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When did the last Channel 70-83 translator sign off?
- Thread starter crainbebo
- Start date
WVIT-DT (NBC) channel 35 of New Britain/Hartford once had a translator serving Torrington, CT on channel 79. Their West Haven translator on channel 59 lasted until at least the early 1990s. I didn't see channel 79 ID'ed on the air past the early 1980s, as WVIT increased their analog channel 30 signal and thus, made that translator unnecessary.
IIRC, my aunt in Upstate NY had some 70+ channels into the 90s - it was mountainous (between Albany & Binghamton) and no cell phone service in the area. They had an old "clicking" UHF tuner to get a satellite of WSKG from Binghamton which my Sony VideoWatchman couldn't pick up... (At least 92...)
Jim
Jim
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
When I first moved to Michigan in the 80's the Canadians had some repeater for their French
service up on some channel above 70. They later moved it down the dial after the US
reallocated channels. Around 1989, I think?
service up on some channel above 70. They later moved it down the dial after the US
reallocated channels. Around 1989, I think?
R
Rob Jason
Guest
Methinks you saw the tower for radio station WGY...which is 810 AM, and sits right next to Interstate 90/the Thruway.ssetta said:
Indeed...the tower to this day has a big set of red letters down the side reading "81 WGY." It's even been in the Tower Site Calendar:
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-080912.html
I think the WSKG translator in question was in Stamford, NY. I want to say it was on channel 71, but I may well be mistaken.
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-080912.html
I think the WSKG translator in question was in Stamford, NY. I want to say it was on channel 71, but I may well be mistaken.
I've passed the WGY antenna several times on trips up there.
It could have been the station from Stamford it's in the right area - my aunt lives on top of a mountain NE of Oneonta and depending on the direction of the antenna picks up Binghamton, Albany, Utica or Syracuse - plus in summer-time they'd pick up CBOT/4 Ottawa with regularity (no 4's in Central NY) - very viewable on the Black and White TV set they had...
It could have been the station from Stamford it's in the right area - my aunt lives on top of a mountain NE of Oneonta and depending on the direction of the antenna picks up Binghamton, Albany, Utica or Syracuse - plus in summer-time they'd pick up CBOT/4 Ottawa with regularity (no 4's in Central NY) - very viewable on the Black and White TV set they had...
FreddyE1977 said:
They had a couple of those - CBEFT was on Channel 78 in Windsor, and CBLFT-8 was on Channel 76 in Kitchener. Both moved to Channels 54 and 61, respectively, in 1983.
Some time ago I thought someone on this board mentioned a translator on Channel 70 (or maybe a little higher) still being in operation as late as 2000. Don't recall where it was.
M.J. said:
Don't know for sure who was last but I think the best candidate was channel 70 in Herington, Kansas. I believe that's the station you're referring to. It relayed KAKE channel 10 out of Wichita. It seems to have been deleted (rather than moving to a lower channel) as there is no longer any station in that community. It was reported seen by a DXer since the turn of the century.
There are two stations *still licensed* above channel 69:
K70DR Blue Earth, Minnesota (relays KTTC channel 10 Rochester)
W70AP Lovingston, Virginia (relays WCVE channel 23 Richmond)
I strongly suspect both stations are operating on lower channels under Special Temporary Authority. K70DR has a construction permit to switch to digital operation on channel 16. Unfortunately the FCC website is down right now, so I can't look up any STAs.
K70FL Hartsel, Colorado was licensed as recently as last year. They held a permit to move to analog channel 23 but that appears to have expired unbuilt. (I would be pretty sure this station was also operating on 23 under STA. Either that or it had been off the air altogether after being booted off channel 70 & the FCC finally found out & yanked the license...)
OK, I've gone back through the evidence. The answer to the question:
NO EARLIER THAN FEBRUARY 17, 2009, and ONE MIGHT STILL BE ON THE AIR!.
_________________________________________________
For some time, I believed channel 70 in Herington, Kansas was the last translator operating above channel 69. This station relayed KAKE channel 10, Wichita. It was reported seen by DXers as late as 2000.
The question came up on Radio-Info yesterday, and I have found information that one translator operated on channel 70 at least as late as September 2007, and another one **is probably STILL OPERATING ON CHANNEL 70**.
==================================================================
On September 26, 2007, K70FL in Hartsel, Colorado filed an application to move to channel 23. It takes some time for FCC action on these displacement applications. So on the same date, the station also filed for Special Temporary Authority to make the move without waiting for action on the displacement application. In that application, available online at
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...7330&Service=TX&Form_id=346&Facility_id=10087
they stated in part: "A LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY ENTITY REQUIRES THAT CHANNEL 70 BE VACATED IMMEDIATELY." Obviously, this implies that as of the date of filing, at the end of September 2007, K70FL was in fact operating on channel 70.
(The Temporary Authority was approved the next day. The application for permanent operation on channel 23 was approved in November 2007. However, no license-to-cover was ever filed, and the station is now listed as "DK70FL" implying the license has expired or been canceled.)
==================================================================
But K70FL was not the last station on channel 70.
The engineers at KTTC-TV, Rochester, Minnesota blogged their work on DTV Transition Day. (KTTC transitioned on the originally-planned date of February 17, 2009) You can read that blog on http://addins.kttc.com/blogs/dtv/ .
The entry for 6pm on February 17:
"6:00 PM - John has finished up at Blue Earth. Channel 70 out there is now re-broadcasting KTTC once again."*
As of February 17, 2009, K70DR Blue Earth, Minnesota WAS STILL OPERATING ON CHANNEL 70.
The station has a permit to switch to digital operation on channel 16.
* They had to make changes to the receiver used to pick up the main KTTC signal for rebroadcast. KTTC-DT moved from channel 36 to channel 10 on Transition Day.
==================================================================
Are there others out there?
W70AP Lovingston, Virginia is still licensed. This station is a translator of WCVE-23, Richmond. The station's license was renewed in July 1998. I see no applications of any kind. (beyond the license renewal) Best I can tell, it's still authorized to operate.
W70AP and K70DR are the only two stations still holding valid licenses for channel 70. No station holds a valid license for any higher channel.
==================================================================
It does beg the question, what's the point?! New TV receivers have not tuned above channel 69 for many years. I would educated-guess the answer falls into two categories:
- Cable systems.
- Other translators. (not in KTTC's case)
NO EARLIER THAN FEBRUARY 17, 2009, and ONE MIGHT STILL BE ON THE AIR!.
_________________________________________________
For some time, I believed channel 70 in Herington, Kansas was the last translator operating above channel 69. This station relayed KAKE channel 10, Wichita. It was reported seen by DXers as late as 2000.
The question came up on Radio-Info yesterday, and I have found information that one translator operated on channel 70 at least as late as September 2007, and another one **is probably STILL OPERATING ON CHANNEL 70**.
==================================================================
On September 26, 2007, K70FL in Hartsel, Colorado filed an application to move to channel 23. It takes some time for FCC action on these displacement applications. So on the same date, the station also filed for Special Temporary Authority to make the move without waiting for action on the displacement application. In that application, available online at
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...7330&Service=TX&Form_id=346&Facility_id=10087
they stated in part: "A LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY ENTITY REQUIRES THAT CHANNEL 70 BE VACATED IMMEDIATELY." Obviously, this implies that as of the date of filing, at the end of September 2007, K70FL was in fact operating on channel 70.
(The Temporary Authority was approved the next day. The application for permanent operation on channel 23 was approved in November 2007. However, no license-to-cover was ever filed, and the station is now listed as "DK70FL" implying the license has expired or been canceled.)
==================================================================
But K70FL was not the last station on channel 70.
The engineers at KTTC-TV, Rochester, Minnesota blogged their work on DTV Transition Day. (KTTC transitioned on the originally-planned date of February 17, 2009) You can read that blog on http://addins.kttc.com/blogs/dtv/ .
The entry for 6pm on February 17:
"6:00 PM - John has finished up at Blue Earth. Channel 70 out there is now re-broadcasting KTTC once again."*
As of February 17, 2009, K70DR Blue Earth, Minnesota WAS STILL OPERATING ON CHANNEL 70.
The station has a permit to switch to digital operation on channel 16.
* They had to make changes to the receiver used to pick up the main KTTC signal for rebroadcast. KTTC-DT moved from channel 36 to channel 10 on Transition Day.
==================================================================
Are there others out there?
W70AP Lovingston, Virginia is still licensed. This station is a translator of WCVE-23, Richmond. The station's license was renewed in July 1998. I see no applications of any kind. (beyond the license renewal) Best I can tell, it's still authorized to operate.
W70AP and K70DR are the only two stations still holding valid licenses for channel 70. No station holds a valid license for any higher channel.
==================================================================
It does beg the question, what's the point?! New TV receivers have not tuned above channel 69 for many years. I would educated-guess the answer falls into two categories:
- Cable systems.
- Other translators. (not in KTTC's case)
The question I'm wanting to know, is who would be watching a channel above channel 69? Newer TV sets won't tune up past 69. I'm talking about when the set is switched to "antenna" not "cable". The only TV I have that will tune up to channel 83 is an old RCA from 1974 that believe it or not still has a halfway decent picture on it the last time I plugged it in, which was several years ago. I used to use it to eavesdrop on cell phones when you tune up around channel 83 shhhhh!
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