With digital conversion on the horizion, long-distance over-the-air reception may not be as topical as it once was. Regardless, which Chicago TV station reaches the farthest through the air (without the aid of cable). Certainly VHF stations there should be able to reach: Indiana, Wisconsin, perhaps Iowa; along with the northern and middle sections of Illinois.
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Which Chicago TV Station Reaches Farthest
- Thread starter Cincinnati Kid
- Start date
Signal-wise, there's limits in most directions for one reason or another.
For instance, WBBM will be limited to the southeast due to WINM in Angola. WLS will be limited to the northeast (over the Lake, I suppose) due to WOOD.
Believe it or not, I'd venture to say that a UHF might have better coverage--like WTTW-DT. Channel 47 is clear in all directions as far as I can remember. But being so high up on the band will harm the signal coverage too.
Something low on the band with wide open space all around is what you're looking for. WGN is certainly not one of those, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them looking for another channel before all is said and done. (surrounded by THREE channels 19).
- Trip
For instance, WBBM will be limited to the southeast due to WINM in Angola. WLS will be limited to the northeast (over the Lake, I suppose) due to WOOD.
Believe it or not, I'd venture to say that a UHF might have better coverage--like WTTW-DT. Channel 47 is clear in all directions as far as I can remember. But being so high up on the band will harm the signal coverage too.
Something low on the band with wide open space all around is what you're looking for. WGN is certainly not one of those, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them looking for another channel before all is said and done. (surrounded by THREE channels 19).
- Trip
Figure 3 on page 10 of this FCC Exhibit shows "largest station in Market."
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=629658
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=629658
tripinva said:
...even towards WMSN/47 in Madison???...
Chicago has no mountains or anything to stop signals so it depends on where you live. When I worked on summer in Kenosha, WI just over the line, I got all the VHF and most of the UHF from Chicago as clear as all the stations from Milwaukee. But as you head south again to Chicago, by the time you get to Waukegan you can't pick up Milwaukee. So obviously Chicago stations brodcast farther north than Milwaukee does south.
In Rockford you can pick up the VHF and 32, 44, 66, 26, with no problem, at least I did on rabbit ears.
In Michigan City the same thing, on Rabbit ears I could get the VHFS and UHFs. In Benton Harbor you could get the VHFs really good, but the UHFs were spotty.
Oddly enough when I lived in Arlington Heights, (30 minutes NW of O'Hare) with rabbit ears, I could always pick up Channel 13 from Grand Rapids in the Summer and at night in the summer I could pick up Channel 8 from Grand Rapids.
When I lived in DC it was odd that I could pick up certain stations like Channel 17 from Philly and Channel 12 from Richmond, as well as all of Baltimore and DC, all reliably.
And I never used anything but rabbit ears.
Channel 11 has been a total mess since Channel 11 in Lafayette started on the air digitally
In Rockford you can pick up the VHF and 32, 44, 66, 26, with no problem, at least I did on rabbit ears.
In Michigan City the same thing, on Rabbit ears I could get the VHFS and UHFs. In Benton Harbor you could get the VHFs really good, but the UHFs were spotty.
Oddly enough when I lived in Arlington Heights, (30 minutes NW of O'Hare) with rabbit ears, I could always pick up Channel 13 from Grand Rapids in the Summer and at night in the summer I could pick up Channel 8 from Grand Rapids.
When I lived in DC it was odd that I could pick up certain stations like Channel 17 from Philly and Channel 12 from Richmond, as well as all of Baltimore and DC, all reliably.
And I never used anything but rabbit ears.
Channel 11 has been a total mess since Channel 11 in Lafayette started on the air digitally
I spent the past few decades anywhere between 30 and 45 miles south of Chicago.
Over the years, analog Channel 7 WLS-TV has always been the reception winner down here, with 5, 9, and 11, in that order afterward, followed by 26/32/44/50/60 in a tie. Channel 2 has always been a struggle for anyone without an albatross VHF antenna up high, and even for those of us with massive VHF antennas, tropo from St. Louis, Terre Haute, Detroit and Green Bay frequently caused problems for WBBM-TV.
I am now about 40 miles directly south of Chicago (only two blocks east of what would be State Street, if it ran this far south). My digital reception, from strongest to weakest (from various points indoors), is as follows:
19 WGN-DT
17 WYIN-DT
51 WPWR-DT
29 WMAQ-DT
47 WTTW-DT
52 WLS-DT
31 WFLD-DT
43 WCPX-DT
45 WSNS-DT
27 WCIU-DT
53 WGBO-DT
59 WXFT-DT
21 WYCC-DT
3 WBBM-DT **
36 WJYS-DT
** This is using a homemade dipole cut-to-length for 63MHz (Channel 3)
Over the years, analog Channel 7 WLS-TV has always been the reception winner down here, with 5, 9, and 11, in that order afterward, followed by 26/32/44/50/60 in a tie. Channel 2 has always been a struggle for anyone without an albatross VHF antenna up high, and even for those of us with massive VHF antennas, tropo from St. Louis, Terre Haute, Detroit and Green Bay frequently caused problems for WBBM-TV.
I am now about 40 miles directly south of Chicago (only two blocks east of what would be State Street, if it ran this far south). My digital reception, from strongest to weakest (from various points indoors), is as follows:
19 WGN-DT
17 WYIN-DT
51 WPWR-DT
29 WMAQ-DT
47 WTTW-DT
52 WLS-DT
31 WFLD-DT
43 WCPX-DT
45 WSNS-DT
27 WCIU-DT
53 WGBO-DT
59 WXFT-DT
21 WYCC-DT
3 WBBM-DT **
36 WJYS-DT
** This is using a homemade dipole cut-to-length for 63MHz (Channel 3)
schmave said:
Yes, it's always been that way. You could get 2 on a cut-to-length dipole antenna (95 inches worked well), or a VHF antenna with a decent wingspan. On rabbit-ears it was rather tough; you had to extend the antennas as wide as possible, at 90-degree angles to Chicago, and hope for the best. When "E-Skip" conditions acted up, this was the first channel where images from other cities (WGBH Boston, WESH Orlando, KTVQ Billings, etc.) would emerge, thanks to it's low 54-to-60 MHz frequency.
As for the comment about 7 being the best for any city, I also found that to be the case for other major metro areas like NYC, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston.
Mark said:
In Streamwood (30 miles WNW of downtown), Channels 2 & 5 weren't viewable without an outside antenna, and even with one, they were noisy. Chs. 7, 9, and 11 were decent but not perfect on rabbit-ears, and the UHFs were all good.
The problem is the lower power that the Chicago VHFs run - 20-33% the maximum allowed (at 110 kW ERP, WGN-TV 9 is the highest). Even from the Hancock Bldg. or Sears Tower, that won't cover a metro area with a radius of close to 60 miles in any direction. The Milwaukee stations run full power or only somewhat lower (in the case of WMVS Ch. 10).
dgendvil said:
We're talking about the OTA signal, rather than cable coverage. But yeah, as far as cable went WGN 9 would probably have been it before 1990.
Growing up on a farm outside of Kankakee, Ill. (now living in Wichita, KS), even with my outside antenna, Channel 2 (WBBM) really sucked (mainly because I got bled in from WCIA-Channel 3, the CBS affiliate from Champaign), Channel 5 (WMAQ) was bad also (and I got bled in from-ironically enough-WTMJ Channel 4, the NBC affiliate from Milwaukee) but Channels 7 (WLS), 9 (WGN), 11 (WTTW), 20 (WYCC), 23 (WWME), 26 (WCIU), 32 (WFLD), 35 (WWTO), 38 (WCPX), 44 (WSNS), 50 (WPWR), 56 (WYIN), 62 (WJYS) and 66 (WGBO) came in clear.
Along with:
(Notice that I had a strong antenna back in the day)
WTMJ (NBC, Channel 4 in Milwaukee)
WISN (ABC, Channel 12 in Milwaukee)
WITI (CBS, now FOX, Channel 6 in Milwaukee)
WCIA (CBS, Channel 3 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.)
WICD (NBC, now ABC, Channel 15 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.)
WAND (ABC, now NBC, Channel 17 in Decatur, Ill.)
WSBT (CBS, Channel 22 in South Bend, Ind.)
WNDU (NBC, Channel 16 in South Bend, Ind. - at that time was owned by Notre Dame)
Now granted, these were analog stations back in the day....
So it was interesting watching these channels growing up......damn, I'm old!!! LOL.
Along with:
(Notice that I had a strong antenna back in the day)
WTMJ (NBC, Channel 4 in Milwaukee)
WISN (ABC, Channel 12 in Milwaukee)
WITI (CBS, now FOX, Channel 6 in Milwaukee)
WCIA (CBS, Channel 3 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.)
WICD (NBC, now ABC, Channel 15 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.)
WAND (ABC, now NBC, Channel 17 in Decatur, Ill.)
WSBT (CBS, Channel 22 in South Bend, Ind.)
WNDU (NBC, Channel 16 in South Bend, Ind. - at that time was owned by Notre Dame)
Now granted, these were analog stations back in the day....
So it was interesting watching these channels growing up......damn, I'm old!!! LOL.
cutelittlecaramelkid said:
In De Kalb in the early 70s WLS-TV & WGN-TV had the strongest signals.
When I lived in Wauconda in the mid '80s, the Milwaukee stations came in fairly well on rabbit ears (my rooftop antenna fell down during my first winter there). 2, 5, and 11 were 100% snow, while 7, 9, and the UHFs (including ON-TV on 44) were watchable.
We didn't get cable in Lake County until summer 1984. Needless to say, before that, I watched network fare on Milwaukee stations, although I still could watch baseball on 9 and 32.
We didn't get cable in Lake County until summer 1984. Needless to say, before that, I watched network fare on Milwaukee stations, although I still could watch baseball on 9 and 32.
radioman148 said:
When I went to NIU earlier this decade I briefly lived without cable in an apartment. The rabbit ears I had couldn't get a damned thing on VHF besides a very faint WLS and a much stronger WREX from Rockford. UHF could get WFLD and WPWR faintly depending on conditions, again the Rockford stations were stronger, except for WQRF which was crap (to watch NFC football, I had to either spend money I didn't have going to bars or make do with radio). FM indoors was largely a wasteland too, though I could still get Chicago stations on my car radio.
I noticed that in the older section of DeKalb towards downtown, a lot of houses had very tall rooftop or even tower antennas pointed towards Chicago.
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