What is the Ownership/Lease Status of the South Mountain Tower Farm?

[landtuna]

The tower farm hosts virtually all the FM and TV antennas used in the Valley. But who owns them? Is it a corporation that builds and maintains the structures and leases the space out to the individual TV and radio stations or do the stations participate in a sort of co-op whereby they share the costs of their part of the installation with all the other stations?

As I look at the nice blinking lights on the mountain each evening I wonder why we almost never hear of any disagreement or other interruption in this very crowded site. Or perhaps it is run by a consortium of engineers and we all know how well, and polite, those people are.

 

[wattsup]

As Chairman of the South Mt. User Association, I can give you some insight: The site is owned by the City of Phoenix; it's part of South Mt. park. Most, but not all towers are owned by the stations that use them. Some towers are also shared/leased to other stations. For example, KSAZ FOX 10 lease tower space to KMLE 108. Other towers are owned by Vertical Bridge and leased back to the stations that use them; in this case iHeart stations. The City has site license agreements with all the tower owners and collects fees. The Engineers do a great job of site maintenance and cooperate very well on matters of mutual concern.

 

[landtuna]

Many thanks.

 

[asugeorge1]

Phoenix, more so than many cities in the Southwest, has a phenomenal natural location for antenna towers to broadcast from in top of South Mountain. Practically the entire valley, east, west, south and north (to a certain extent), has a clear line of sight to South Mountain and I think that’s why both FM and digital television signals are easy to pick up around the valley. Even FM HD radio is clear with no dropouts from any of the South Mountain sticks. This is not the case, though, in other cities like San Diego where there are numerous hills and mountains that block signals even if you are mere miles from the transmitter. Listening to any HD radio station in San Diego can be frustrating thanks to the unforgiving terrain. LA is great if the signals are on Mount Wilson and you are not blocked by the hills or mountains. Vegas can be troublesome because of the Bowl shape of where the city lies. You go to Boulder City and you can lose almost all the Vegas stations. Seattle has issues too with hills blocking signals.

All in all, I’m glad that the stations coexist in peace on South Mountain. There is no better location for transmitters than South Mountain since it is literally a few miles south of downtown and the entire valley surrounds South Mountain. Even in far flung Maricopa you get solid reception from the South Mountain sticks!

 

[KeithE4]

How about Tucson? I would think that Mt. Bigelow is actually too high for good coverage of the city and immediate suburbs.

 

[EricStein]

How about Tucson? I would think that Mt. Bigelow is actually too high for good coverage of the city and immediate suburbs.

That's why the most powerful Tucson stations are up on the Tucson Mountains. KTGV is up on Mt. Bigelow, but they have an in-city booster that gives it a good signal in most of the city.

 

[KeithE4]

That's why the most powerful Tucson stations are up on the Tucson Mountains. KTGV is up on Mt. Bigelow, but they have an in-city booster that gives it a good signal in most of the city.

OK, that makes sense. I thought that most or all of their stations were on Bigelow.

Weren't most of them there decades ago? I remember being able to pick up most of the Tucson TV and FM stations in the then-Thomas Mall area when I lived there in the mid '70s. I was able to receive most of the Phoenix stations at my grandparents' house in Green Valley in that era as well.

 

[landtuna]

How about Tucson? I would think that Mt. Bigelow is actually too high for good coverage of the city and immediate suburbs.

Because of the layout of the Santa Catalina mountains and where Mt. Bigelow is placed there is a dead area to the west/northwest (Casas Adobe area). There used to be some translators that kept this dead spot active.

The west/northwest parts of Tucson used to be able to receive KPHO without interference. I don't that exists any longer though.

 

[awsherrill]

Nitpick point...KTGV transmitter is actually on Mt. Lemmon. Like Bigelow, that site has terrain-shadowing problems in northwest Tucson.

There are still a number of full-power radio and TV sites on Bigelow.

 

[Nathan O'Dan]

That's why the most powerful Tucson stations are up on the Tucson Mountains. KTGV is up on Mt. Bigelow, but they have an in-city booster that gives it a good signal in most of the city.

I used to be able to pick up KUAT and KTTU fairly well on my little rooftop antenna. Recently, only KTTU comes in. I'm wondering if it has to do with the repack that caused KUAT to fall off. With the spectrum getting squished, out of market signals are becoming harder to pick up.

 

[landtuna]

I used to be able to pick up KUAT and KTTU fairly well on my little rooftop antenna. Recently, only KTTU comes in. I'm wondering if it has to do with the repack that caused KUAT to fall off. With the spectrum getting squished, out of market signals are becoming harder to pick up.

Yup. In the old analog days we used to get Tucson channel 4 (KVOA) relatively watchable way up in North Phoenix (Happy Valley and 43 Ave). Not any longer.

 

[roadwonk]

Yup. In the old analog days we used to get Tucson channel 4 (KVOA) relatively watchable way up in North Phoenix (Happy Valley and 43 Ave). Not any longer.

43rd Ave & Dunlap here...

HDTV is nice, but I miss analog! I was able to catch KGUN (9) and KOLD (13) on a Zenith portable with just the rabbit ears - yeah, it was snowy, but still watchable. Now with Weingard's best VHF-Hi / UHF antenna on the roof, I can grab all of Tucson's DTV channels except for 13. Interesting

 

[fusejockey]

In the early 1980's, KGUN Channel 9 would boom easily into the 48th Street & Warner vicinity. Not so much, now...

 

[The Media Observer]

As Chairman of the South Mt. User Association, I can give you some insight: The site is owned by the City of Phoenix; it's part of South Mt. park. Most, but not all towers are owned by the stations that use them. Some towers are also shared/leased to other stations. For example, KSAZ FOX 10 lease tower space to KMLE 108. Other towers are owned by Vertical Bridge and leased back to the stations that use them; in this case iHeart stations. The City has site license agreements with all the tower owners and collects fees. The Engineers do a great job of site maintenance and cooperate very well on matters of mutual concern.

Interesting info. Thanks for sharing wattsup.