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WJAR-TV Providence and WTEN-TV Albany

K.L. I used to live in New Britain in a hole w/ so-so reception but 40 was clear and 8 wasn't.(it was easily watchable) Rutland, MA is a hilltop town, approx 1200 ft in elevation and 12 mi NW of Worcester. We lived fairly close to the center of town (the highest point). and had those 6 ABC's but only 3 CBS's. On NBC we had Boston, 4, Providence, 12, Hartford, 3, Springfield, 22 all perfectly clear, Also had New Britski on 30, (good) and Hanover NH on 31 and pittsfield on 51 (both fair). By contrast on the other side of the hill only a few miles other people (w/ antennas) only had 6-7 good stations, mostly VHF. When Ch 2 Boston signed off we would regularly get Channel 2 WCBS from about 150 mi. For a rig we had a rather large VHF antenna and a 4 bay bow. If I knew better we would have had a slightly smaller VHF and an 8 bay bow and probably had a few more UHF's.
 
Was this before digital television started making its prescence felt?
 
Yeah- this was in 1984. That site would be a real cool one for HDTV reception. You wouldn't even need a VHF antenna. Just a 8 bay bow or large parabolic,
 
Re: Why a WJAR-10 and a WTEN-10

chuckydoll said:
WLNE-6 is licensed to New Bedford MA. When it signed on in 1963 (as WTEV-6) the transmitter was put in Tiverton RI for a good reason: Anywhere else would cause interference to Channel 5 in Boston (then WHDH-TV, now WCVB). A station on Channel 6 has to be at least 55-60 miles from a station on Channel 5. Again that is per FCC rules.

Actually the first site used by (then) WTEV involved a short tower, around 300-feet, in Little Compton, Rhode Island. It ran several years from that site before moving to a 1,000+ foot tower on Rattlesnake Hill in Tiverton, R.I. Part of the move was an FCC required positive offset of visual and aural frequencies (making it "6+" and installation of precise frequency control (Tracor). There is short spacing with Portland, Maine and Schenectday, New York. One of those is a "true" channel 6; the other has a negative offset, so is what's called "6-". I believe I recall, from my years there, that there was also a relatively minor directional antenna requirement.

There have been several attempts, over the years, to move the analog transmitter to the tower farm in Rehoboth, MA but all have failed.

Other WTEV oddities: The original transmitter location was to have been on Martha's Vineyard Island, a plan that died quickly. Later land was purchased off Bullock Road in Freetown, MA (the highest ground for many miles in any direction) and plans were drawn for the site. I'm not sure why that plan died but the land was later sub-divided and sold as house lots. I bought and built a house on the highest point, corner of Winslow Way and Otta Way. The latter street was named for The Ottaway Newspaper chain which owned WTEV at the time.

Going back to pre-cable days, 6 got off to a poor start since most antennas in RI and Southern MA were pointed toward the Route 128 site where the Boston stations are mostly located. For many, the Rehoboth site originally occupied by 10 (then 11), 12, and 16 (now 64) fell directly in line with a sighting toward Route 128. It was no accident that the Providence stations choose that site instead of one west of Providence and very fortunate that the Pine Street/Home Street site is on very high ground. Today there are enough high-end, NIMBY occupied homes in that area that the area would be out of bounds for towers.
 
Will WLNE catch a break with their digital transmitter? Will that be located in Rehoboth, MA? Anyways, despite the legendary problems of channel 6, I usually got a weak signal of them here in central Connecticut once or twice a week during the late 80s and early 90s.
 
I haven't kept track of WLNE...been away from there for over 25 years. Have heard, though, that their DT facility is on leased tower space in Rehoboth. I think on the WJAR-TV tower but I'm not certain. Couldn't even tell you what their digital channel is but it sure ain't 6 so the short-spacing issue goes away for the DT.
 
Do I hear an echo? WLNE-DT is channel 49 with 350,000 watts visual ERP. Rehoboth, MA is 109 air miles away from Trumbull, CT, site of WEDW-TV (PBS) analog channel 49 of Bridgeport, CT.
 
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