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Which is the “best” FM/TV transmitting site in the Pacific Northwest?
- Thread starter fordranger797
- Start date
Why do you think most of the stations on WTM have backup sites on Cougar?
Being entirely honest, I was always under the impression that Tiger Mountain was the superior site (mainly due to the extreme height that it provides). However, I’ve come to understand that this is not necessarily true. From my own personal observations, I’ve noticed no real difference in coverage between WTM and Cougar on some of the outlying areas. And in the market, Cougar seems to have less shadowing in many areas. It’s too bad that there was so much pushback from residents living in the area, because this is where I would want my equipment if I were a broadcasting company. The only downside that I can see is if you’re a weaker station (like 106.9), though the difference is negligible unless you’re on the absolute fringes of the market.
West Tiger was mainly chosen (at the time) because King County had a moratorium for new station move-in's on Cougar.
At the time, KBSG was becoming a Seattle station from a market perspective, and was the first on WTM.
Are we in a situation now where the moratorium is effectively over (based on the fact that 104.5 moved to cougar mountain in the last decade), and that the stations that currently call Tiger Mountain home don’t have the incentive to move?
The Cougar moratorium has been over for several years. Stations made a sizable investment in moving to WTM, and probably would keep that site with Cougar as a backup location. The advantages of moving to Cougar as a full time site probably wouldn't make sense, considering the legal and capital expenses required.
Less of a fan of West Tiger 2 today. Just watched our forward power drop to 66% or so before coming back up to 100% due to antenna icing. And KWDK is in black because I don't exactly know why but their engineer is going to have real trouble getting up there today to take care of it. If you aren't going to use a tower in the City of Seattle I think that Cougar would be a better choice. Can't imagine that you couldn't get the same coverage for TV with just a few more watts.
KONG's original CP was for Cougar. It would have been the first TV on the site. Unfortunately, the local NIMBY's got King County to keep the moratorium in place, risking KONG's loss of their CP.
When I was in Centralia years ago, I noticed that the West Tiger stations came in like locals(in my car)whereas the Cougar stations did not. I realize that out of market reception isn't enough reason to favor Tiger.
Backups save a bunch of FMs on Tiger in 2018.
Years ago I worked with a station manager who had managed an FM in Seattle. He used tell a story of having to truck diesel to the transmitter site to last through the winter. When the fuel supply ran dry, they had to use their aux site until the road became passible in the spring and they could once again truck fuel to the site. Was this possibly the Sisters site?
Three Sisters was indeed full time generator powered. They had about 10,000 gal of diesel trucked up there twice a year. The power was cleaner than what a normal mountain top utility could provide, and definitely more reliable during bad weather.
That’s interesting, and I’ve noticed that as well. In the far north (around Vancouver, BC), KIRO 97.3 seems to be the only station you can pick up reliably from Seattle. This makes sense, as their equipment is located at the very top of WTM-1, and they are broadcasting in mono. With that being said, I’ve also heard KJAQ (since there aren’t any co-channels or adjacent channels, KJEB, KSWD, KING, and KISW. It didn’t seem like KJEB was significantly weaker.
From an engineering standpoint, I’ll take cougar mountain all day long the reasons that have already been cited. And arguably, the coverage is a bit better in the market anyway in certain areas.
I wonder what the snow situation is like up there during a regular winter day? Obviously now is not a good time to compare, but on a typical day, is there any snow on cougar? I would assume that the weather is still about the same as what we see in Seattle since the elevation isn’t too dramatic.
As an avid hiker, is there a particular trail worth checking out that leads to any of the sites on top of WTM? That’s the closest I’ll probably get to checking anything out. Might be an interesting summer day hike.
Sure, just park in the lot off of Hwy 18, step around the road gate, and walk up the road about 8 miles till the road ends. You'll see the towers up on top.
Ironically, a contributor to PDXradio.com website just posted a 2017 OPB TV feature story about tower engineers. Included is a look at Mt Fanny, east of La Grande, where KTVR emits its signal. KTVR originally started as a semi-satellite of KTVB Boise until conflicts with local cable companies and distant import rules caused them to end local production and eventually sell the signal to then OEPBS. (The old KTVR was weird in that all the network shows were two hours ahead of the then-imported Spokane product. LaGrande is on Pacific Time while Boise is Mountain Time Zone.)
Ironically, to the hills just north of there KWVR Enterprise transmits on 92.1 with just 32 watts ERP as a Class A. At 534 M HAAT it does not need much power to reach full coverage.
Ironically, to the hills just north of there KWVR Enterprise transmits on 92.1 with just 32 watts ERP as a Class A. At 534 M HAAT it does not need much power to reach full coverage.
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