KVOS-TV's new proposed digital facility

[Stephen_TheMCO]

According to Northwest Broadcasters and the FCC, Newport Television has filed an application to move KVOS-DT 35 to a site just north of Granite Falls, 2 counties away in Snohomish County, from it's current home on Mt. Constitution in Whatcom County.  The coverage at this new site looks like will cover Seattle, Everett, Bremerton, and most of Tacoma easilly, while still serving it's COL in Bellingham, and all the way to the border. Sounds like one more move that could pave the way for a switch to a Telemundo or Telefutura affiliate, or a spanish independent.

Engineering Data:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=665691

Application:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...xt=25&appn=101258591&formid=301&fac_num=35862


Any thoughts?

 

[jensenbay]

FYI... Mt. Constitution is in San Juan county on Orcas Island. I was the only station we could get for years while living on San Juan island.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

FYI... Mt. Constitution is in San Juan county on Orcas Island.  I was the only station we could get for years while living on San Juan island.

Yes, my correction... San Juan County...LOL.  Still 2 counties away though.  I think there's some people that forget the San Juan Islands are their own county.  It's like one of the hidden counties of the whole state of Washington. (**blushing**)

 

[Bongwater]

FYI... Mt. Constitution is in San Juan county on Orcas Island. I was the only station we could get for years while living on San Juan island.

Yes, my correction... San Juan County...LOL. Still 2 counties away though. I think there's some people that forget the San Juan Islands are their own county. It's like one of the hidden counties of the whole state of Washington. (**blushing**)

Funny, Comcast digital cable in Skagit County (to this day) does not carry KVOS's DT signal (it also still lists FM radio Ch. 985 as KBSG.) KVOS-DT is one of the only TWO reliable over the air DT signals in Northwest Washington (and the only one barely worth watching. KBCB-DT, a ShopNBC mess is the other.)

With the new DT transmitter near Granite Falls, figuring in local topography, well, FORGET over the air reception in Bellingham proper anymore. The hills and ridges south of Bellingham are like a wall that blocks most Seattle FM-TV signals. KVOS-DT WON'T make it out of Granite Falls to Bellingham without a Bellingham translator.

And if there's a DTV station that cannot be seen in it's local COL, shouldn't KVOS just change their COL to Granite Falls?

The possible Spanish flip for KVOS is something most longtime Bellinghamsters are still unaware of and a move to Granite Falls on top of it is something they may not ready to hear. But KVOS has been a station that has been allowed to languish in near obscurity for decades by indifferent owners.

A very sad ending for a once GREAT TV station.

 

[radioplayer]

Does anyone know if the proposed KVOS-DTV site is a "new" site that has to be constructed from scatch, or is the proposed location already being used by someone else?

Larry, I agree w/you that the location is really pushing the COL and while it may appear to cover B'Ham on a flat earth map, it seems quite certain that the B'Ham viewer will NEVER see a good signal from an over the air antenna if the FCC approves this app from 2 counties away!

 

[Bongwater]

Does anyone know if the proposed KVOS-DTV site is a "new" site that has to be constructed from scatch, or is the proposed location already being used by someone else?

Larry, I agree w/you that the location is really pushing the COL and while it may appear to cover B'Ham on a flat earth map, it seems quite certain that the B'Ham viewer will NEVER see a good signal from an over the air antenna if the FCC approves this app from 2 counties away!

Does any idiot who files these applications ever figure in topography realistically?....(SOUND OF CRICKETS CHIRPING)......Figures.

The M.O. as I see it is to return KVOS back to Seattle some 80 years later in some way, albeit in Spanish. But I hate to say it, Granite Falls is one of the LAST places I'd put a DTV tower to serve Seattle.

Mount Constitution is still one of the best places to put a TV/FM radio tower because you get not one, but TWO major markets Just leave it there and crank it to FULL power. And voila! (and you're talking to someone who HAS watched KVOS-TV over the air clearly in Seattle - on Queen Anne Hill even. With equal UHF power, they can still do it.)

I can still view KCPQ-DT off of Gold Mountain beautifully (with occasional airplane traffic interference) in NW Washington. Like I say before, Gold Mountain is the best OTA transmitter site for DTV (everyone else in Bellevue and Kirkland has cable.) And set up Eastside translators for those few who don't.) If KVOS-DT can set up on Gold Mountain, it would make more sense because it would cover Seattle, Vancouver BC, Tacoma and most of SW Washington and even some parts of Central WA.

Granite Falls is a hole. Not to insult the fine people of Granite Falls. But FM radio/TV over the air reception wise, it needs a LOT of help.

 

[radioplayer]

Just a note to all that after a short trip this past weekend to the San Juans, I noticed (at least at my hotel) that KVOS was NOT anywhere on the local/'added' Sat TV "feed".....I still could get the analog TV 12 off-air......but Larry you're absolutely right about what we both remember WAS once a great station in the NW, now coming to the very place where even the locals living under their tower don't know who they are anymore....very sad indeed to see KVOS-TV implode like this........