Mt Helix

[mteran5]

I always wonderd why any tv or radio stations cant transmit from Mt Helix rather than Mt Miguel. Why is that, can some one please explain that to me.

 

[J_School_Washout]

Because all the rich people who live up there would probably object to having radio towers in their swimming pools.

 

[Garrett]

Because all the rich people who live up there would probably object to having radio towers in their swimming pools.

Not just rich.
There's a significant portion of apartments that have a view of Mt. Helix (like the house I used to live in).
Nobody who lived in La Mesa (including me) would ever want to see a big ugly tower on an historical landmark.

Besides, is there even room enough there?

 

[vonrollskyway1]

Thats a great question..I have allways wondered why no radio stations planted there transmitter on Cowles Mountain..there use to be Cox Cable up there..now???

 

[Lopaka]

Maybe its just that Soledad and San Miguel offer more elevation and better coverage?

 

[mteran5]

Thats a great question..I have allways wondered why no radio stations planted there transmitter on Cowles Mountain..there use to be Cox Cable up there..n






Thanks. I like to add is when I am at the Grossmont trolley station, I get cable channels interfering on my Sony SRF-59 walkman, is that what you meant about Cox cable being on that hill.

 

[vonrollskyway1]

Thats kind of strange.Im not shure if Cox is still on Cowles mtn or not..

 

[swhyde1980]

I believe back before the 1988 wildfire on Cowles Mountain, 105.3 (KCBQ "Eagle 105" at the time) was broadcasting from there. I think afterwards is when they took a hike, and moved over to Mt. Soledad.

I don't believe Cox is up there anymore, now that fiber lines have pretty much replaced their microwave relay up there. I think all that's up there now are facilities for cell phone, ham radio, and emergency communications. The look of the tower up there has changed alot in the past 20 years.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

I always wonderd why any tv or radio stations cant transmit from Mt Helix rather than Mt Miguel. Why is that, can some one please explain that to me.

I'll do the best I can, but the issues and histories of various existing and potential sites is complicated.

Mt. Helix has a park at the crest, and many homes nearby the summit. At 1365' ( and please note that any reference to height is obtained from Wikipedia. I don't want to unbox my various aviation charts for confirmation) and located in La Mesa. It would present a less than desirable coverage to the San Diego metropolitan area because of terrain obstruction to the coast, south bay and north county. Because of the park and other considerations to residents nearby, it's not a candidate for a broadcast facility.

Cowles Mtn. is a very good choice for broadcast facilities because of its central location to the San Diego area. It's also very near Gillespie and Montgomery airports, and any structure placed there to hold broadcast antennas would present a problem to air navigation, as well as Cowles is also a public park with many nearby residents that don't want to look at ugly towers and antennas. There has been a many year battle to remove the clutter atop Cowles, and getting a multi-station facility up there just won't happen. A group of broadcasters tried in the late 80's and it became very clear very quickly it wasn't going to happen.

Black Mtn would present an excellent location for multi user broadcasting into the San Diego area and North county. There is of course resistence to anything more going in there, and to increase the height of a structure to avoid radiation problems at ground level is also going to be actively resisted by the people that live near the area. Everyone wants to receive radio and TV broadcasts, but no one wants to look at the structures that allow that to happen.

So, long ago, when the population was the most concentrated along the coast (as it remains though less so than a few years ago) Mt. Soledad was considered the best location for broadcast facilities because it covered the most *people* at a reasonable power level. Therefor you get radio and TV off the air in the majority from Soledad for San Diego U.S. licensed broadcasters. Well, when I say in the majority I mean two TV stations and about seven radio stations (having a hard time recalling all the moving and shifting of locations the past few years.) Soledad is an expensive place to put your gear, so not everyone is up there that would otherwise like to be.

Every site in use leaves out coverage somewhere unless you happen to live in Kansas or Nebraska where everything is flat. East county suffers with Soledad stations, as does inland north county. San Miguel is so tall that you have to run lower power which impacts the coastal areas (along with terrain obstruction) and north county because of inversion layers and more TO. Having had a 50 kW signal originating from a 416' tower ( that should be close ) just on the south side of 94 pretty central to San Diego and doing a great job south of north county, we finally were able to boost our critical north county coverage issues by simulcasting KSON with what is now KSOQ to cover those very valuable country listeners we couldn't otherwise serve from the top of the western KOGO tower. That may have been the last option of that kind.

So anyway, in a very small nutshell, that's why things are the way they are. I wished for a single 2000' tower located somewhere near the peak where 52 runs through to Santee where all broadcasters would locate, but I also knew that was totally unrealistic given the problems for Montgomery, Miramar and Gillespie, much less the vocal outcry for the ugliness of such a thing, but it was done in San Francisco on Mt. Sutro and it could be done in San Diego if there was a demand for off air reception in San Diego and north county, but alas, I dreamed.....

 

[Garrett]

I understand, not all San Franciscans are happy to look at Sutro-man, either...

 

[Big 121]

I believe back before the 1988 wildfire on Cowles Mountain, 105.3 (KCBQ "Eagle 105" at the time) was broadcasting from there. I think afterwards is when they took a hike, and moved over to Mt. Soledad.

KITT, 105.3 @120,000 watts, broadcasted from the Bank Of America building on Broadway , downtown . The station was rundown and crippled from lack
of maintenence by then owner Mr. Rabbel (The Navigator), father of "Boots" (S.D. engineer) I believe i in 1977, they signed back on, located
on Soledad... With 24hr. DISCO! With their addition to the antenna farm, a spurious signal (a product of several different nearby stations) appeared on
106.9, and was audible all the way to the Descanso area.
... not sure when KCBQ took it over.
Big 121

 

[Garrett]

I believe back before the 1988 wildfire on Cowles Mountain, 105.3 (KCBQ "Eagle 105" at the time) was broadcasting from there. I think afterwards is when they took a hike, and moved over to Mt. Soledad.

KITT, 105.3 @120,000 watts, broadcasted from the Bank Of America building on Broadway , downtown . The station was rundown and crippled from lack
of maintenence by then owner Mr. Rabbel (The Navigator), father of "Boots" (S.D. engineer) I believe i in 1977, they signed back on, located
on Soledad... With 24hr. DISCO! With their addition to the antenna farm, a spurious signal (a product of several different nearby stations) appeared on
106.9, and was audible all the way to the Descanso area.
... not sure when KCBQ took it over.
Big 121

There is a great full page color ad for "K-105" complete with a disco ball behind the logo, if you can find it, in one of the 1979 issues of San Diego and Point Magazine.

Actually, there are A LOT of great San Diego radio ads in those back issues. Check out the different ads for KOGO AM and TV and for KSDO. Really cool stuff. I think Mesa College has the back issues in their library, not sure about other area repositories though.

 

[Lopaka]

A friend dj'd for KITT during its disco years, he and everybody else at the station were disappointed the FCC made them cut power from the 120kw for the move up to Soledad. That would have been quite a signal!