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WSPA tower topples

A

artsutton

The snow wind storm took down WSPA-TV's tower on top of Hogback Mountain...sometime Sunday.

Check out www.wspa.com to see pictures.

I'm pretty sure that 98.9 was not on that tower but nearby.

Was the DTV installation on this tower? I assume a stress test for the installation was conducted.

Being on the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment has been a problem for towers. WESC lost their tower further west. Even further west, WLET-FM in Toccoa, GA lost their tower along the same ridge. East of WSPA, WAGI lost its tower many years back.
 
artsutton said:
I'm pretty sure that 98.9 was not on that tower but nearby.
Click to expand...

Yup - Entercom built a new tower last year for 98.9 and 93.3. It survived. The 7 tower (which also had DT 53) took the aux tower down as it fell. Not pretty.
 
i remember when the wesc tower fell in the 1980s. it had not been up that long. don gowens who was the engineer at the time told me it fell back on top of the building damaging the transmitter too. stations with the towers on these peaks must have good insurance.
 
I bet Entercom is counting its blessings that their new tower didn't sustain any damage from the falling TV towers.

WSPA-TV is very fortunate that the tower didn't fall on their transmitter building.

There are some very good pictures of the damage on WSPA-TV's web site. One picture in particular caught my eye-the close-up of the solid tower leg that looks to be about 3 inches in diameter that is just snapped in two like a pencil. Somebody is pointing at it which gives a good reference as to the size.

Check it out here:http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/live_stream_news_channel_7_at_600pm/15132/
 
artsutton said:
Was the DTV installation on this tower? I assume a stress test for the installation was conducted.
Click to expand...
Obviously it was, since people were told to turn to channel 62.2.

I guess some people were forced to go digital before they were ready. And I'll bet it didn't work for a lot of them.

WBTV has a good signal range, though. And they're not digital yet.
 
WBTV Charlotte is already broadcasting a digital signal and has been for several years.
 
Rick Rose 2.0 said:
WBTV Charlotte is already broadcasting a digital signal and has been for several years.
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I mean digital-only, meaning no special preparations are required.

I even got a good signal from WBTV at a motel west of Asheville back in 1981.

Can you believe in 1977 I had no cable and only WLOS was clear? I remember WFBC being too fuzzy to watch, and may have picked up WSPA.

WSOC had a watchable signal in a nearby motel some years later.

I can't imagine what it will be like without cable. One motel back in 2000 was using an over-the-air signal and the sound on WSPA's translator was almost unlistenable. They did not have cable. Oh, wait, the problem was not the translator's signal. It was that the translator wasn't working and they were getting the direct signal.
 
WSPA is unwatchable with an OK antenna and a converter box below Simpsonville. Always has been.....but the analog is actually pretty good, better than WYFF's analog - but WYFF's digital is great. Odd.
 
carolinaradio said:
WSPA is unwatchable with an OK antenna and a converter box below Simpsonville. Always has been.....but the analog is actually pretty good, better than WYFF's analog - but WYFF's digital is great. Odd.
Click to expand...
My DTV antenna could be set up for VHF but isn't. It doesn't pick up Channel 2 at all, whereas with an old TV I could get Channel 2 perfectly. My newer TVs have not for some reason. Channel 3 never did have a good signal.

I have experienced a strange phenomenon, though. The new antenna wouldn't pick up the digital channel 2 when I first scanned. When I called the station the man told me try channel 51. That works. Still, when I tried to turn to channel 2 last week, I got no signal. Channel 51 worked--again. Channel 2 is on my list of stations, so that informaion must be stored there somehow.
 
I understand they have a temp analog & digital signal up & running. Are these coming from Hogback? How are they mounted? Any timeframe for tower replacement?

G
 
Im sorry for my unknowledgement,,, but does this area sustain alot of snow and cold during this time of year.. When I lived at myrtle beach it was wonderful this time of year, and even in Indiana now,,, it has been 70 to 80 degrees lately.
 
it snows very little. Sure we may get a dusting (I'm south of GV don't usually get as much) but can go a year, maybe even a few without a really significant one. Sometimes more than once a winter though, just depends.

But nothing extreme like the NE has a lot when we have it.
 
The other day a friend from Greenville came by and in our talking he asked if I had heard about the WSPA tower falling. His comment was didn't they build that thing right, boy how many times when something happens have I heard that. I explained to him that no matter how well something is built to withstand things like weather sometimes mother nature throws something at you you just can't handle. It doesn't have to be weather related many years ago the 1600 foot tower in Orange City, FL fell when tower crews were tightening guide lines, it was a disaster that killed three people who were on the tower at the time. I am glad that WSPA's topple didn't hurt anybody and missed their transmitter building and hope they get a new tower to replace the old one up soon.
 
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