin' on up

S

swhyde1980

From what it looks like, KOMO-TV has put in an application to move their digital antenna higher up...presumably to the top of the tower, from the current side-mounted antenna on their tower on Queen Anne Hill.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=21656

I'm wondering if more of this is going to take place soon with the digital transition?  TV stations bringing down their analog antennas from top-mounted locations, and re-locating the digital antennas to the top of the tower?  Probably a good time for some people to go out and take pictures of these operations, being that the 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 22's towers are in an urban area.  Be interesting to see how each TV station does these operations, either by using a jin pole or by helicopter.

KBTC-TV has already done something similiar (digital on top of the tower, analog side-mounted), but with their digital and analog channels co-located, all they'd probably did was is swap feedlines from the transmitters to the antennas.  The Queen Anne Hill/Capital Hill stations have a more complex task at hand.
 
They need to do a LOT. There's still BIG gaps in their primary digital signal areas that I don't even think a HAAT increase on their towers will help because of where they are located.

KCPQ-TV, which by where it's tower is located (Gold Mountain) is by FAR the best OTA DTV signal in Seattle and can be seen from Olympia to Vancouver, BC. They could use more power though for better signal penetration.....
 
Bongwater said:
They need to do a LOT. There's still BIG gaps in their primary digital signal areas that I don't even think a HAAT increase on their towers will help because of where they are located.

KCPQ-TV, which by where it's tower is located (Gold Mountain) is by FAR the best OTA DTV signal in Seattle and can be seen from Olympia to Vancouver, BC. They could use more power though for better signal penetration.....
Click to expand...

What about over-the-air viewership in oh...Bellevue, Kirkland, Bothell, Issaquah and pretty much anywhere East of I-5? So that is by far the best signal in Seattle? Oh that's right Bong, as long as it's seen in Bellinghole, then it's the best!
 
TVradioguru said:
Bongwater said:
They need to do a LOT. There's still BIG gaps in their primary digital signal areas that I don't even think a HAAT increase on their towers will help because of where they are located.

KCPQ-TV, which by where it's tower is located (Gold Mountain) is by FAR the best OTA DTV signal in Seattle and can be seen from Olympia to Vancouver, BC. They could use more power though for better signal penetration.....
Click to expand...

What about over-the-air viewership in oh...Bellevue, Kirkland, Bothell, Issaquah and pretty much anywhere East of I-5? So that is by far the best signal in Seattle? Oh that's right Bong, as long as it's seen in Bellinghole, then it's the best!
Click to expand...

Please grow up......
 
This thread was not even about coverage area! (yes we know DTV coverage areas suck right now...I'm sure that will improve after the transition). It was about, going out to watch tower climbers and workers removing analog antennas and replacing them with digital ones...sheeesh!! Let's stay on track with that conversation!
 
Growing up in Olympia, my parents got cable sometime in the late '70s, so I guess I haven't had to think about over the air reception for most of my life. It always amazes me the amount of people still with antennas (antennae?). Oh, I live in Bellinghole too. ;D
 
TVradioguru said:
placebo1969 said:
Oh, I live in Bellinghole too. ;D
Click to expand...

That explains a great deal! Two experts both from the same dive town.
Click to expand...

Why are you so jaded over Bellingham, Guru? Have you even BEEN to Bellingham? It's ANYTHING but a "dive town".

SHEESH! Lighten up! 8)
 
Bellingham is a pretty special place. I don't get the "dive town" reference at all.
 
IndigoCoyote said:
Bellingham is a pretty special place. I don't get the "dive town" reference at all.
Click to expand...

Well let's see.. The town is built over a toxic waste dump, in fact a great deal of the area is a superfund site. Other than the college, what else is there for young people to do? They roll up the streets at night. The downtown area is a bunch of old abandoned buildings from the 1940 industrial era. The only newsworthy thing that happened to Bellinghole was then a gas line blew up.
 
TVradioguru said:
IndigoCoyote said:
Bellingham is a pretty special place. I don't get the "dive town" reference at all.
Click to expand...

Well let's see.. The town is built over a toxic waste dump, in fact a great deal of the area is a superfund site. Other than the college, what else is there for young people to do? They roll up the streets at night. The downtown area is a bunch of old abandoned buildings from the 1940 industrial era. The only newsworthy thing that happened to Bellinghole was then a gas line blew up.
Click to expand...

WHAT???

Where did YOU hear this?........

You've OBVIOUSLY have never been to Bellingham......
 
OK.....so I decided to REALLY take a look around at my current (as well as former) stomping grounds (I spent a lot of time here in my youth.) And Bellingham, is a hard town NOT to love.

Yes, Seattle radio signals do not come in well here. It was frustrating in my youth because at the time, Bellingham had automated KISM 92,9 (which had a ridiculously SLOW pitch problem back then) and KNWR 104.3 (which was normal pitch, but automated STILL.) Both stations overcame their old technical problems and found other means to make GREAT radio.

Bellingham FM radio is a problem that can be overcome today, better than it was in 1986. KPLZ and KJR-FM have some unknown repeaters that relay their signals along Samish Way, whereas in 1986, they were NOT. (They suddenly come in crystal clear there on their correct frequencies for whatever reason, especially at the corner of Samish and Maple, just right around the Mac's Motel area...) However, I don't see such luck with KIRO-FM 97.3 whereas KIRO-AM is almost as strong as a local.

But Bellingham itself? You just don't know ANYTHING......

Bellingham is one of the most vibrant towns I have EVER lived in today. You just don't move your family over a KNOWN toxic waste dump. Who the hell would? i wouldn't have lived there at ALL. Like I asked before, where did YOU hear THIS? I think there's a LOT of Green people in this town who would like to know.......

There's a lot of young people in this town, but they're our BIGGEST asset. They are creative, precocious and they sure as hell have better things to do on a Friday or Saturday night than just "roll up the streets at night." Those "old abandoned buildings from the 1940 industrial era" are NOT abandoned at all and have LOTS of CREATIVE uses today. Bellingham is NOT the town you imagine. It's a town that thinks outside of the box for the most part, It's not LYNNWOOD (most of the city has changed beyond recognition since 1989.)

Yes, the smell of Nag Champa is everywhere in Bellingham. But I'd rather deal with that than CAR EXHAUST.

No, seriously, come up here this weekend. Have yourself a nice Chuckwagon Ground Steak Special at The Horseshoe Cafe (it's my favorite and a super tasty French dip like sandwich and well worth the trip ITSELF.) and actually get out and meet some people here. You'd be surprised. Go visit some of those awesome record stores they have downtown - YEP! - They STILL have those here! See the LIVE music, take in the scenery, it SURE beats Mount Vernon. Or even BELLEVUE (which is what I think you got Bellingham confused with. Or maybe Aberdeen. Or Everett.)

Bellingham is a town people just fall in love with for whatever reason. It's just laid back, bohemian Bellingham. What can you say?...
 
I like Bellingham too, but I'm sorry to say the Guru may be somewhat correct. :p

Whatcom County and Bellingham in particular are on several environmental lists as highly polluted areas. Its actually quite easy to look up the information on-line. In a brief search, I managed to find several identified areas designated as superfund sites that are either scheduled for, or requiring clean-up:

Property occupied by the Oeser Company
Lake Whatcom
Boulevard Park
Iowa and Orleans
Humbolt
Marine Drive
Georgia Pacific sites
Reservation Road
Cornwall Ave.
Harris St.

For whatever reason, Bellingham also has an unusually high incidence of adult leukemia.

There are many more areas, this is just a summary.
 
Bongwater said:
Yes, Seattle radio signals do not come in well here. It was frustrating in my youth because at the time, Bellingham had automated KISM 92,9 (which had a ridiculously SLOW pitch problem back then) and KNWR 104.3 (which was normal pitch, but automated STILL.) Both stations overcame their old technical problems and found other means to make GREAT radio.
Click to expand...

A bit off-thread, but when I was in high school in southwest Tacoma at the end of the seventies and beginning of the eighties, both of those stations actually did come in pretty good -- I would suspect because their transmitter sites are on an island in the northern part of Puget Sound, and so their signals just shot down the sound with minimal obstruction, as long as you didn't live too far inland.

I actually enjoyed listening to KNWR quite a bit -- yeah, it was automated, but it was also a nicely uncluttered presentation of Top 40 music with limited advertising content (commercial breaks were never more than two minutes long, unlike on several of the Seattle/Tacoma Top 40 stations). As an added bonus...none of the annoying acne cream commercials ("Do you know where your next pimple is going to be...? ALL OVER YOUR FACE!...") ran on KNWR, and those were all over KNBQ, KTAC, and the other pop stations.

When I cam eback fro a visit and they'd flipped over to KAFE, "Your Soft Rock Cafe", I was disappointed.
 
HowardMBurgers said:
I like Bellingham too, but I'm sorry to say the Guru may be somewhat correct. :p

Whatcom County and Bellingham in particular are on several environmental lists as highly polluted areas. Its actually quite easy to look up the information on-line. In a brief search, I managed to find several identified areas designated as superfund sites that are either scheduled for, or requiring clean-up:

Property occupied by the Oeser Company
Lake Whatcom
Boulevard Park
Iowa and Orleans
Humbolt
Marine Drive
Georgia Pacific sites
Reservation Road
Cornwall Ave.
Harris St.

For whatever reason, Bellingham also has an unusually high incidence of adult leukemia.

There are many more areas, this is just a summary.
Click to expand...

But the town was not BUILT over a toxic waste dump. A lot of that came later. And Georgia-Pacific was the only real problem as far as I could see. Babies born here don't have any mutations as far as I know, or at least not as many as Guru would like us to believe.....

Tacoma and Everett have MUCH worse environmental problems than Bellingham. My wife pointed out later there are a few superfund sites here. But not nearly as many as other areas with larger populations. Seattle has more of them than Bellingham.....

There are hotspots all over the map where cancer rates are higher than others. There's other factors beyond environmental. But in relation to the population overall, Bellingham is pretty good......
 
Moving this thread back on topic...

I went to the Bite of Seattle and noticed the KIRO-TV tower was topless! I guess they were the first to remove the VHF mast, as KING was broadcasting the nightlight for a few weeks and KOMO has more important concerns recently.
 
AAllen said:
Moving this thread back on topic...

I went to the Bite of Seattle and noticed the KIRO-TV tower was topless! I guess they were the first to remove the VHF mast, as KING was broadcasting the nightlight for a few weeks and KOMO has more important concerns recently.
Click to expand...

It appears KIRO's work is complete.
http://www.kirotv.com/station/19968434/detail.html

I would love to see some pictures of this process though, if they hauled the antenna up the tower by cables, or if they used a helecopter? KBTC did this almost 2 years ago down at their Point Defiance transmitter site. Still wondering what the plans are for West Tiger, for 33, 45, 51, and 56? (Mr. Freinwald, where are you??), as well as 13 on Gold Mountain, and up on Capital Hill, for 9, 11, and 22...
 
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