# 2,033-foot TV tower falls, DBS affected



## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

The 2,033-foot transmitter tower owned by Little Rock ABC affiliate KATV fell today at 1:00 CST while workers were stringing new guy wires. While Comcast customers still have access to KATV's signal (via direct studio feed), DBS customers are in the dark.

The Little Rock LiL receive site (located at the ClearChannel Metroplex where FOX affiliate KLRT resides) takes KATV's off-air signal (not sure if it's the digital or the analog). Both digital and analog antennas were on that tower.

Additionally... state PBS affiliate AETN had its analog antenna for station KETS on this tower too. But their digital antenna is across the road and hosted on a tower owned by KASN, the Central Arkansas CW affiliate.

Story here: http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=de8ac5eb-a5a6-40b9-aeb6-7e924c93f618

KATV's site here: http://www.katv.com/

I believe the KATV tower was about 50 years old and at one time the 4th tallest in the country.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

Oops.

I would have loved to have seen that happen.


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## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

I wonder how long it'll take for them to get back up.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Oh, that's gonna leave a mark.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

:nono2: not good.


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## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

Wowzers.

FYI if it takes more than +/-48hrs D* will most likely re-route channels nearby to serve your area as well. Atleast, they did in the cali fires when one of the towers burned down.


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## DawgLink (Nov 5, 2006)

-Edited- 

Picture got replaced


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Ouch. At least no one was killed. How would you like to be standing next to that thing when it went down - scary. Even worse imagine if you were the guy runnning the machine stringing the guy wires.

Two 2000 foot towers fell here on teh same morning 15 or so years ago. THer ewas an ice storm that heavily covered them and when the su came up, the ice melted unevenly and fell off in huge chuncks taking 2 of the big 3 broadcast towers out in seperate incidents, though the towers are close together. I am sure teh engineering staff of the 3rd station were sweating bullets for a few hours.


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

***UPDATE***

Tower crew installed a temporary guy wire to replace a main guy wire. They released the tension on the main guy wire and the temporary one slipped and the tower came down. Fortunately this happened before they climbed the tower again to remove the main guy wire!

KATV and AETN working with engineers at KASN to relocate antennas across the road (I-530).

AETN transmitter (and building) destroyed by a falling guy wire.

KATV's ONLY signal being output is a direct studio feed to Comcast. One would think that it would be easy for the engineers at the ClearChannel Metroplex to route KATV's incoming cable signal to the LiL headend. But will Comcast allow it? Stay tuned! This is getting interesting.


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## mjones73 (Jun 20, 2006)

Per this article Comcast has offered to help restore sat feeds and they should be available shortly.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=102174.87444.114316


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

Yes! And it also looks like the entire TV community is putting competitiveness aside.

Now that Comcast is providing the signal to the LiL satellite headend, I wonder if D* or E* will return the favor and allow cable systems outside of Central Arkansas to retransmit their signals?


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Lee L said:


> Ouch. At least no one was killed. How would you like to be standing next to that thing when it went down - scary. Even worse imagine if you were the guy runnning the machine stringing the guy wires.


How would you like to be the guy that had to tell "the Boss" :eek2:


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## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

houskamp said:


> How would you like to be the guy that had to tell "the Boss" :eek2:


Here's how I'd do it...

Um, sir.... um, houskamp has something to tell you. :lol:


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

tfederov said:


> I wonder how long it'll take for them to get back up.


Months for sure.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

tfederov said:


> Here's how I'd do it...
> 
> Um, sir.... um, houskamp has something to tell you. :lol:


But You were closer to it  :lol:


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

It is so nice to have hills and mountains. I think the tallest tower around these parts is maybe 500 feet.

I would sure hate to be the contractor doing that job. Hope his insurance was paid up.

Carl


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

houskamp said:


> But You were closer to it  :lol:


...and where exactly were you about that time....  :lol:


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## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> ...and where exactly were you about that time....  :lol:


Hey, wanna see how high I can climb?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Most of Little Rocks stations are located on a mountain west of town. For some reason, two stations decided to build out those tall towers 20 miles south of town instead. Around here we would love to see them all out on the mountain. Its a pain picking up three bands from two different directions.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

DannyStraessle said:


> Yes! And it also looks like the entire TV community is putting competitiveness aside.
> 
> Now that Comcast is providing the signal to the LiL satellite headend, I wonder if D* or E* will return the favor and allow cable systems outside of Central Arkansas to retransmit their signals?


If Comcast is indeed getting the signal to DIRECTV (and DISH Network), I would not be surprised to learn that the smaller cable companies are receiving the signal via DIRECTV. Certainly fees will change hands, though .. nobody is gonna do this for free.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

tfederov said:


> I wonder how long it'll take for them to get back up.


This should help(sorry, Earl started it)


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

As of 6:56PM CST, there is still NO signal from KATV coming across any method except Comcast. There isn't even the digital feed from KATV that I can see on Comcast. I have my TV mapping the clearQAM channels from there and see nothing when I try to go to the HD feed of it.

Edit: Ahh, I see now. I turned it up to my TV's 80-11 and see the following message:

Technical Difficulties
Due to technical difficulties at the KATV transmitter
KATV-HD Channel 431 & KATV News Now Channel 207
are not available. Please tune to cable Channel 08
for KATV-ABC programming and further details.


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## slimline (Oct 30, 2007)

try being swaping out lights 2 times a year on these... and see one on the 
ground it is scary.........


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## MattWarner (Feb 11, 2007)

Two TV stations in Raleigh had a similar situation back in 1989. An evening ice storm deposited a load of ice on two 2,000ft towers. The next morning, bright blue skies caused the ice on the eastern most guy wires to melt and break off. As huge chunks of ice fell off (and landed more than a meter in the ground surrounding the towers), the change in weight caused ripples in the wires, which brought down both towers.

Interestingly, WRAL-TV, within 3-4 hours, purchased all the air time on a UHF station not too far away and used them as their on-air feed until the tower was replaced. They also fed via satellite to all the surrounding cable systems. Took them more than 10 months to build a replacement tower.

I used to be in the radio engineering business a lifetime ago. It is really neat to find out that when something like this happens, your competitors lend you a helping hand. One of my chief engineers used to say, "We want to beat them with a better product. It isn't fair to beat them because they're off the air."

-Matt


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## stephenC (Jul 18, 2007)

machavez00 said:


> This should help(sorry, Earl started it)


Would you like fries with that?


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

carl6 said:


> It is so nice to have hills and mountains. I think the tallest tower around these parts is maybe 500 feet.


Little Rock is located at the very edge of the Gulf Coastal Plain, where flat delta lands end and hills begin here. The East and SE parts of town are flat and part of west LR is quite hilly. Some of LR's towers are in the flat area, some on a mountain west of town, and are not nearly as tall as this one that fell.

When constructed in the 1960s, @ 2000' it was the second tallest structure in the world. Now, it's a twisted pile of steel.

I wonder if they'll bother rebuilding the analog. It would probably be cheaper for the station to just give out digital converters to their remaining analog OTA viewers.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

In Florida if you get a tower up about 15ft you're high enough to see this entire flat state. Of course if you live in South Florida you have to boost the power so Radio Cuba doesn't trash your signal (seriously).


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## dettxw (Nov 21, 2007)

This looks like a pretty big deal. The tallest structure is only a few foot higher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVLY-TV. How do explain this one? Must have been multiple things go wrong.

A few years ago was watching tornado coverage on the local KWTV. They had a great shot of it coming towards them from their tower cam. The tornado missed KWTV but they got cool video of the tornado taking out an adjacent tower. Sorry, the link isn't up on their website any more.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

The digital age is amazing. 9 hours after their tower drops, they are back on the air as the third subchannel of the local digital MYtv network station as well as Directv. I knew they had a STL from KATV to the KWBF MY master control, as they used to share sports events with each other. Interesting to see how all this is panning out. Only problem is with the HR20, it doesn't recognize 42-3 as a channel (Its been RetroJams for months), so HR20 owners can't get it. H20 owners with a scan, can.


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

When constructed in the 1960s, @ 2000' it was the second tallest structure in the world. Now, it's a twisted pile of steel.

I wonder if they'll bother rebuilding the analog. It would probably be cheaper for the station to just give out digital converters to their remaining analog OTA viewers.[/quote]

Interesting how the tower fell. It's being described almost as a controlled progressive collapse. The top snaps off, followed by the lower section snapping in two pieces, thus the "pile" of steel.

So how does KATV rebuild? With another 2,000-foot tower? Is it necessary in this digital world? Well if you're an OTA purist, yes. Even though the tower site is 20 minutes SE of Little Rock, that's 20 minutes SE of the Little Rock Airport. KATV has to literally pump their signal out of the prairie and up into the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The taller the better because they have to reach in the proximity of Russellville with a "B" quality signal.

As for analog, if they're smart, they will get by as cheaply as possible and as low-power as possible. I would like to see KATV invest in a top-of-the-line digital transmitter with as high power as possible. Of all the digital TV signals in the Little Rock-Pine Bluff DMA, theirs was always the worst on satellite.

And now is a good time to be thinking about redundancy. The CBS affiliate KTHV offered KATV use of their backup tower on Shinall (for a steep price, I'm sure). As I finish this post, KATV is back on DirecTV and the signal looks pretty bad (Comcast analog).

Perhaps today's events prove DBS and Cable can co-exist?!?


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

You know, it is absolutely amazing when you thinking about the amount of stories that are just copied and pasted from news wires. I mean, take this story for instance, EVERY single site you go to to read it says the same fricken thing. They may just be reordered a little bit, but the wording is the same damn thing.

For instance, "KATV went off the air, and the accident also knocked out the analog signal of KETS, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in the Arkansas Educational Television Network. AETN said it could be several days before its analog signal is restored." The section where it says "..the analog signal of KETS, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate...." is an example of this.

I learned how little originality there is in the news field while in college when I took Mass Media and Society, but it just never really took hold in my mind until you see something like this. I have read several articles now and each one says the same exact thing with the same exact words with very little deviation at all. Its like they just took the feed of the AP wire and put it up.


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## MarkN (Jul 13, 2007)

how would you explain that to your boss???


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## dettxw (Nov 21, 2007)

Davenlr said:


> The digital age is amazing. 9 hours after their tower drops, they are back on the air as the third subchannel of the local digital MYtv network station as well as Directv. I knew they had a STL from KATV to the KWBF MY master control, as they used to share sports events with each other. Interesting to see how all this is panning out. Only problem is with the HR20, it doesn't recognize 42-3 as a channel (Its been RetroJams for months), so HR20 owners can't get it. H20 owners with a scan, can.


One thing you can try is to look at this link http://www.nab.org/AM/ASPCode/DTVStations/DTVStations.asp and match up a station that transmits on the same UHF frequency as is being used for 42.3. Then enter the zip code for the station's DMA as a secondary to trick the HR20 into tuning it. May work.


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## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

DannyStraessle said:


> Perhaps today's events prove DBS and Cable can co-exist?!?


Only for the greater common good of the viewers...
And... Who knows who's paying what to whom!


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

My greatest wish right now is for KATV and KETS to get together, and take KTHV up on that spare tower offer. The thought off all the stations being in one location is mind boggling. I'm not worried about CW... they are the same company as KLRT and could always move to 16's tower. I really don't think in the digital world, the extra 20 air miles is going to drastically affect SE arkansas. They could always use a pattern that favors the SE direction a little more. Besides, using 11's spare tower on the mountain HAS to be cheaper than erecting a new 2000'er.


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

There's a spare tower up there? Where? I have been up there a few times and never noticed it.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Dettxw: Tried it, used washington dc zip, didn't work. Said 771. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

Steveken: Shorter tower between ch 11 and Ch 4. Not a 1000 footer, but it would get em on the air.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

In any case, this is a real shame for the folks in that area as well as the station. It will take a while to get the tower replaced and set up again to operational conditions. I would guess no less than 6-9 months. They may try some alternative broadcast means, such as a temporary leased tower location or something.


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## Ext 721 (Feb 26, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> If Comcast is indeed getting the signal to DIRECTV (and DISH Network), I would not be surprised to learn that the smaller cable companies are receiving the signal via DIRECTV. Certainly fees will change hands, though .. nobody is gonna do this for free.


here's the rub....the comcast feed...does it include any comcast-inserted commercials?


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

But of course it will. But then again, we aren't seeing the comcast feed yet. 

We are seeing a very very very crappy signal from a low powered (in my opinion) sub-channel of a VERY crappy channel that has very low reception (at least by me) in the first place, but still splits that low signal into 3 sub-channels total. It is off of KWBF-DT3. Their tower is on Shinall Mountain just like KARK (which according to Wikipedia puts out less power at 989kW) and KTHV (which puts out even LESS power at 55kW). I receive both of these channels far better than I do KWBF. 

Their (KWBF) transmitter is putting out 1000kW just like KASN does from their tower across the expressway from the old KATV tower south of the city in Redfield which is a LOT further from my location. KWBF is one of the weakest stations I can actually receive even with their 1000W. The only stations weaker are KETS (PBS) because they only put out 2.1kW (which I can not receive at all with an indoor antenna) and KVTN at 725kW (they just increased that power.) With all that power they are putting out, I just can't understand why it is so much weaker than everyone elses. I have adjusted my antennas a lot and if I hold my tongue right I can get a decent, solid signal on my two sets of indoor antenna.

The KATV signal we are getting on D* is a mess with over-modulated audio, extremely bright white levels, and overall just a very substandard signal, but it is at least getting their commercials show which is what matters most, right?


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

What a completely cynical post!

It has been less than 24 hours since this happened and hard working people are doing their best under completely unforseen circumstances to get a signal on the air, a task they have achieved. Doesn't that mean anything to you or is seeing a perfect picture and hearing perfect sound all that matters?

I hope your car breaks down five miles out of town and you have to walk home. It would give you time to ponder how much we rely on a fragile technological base.


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

You are damn right its a cynical post. You are not from around here, you have no idea what garbage we put up with from this station. I laugh my ass off at their unfortunate circumstances because they have been needing to do things to improve their products for years. They are constantly passing the buck off to this extremely low quality alternate source for putting on even lesser quality college sports on the main channel. They also have a bad habit of simplying saying to hell with the general viewing public and put informercials or other paid advertising on instead of the content that would rather be seen. They need to go out and make a better partnership while this is going on instead of just going with what they already have had in place which has proven to be complete crap.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

spock, Some comments may seem a bit harsh to you, not having experienced the frustrations viewers in the central Arkansas viewing area have had to put up with for years and years.

This antiquated abc affiliate is still using *ancient* equipment (e.g. they only added MTS analog stereo a few years ago, and were the last big commercial station in LR to go full power DT, and only because they were forced to by the FCC). They constantly pre-empt abc network programming for lame sports and infomercials, then re-run the pre-empted prime time shows at 1am and not in HD, as they have no HD time-shifting equipment.

The station is a joke, and this massive tower collapes, IMO, was a mercy killing. Thankfully, no one was killed.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

I guess I'm glad I don't live in Little Rock. 

I do understand your plight. My Fox station, here in DMA #127, is so poor they didn't turn on to HD. They broadcast in SDTV and are still mono. Up to 3-4 years ago they were still using Sony 3/4" U-Matics _on air_.









At least my Fox station no longer runs silent movies in the afternoon, which they did when they first signed on.

You have my sympathy.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

DannyStraessle said:


> The 2,033-foot transmitter tower owned by Little Rock ABC affiliate KATV fell today at 1:00 CST while workers were stringing new guy wires. While Comcast customers still have access to KATV's signal (via direct studio feed), DBS customers are in the dark.
> 
> The Little Rock LiL receive site (located at the ClearChannel Metroplex where FOX affiliate KLRT resides) takes KATV's off-air signal (not sure if it's the digital or the analog). Both digital and analog antennas were on that tower.
> 
> ...


D'oh!


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## dieseladdict (Dec 24, 2007)

This could be a blessing in disguise. 

They are going to have to replace the transmitter as well as the tower and antenna. I bet it won't be an analog VHF setup. I suspect they will replace it with a UHF HD setup.


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## K4SMX (May 19, 2007)

Hmmmm. Old rusty tower, old out-of-date transmitter, no one killed, insurance premiums probably up-to-date......this is Arkansas, right?


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## dettxw (Nov 21, 2007)

Davenlr said:


> Dettxw: Tried it, used washington dc zip, didn't work. Said 771. Thanks for the suggestion tho.


Damn. Other posters had said that similar tricks worked for them so I was just looking for zips that had stations on the same channels.

Tried it myself by putting in a Greensboro zip as secondary in order to try tricking the HR20 into tuning their channel 48-1, which transmits on UHF 33 as does my local KOCB-CW. However, even though I got the guide info the HR20 didn't tune my local station. I wonder why it didn't work - is DirecTV acting as DMA police, checking the station ID in the broadcast signal and making sure that you don't tune an out-of-area station? Maybe someone can explain just how an ATSC tuner works.


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## Mark20 (Dec 25, 2006)

OUCH! Thank God no one was killed.

A TV station in the Pennsylvania Poconos recently lost its tower due to wind storms and a amateur radio operator lost his life last year when a large beam antenna got out of control and caused the tower to collapse under him. (He was properly harnessed to the tower and his ground crew saw him ride it down.)

Both of these have been reported on the web but I don't have time to search for links to them.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

In February of 2003 the WCHS/WVAH towers in the Huntington/Charlesotn DMA came down due to ice. I didn't see it fall, but I heard it as did a good portion of the valley.

Cable and DBS got back on the air pretty quickly as the LRF is located at those two stations, but OTA took a very long time. IIRC, it was the 2005 Superbowl that was first broadcast from the new tower in HD no less.

It can take a very long time to get a new tower up and in place.


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## MartyS (Dec 29, 2006)

Ken S said:


> In Florida if you get a tower up about 15ft you're high enough to see this entire flat state. Of course if you live in South Florida you have to boost the power so Radio Cuba doesn't trash your signal (seriously).


Amen!


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## wavemaster (Sep 15, 2007)

Getting the actual replacement tower will probably be the quickest thing to happen. Getting it up - lol, will take a lot longer.

Engineering and insurance check-offs will take time.

Local permits can be fast tracked, but they also need FCC and FAA permits, the FCC and FAA are anything but fast. . .


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

arxaw said:


> This antiquated abc affiliate is still using *ancient* equipment (e.g. they only added MTS analog stereo a few years ago, and were the last big commercial station in LR to go full power DT, and only because they were forced to by the FCC). They constantly pre-empt abc network programming for lame sports and infomercials, then re-run the pre-empted prime time shows at 1am and not in HD, as they have no HD time-shifting equipment.
> 
> The station is a joke, and this massive tower collapes, IMO, was a mercy killing. Thankfully, no one was killed.


Members of the television engineering community have known for years the KATV tower was less than 100%. Case in point: Even though AETN's (state PBS network) analog antenna was lost, the station's digital signal remained on the air because that transmitter/antenna is located across I-530 on KASN's tower. And, thankfully, because the microwave hop feeds the digital antenna first before jumping across to the KATV tower.

While stations typically co-locate their analog & digital antennas on the same tower, AETN chose to install its digital transmitter on the newer KASN tower. AETN already had a rock solid analog network (several locations throughout the state) and completed its DTV build-out before the original analog cut-off deadline. They have invested state tax-payer monies into an impressive digital network that rivals any in the country.

All this said, in anticipation of the analog cut-off, I don't think they worried too much about losing that antenna if the tower came down. Funny thing is, as a backup, I believe AETN has retained right of first refusal on the last antenna space on the KASN tower, which I believe is their solution to re-establish (probably) low-power analog. Which effectively leaves KATV in the dark.

There is some good news though... the current chief engineer at KATV is the former chief engineer at KLRT. This Fox station went full-power digital earlier than many of its competitors. The digital equipment and the signal are top notch. I have heard they have more broadcast power than they need and the digital signal penetrates areas of the state that the analog couldn't.

In short, this guy did it right. If KATV is dedicated to its viewers, they will spend some big bucks and give this engineer the money he needs to get the job done. This is an important opportunity for KATV to re-establish itself among the technology leaders in this market. It's one thing to not spend the money if you have something that works (even if it is limping along); but to have to start over, there is NO excuse for getting by on the cheap.


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## steveken (Sep 15, 2007)

DannyStraessle said:


> If KATV is dedicated to its viewers, they will spend some big bucks and give this engineer the money he needs to get the job done.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

oh yeah, and 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

They could care LESS about their viewers. They are dedicated to their accounts that pay them money. The only do things that will benefit their bottom line. They say to hell with viewers on a daily basis. I will prove that even more when I call them tomorrow and see if they authorize my waiver request for the HD feed of ABC off of DirecTV. I have money that says they deny my request for HD DNS access.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Is AllenF at KATV now? I talked to him daily when KLRT first went live, testing different software and psip configs. If indeed he is at KATV, they will do well if they give him the cash. If ONLY they would get refused use of KASNs tower, so they could go to Shinall Mt.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

DannyStraessle said:


> ***UPDATE***
> 
> Tower crew installed a temporary guy wire to replace a main guy wire. They released the tension on the main guy wire and the temporary one slipped and the tower came down. Fortunately this happened before they climbed the tower again to remove the main guy wire!
> 
> ...


What's even MORE interesting is that the news story says 75% of the viewers are receiving the station (presumably via cable) *75% of that station's viewers have cable????*

Who wrote that news story, the cable company?


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

Davenlr said:


> Is AllenF at KATV now? I talked to him daily when KLRT first went live, testing different software and psip configs. If indeed he is at KATV, they will do well if they give him the cash. If ONLY they would get refused use of KASNs tower, so they could go to Shinall Mt.


Yes he is. Nice guy.

KATV might be able to co-locate on Shinall temporarily, but isn't their FCC license in Pine Bluff? Isn't that why they are down there in the first place? I think the same applies for KASN.... that FCC license is in Pine Bluff.. otherwise I would think they would be on KLRT's tower too????


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

I don't know how that works. It used to be licensed by city, but the DMA is Little Rock/Pine Bluff. One would assume if in fact its restricted to the city, what's stopping a station from putting up a competing ABC station in Little Rock, or Conway? The fcc used to be a mighty agency, but that has changed a lot. Equity has like 30 stations all at the same place with different business names, but the same people actually own them all, and the fcc doesn't mess with them. If they do have to be in Pine Bluff, then why aren't they IN Pine Bluff? Redfield is farther from Pine Bluff than Little Rock.

Sure wish someone familiar with licensing would chime in and explain how it really works.
Maybe all it would take is to apply for a new license in Little Rock...


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

ThomasM said:


> What's even MORE interesting is that the news story says 75% of the viewers are receiving the station (presumably via cable) *75% of that station's viewers have cable????*
> 
> Who wrote that news story, the cable company?


The article may be referring to Central Arkansas... 75% of their viewers in this area may be Comcast subscribers. But I would question that number since there is a large DirecTV & Dish Network penetration.... even more after local channels were added to this market.

OR.... this article may be referring to cable companies throughout the state. For some reason, KATV is carried on more cable systems across the state than any other Little Rock affiliate. Even in adjacent in-state DMAs as a "significantly viewed station." I spoke with an employee at KATV today who indicated their analog signal is being distributed by Equity Broadcasting (a local-based low-power network with several stations across the country.) to cable systems via one of the Galaxy birds.

Since you are an RF engineer, I would like to ask how you would you tackle KATV's situation. They can get analog and digital signals to the Comcast headend in Little Rock because it is a direct studio feed. How would you feed the DBS headend? It's only less than two miles down the same road from the Comcast headend.

Would it be cheaper in the long run to replace with a smaller tower/antenna/transmitter and serve Comcast, DBS, and other cable co's throughout the state via satellite permanently?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

I'm no RF engineer, but the cheapest route would be to send the digital signal to DBS headend using a dedicated data phone line I would think. Thanks for the info on Galaxy 10. I have a receiver coming this week for FTA anyway, so that will be an interesting method to pick it up. I actually ordered it to watch alternate football games on their two Fox stations and the ABC affiliate out of Casper.

They need to recover their HD presence, however, and the only way to do that is a transmitter with a signal we can pick up. I doubt many in Pulaski Co would be able to, since most are pointed at Shinall with their UHF's. It takes a substantial antenna to pick up AETN now at low power, and then I count on my UHF antenna to get the out of band CBS VHF. 

IF they could strike a deal with DirecTv to spotbeam the LR HD market ahead of schedule, they could just run their current ch22 transmitter on a temporary tower and use a high gain receive antenna at the two headends to pick it up. That would cover All comcast and Directv customers, and probably be able to be picked up by Pine Bluff Cable, Sheridan area, and a lot of folks out in the prairie. I'm assuming the transmitter wasn't damaged here...and all they would need would be a temporary tower, and a new STL antenna high enough to "see" downtown building where they have their current STL. Or do the same thing from the top of their building like fox in Memphis (did/does). Lots of inexpensive ways I can see to get back in the HD business in the interim.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

2000 foot tall TV tower?!?!? Wow, I did not know anyone had them that tall. I wish the metro Atlanta stations had them that tall, I'd get better coverage bedind the hill I am located at. The tallest towers around here are about 1000 ft - and we have a lot of rolling terrain that masks signal for some fairly close in areas.


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## DannyStraessle (May 3, 2004)

I have attached a few low-res photos of the crumpled KATV tower that collapsed last week. Although I don't have captions to provide, the photos speak for themselves. I expect to obtain more specific photos with captions in the coming days.


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## Pink Fairy (Dec 28, 2006)

Wow, thank you for the photos. I would hate the clean-up duty on that one.


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

Carl Spock said:


> Oops.
> 
> I would have loved to have seen that happen.


Not really. Several years ago a candelaba type tower came down in Minneapolis/ St. Paul Minnesota. I think at least 3 and possibly 5 workers were killed. It was a big mess. Stations were off the air for quite a while until they could get on back up towers.

Bob


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

DannyStraessle said:


> When constructed in the 1960s, @ 2000' it was the second tallest structure in the world. Now, it's a twisted pile of steel.
> 
> I wonder if they'll bother rebuilding the analog. It would probably be cheaper for the station to just give out digital converters to their remaining analog OTA viewers.


Interesting how the tower fell. It's being described almost as a controlled progressive collapse. The top snaps off, followed by the lower section snapping in two pieces, thus the "pile" of steel.

So how does KATV rebuild? With another 2,000-foot tower? Is it necessary in this digital world? Well if you're an OTA purist, yes. Even though the tower site is 20 minutes SE of Little Rock, that's 20 minutes SE of the Little Rock Airport. KATV has to literally pump their signal out of the prairie and up into the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The taller the better because they have to reach in the proximity of Russellville with a "B" quality signal.

As for analog, if they're smart, they will get by as cheaply as possible and as low-power as possible. I would like to see KATV invest in a top-of-the-line digital transmitter with as high power as possible. Of all the digital TV signals in the Little Rock-Pine Bluff DMA, theirs was always the worst on satellite.

And now is a good time to be thinking about redundancy. The CBS affiliate KTHV offered KATV use of their backup tower on Shinall (for a steep price, I'm sure). As I finish this post, KATV is back on DirecTV and the signal looks pretty bad (Comcast analog).

Perhaps today's events prove DBS and Cable can co-exist?!? [/QUOTE]

Analog is going away in approximately 13 months. It would probalby take them longer than that to square away the insurance claims , lawsuits and then order materials for construction. It may not be worth it.

Bob


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Dont the DTV transition rules pretty much require that stations at least duplicate their current analog coverage with OTA?


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## dmurphy (Sep 28, 2006)

azarby said:


> Not really. Several years ago a candelaba type tower came down in Minneapolis/ St. Paul Minnesota. I think at least 3 and possibly 5 workers were killed. It was a big mess. Stations were off the air for quite a while until they could get on back up towers.


Yeah, exactly. The local TV tower around here collapsed a few years ago - 9/11/01. 3000 people died. Not quite a pleasant experience.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

Now let me see if I follow this. 

I make a remark about how I would have liked to see a tower collapse in an accident where I knew nobody was hurt. The next post says I really wouldn't have wanted to see that happen because of a tower crash in Minnesota where 3 to 5 people were killed. That then gets compared to 9/11 and how terrible that was.

Yeah, I've got it right.

 

Maybe we can back down the rhetoric a notch?


And thanks for the pictures, Danny. What a mess!


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## dmurphy (Sep 28, 2006)

Carl Spock said:


> Now let me see if I follow this.
> 
> I make a remark about how I would have liked to see a tower collapse in an accident where I knew nobody was hurt. The next post says I really wouldn't have wanted to see that happen because of a tower crash in Minnesota where 3 to 5 people were killed. That then gets compared to 9/11 and how terrible that was.


You're absolutely right Carl. I'm being a jerk-ass this morning. Please accept my apologies! I must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed or somethin'....


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## southofi-10 (Apr 6, 2008)

Did a "google" on tower collapse.You would be surprised what you'll find.Alot of video of actually tower drops.The Boston station (wor?)dropped 3 at a time.That was awesome.Check it out.

Here's the link for the wor towers----- 3 towers in one shot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.soundbiters.com/video/video/wor/tww3jF2NcdE/WOR_Tower_Collapse


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

I could have used one of those towers so I could get OTA. :lol: :lol: :grin:


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## HarleyJoel (Dec 10, 2005)

It was WOR's towers in Lyndhurst, NJ. The station is in Secaucus, NJ.


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## Directvlover (Aug 27, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Months for sure.


Try 18 to 24 months. Same thing happen here in Omaha a few years back to our ABC affiliate. It actually happened while they were installing the HD antennas. They didn't reinforce it correctly and the weight of all the new equipment hanging on the tower made it collapse.

It happened on the 4th of July at night. People that live around the tower said it sounded like fireworks, so no one thought anything of it. Needless to say HD from them was only available on cable for about 18 months as they had to clear the mess reconstruct a new tower, purchase all new antenna, and construct it. Plus the tower fell on the transmitter building so they had to rebulid that as well as replace some damaged equipment inside. It was a big pain waiting for over the air HD to be available from them.


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## Newshawk (Sep 3, 2004)

HarleyJoel said:


> It was WOR's towers in Lyndhurst, NJ. The station is in Secaucus, NJ.


It was WOR AM, with studios in NYC-thus the need for three towers. The TV station located in Secauaus is WWOR.


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