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WWTV at low power?

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WC8KCY
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by WC8KCY » Sun May 22, 2022 1:00 pm

There's a banner on 9and10news.com stating that a new antenna has been ordered and will arrive mid-June.



SixPlusOne
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by SixPlusOne » Mon May 23, 2022 8:55 am

WC8KCY wrote:
Sun May 22, 2022 1:00 pm
There's a banner on 9and10news.com stating that a new antenna has been ordered and will arrive mid-June.
The banner:

"Attention viewers using antenna reception: A new antenna has been ordered, and is expected to arrive in mid-June. Channel 9 is operating at low power until then. You can watch 9&10 News on the free VUit app. Thank you for your patience."



hunterw
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by hunterw » Sun Jun 19, 2022 11:30 am

Any updates to when wwtv will be back to full power? Seems like mid June has already passed. At least paramount plus still streams the live feed of 9&10.



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audiophile
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by audiophile » Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:20 am

Why not carry it on 32?


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WC8KCY
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by WC8KCY » Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:17 pm

audiophile wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:20 am
Why not carry it on 32?
I've wondered the same thing, seeing how 32.1 is simulcast on 9.2 and 9.1 is simulcast on WFUP 45.2. Still can't receive 9 OTA here in Manistee.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by MWmetalhead » Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:40 pm

I agree with you guys.



organman95
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by organman95 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:21 pm

WC8KCY wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:17 pm
audiophile wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:20 am
Why not carry it on 32?
I've wondered the same thing, seeing how 32.1 is simulcast on 9.2 and 9.1 is simulcast on WFUP 45.2. Still can't receive 9 OTA here in Manistee.
There should be a translator for 9&10 near the area, as well as a stronger translator for 7&4/29&8. When I lived in Manistee, I could only pick up WCMV (ridiculous, as my house was only a few miles from WCMW tower). The others were not possible from the south end of town.



kager
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by kager » Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:50 am

The banner on the brewvine web site now states new antenna will be installed week of July 4th...


"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred."

statmanmi
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by statmanmi » Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:57 pm

organman95 wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:21 pm

There should be a translator for 9&10 near the area, as well as a stronger translator for 7&4/29&8. When I lived in Manistee, I could only pick up WCMV (ridiculous, as my house was only a few miles from WCMW tower). The others were not possible from the south end of town.
I'm curious to see if WWTV engineering will proceed with increasing their transmission power as part of installing the new antenna and transmitter. There hasn't yet been a modification filed with the FCC regarding their construction permit approved in Nov. 2020. That specified increasing from 45 kW ERP to 51.3 kW utilizing the existing antenna. I haven't looked at the projected pattern to see how much help is predicted for the lakeshore.

My hunch since there's been no filing yet is that they'll get the antenna and other work done, then file a modification after-the-fact regarding the antenna change. Unless somehow they've procured an identical RCA TW-18-A9-P aerial from someone's boneyard, since I doubt new RCAs are being manufactured. WWMT Kalamazoo did a similar paperwork shuffle in Sept. 2021, as they placed a new antenna atop their Gun Lake tower that differed from the approved construction permit. The FCC promptly saw through approving the subsequent-to-installation modification, and the license to cover came through shortly thereafter.

I'll mention that the STA most recently filed in early May noted that during testing to diagnose the antenna situation, further damage occurred. Specifically, in April they reduced to only 25% of authorized ERP. But by May they've been at only 18%. Also noted was that the new antenna requires a new transmitter.


Recall that WFQX RF32 "Local 32" (Fox and subchannels) on the same tower has the approved construction permit from March 2021 to increase from 200 kW ERP to 1,000 kW ERP. That filing cites replacing the existing Systems With Reliability SWEDM24OI/32 antenna with a Dielectric TFU-24DSC P230 model with a different directional pattern. I'll further speculate/hope that perhaps the tower work crew has been engaged to see through both of these antenna changes, if we're lucky.


As of this afternoon (Wed. 6/29) the website notice still only mentions about WWTV:

"Attention viewers using antenna reception: A new antenna has been ordered and will be installed the week of July 4. Channel 9 is operating at low power until then. You can watch 9&10 News on the free VUit app. Thank you for your patience." (https://www.9and10news.com/)

So ideally they'll revise that banner when specific outages occur. I'm kind of impressed that they're noting this on the website, since so many stations tend to only post to Facebook, if anywhere beyond the FCC forms.

Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi



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MWmetalhead
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:05 pm

The fact WWTV operates using an omni pattern helps the cause, I suspect.

If the replacement antenna required a directional pattern, I suspect the procurement time would've taken much longer.

The fact WPBN and WGTU both broadcast from Kalkaska has always struck me as silly. One of the full power licenses should be moved to the Harrietta tower in western Wexford County; NBC and ABC programming could then run on both full power signals from both locations.

That said, having a 15 kW (or thereabouts) translator in Harrietta is better than nothing.

And we all know OTA broadcasters have financial incentive to maximize the number of cable and sat households in their viewing area! No retrans fees are generated from households that solely view TV programming via OTA means.



kager
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by kager » Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:21 am

organman95 wrote:
Fri Apr 29, 2022 8:17 pm
Saw a message on 9&10 website that says Channel 9 is operating at low power until further notice.
WC8KCY wrote:
Sun May 22, 2022 1:00 pm
There's a banner on 9and10news.com stating that a new antenna has been ordered and will arrive mid-June.
kager wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:50 am
The banner on the brewvine web site now states new antenna will be installed week of July 4th...
Image

Above is "The Most Accurate And Reliable Forecast" (latest guess) from their site...


"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred."

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Jim Sofonia
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by Jim Sofonia » Tue Aug 23, 2022 6:42 pm

WC8KCY wrote:
Sun May 22, 2022 1:00 pm
There's a banner on 9and10news.com stating that a new antenna has been ordered and will arrive mid-June.
kager wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:50 am
The banner on the brewvine web site now states new antenna will be installed week of July 4th...

Above is "The Most Accurate And Reliable Forecast" (latest guess) from their site...
[/quote]
So which is it? First they said they were ordering a whole new antenna. Now your message says they are ordering a repair part yet to be received or installed.



kager
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by kager » Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:39 pm

mars wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 6:42 pm
So which is it? First they said they were ordering a whole new antenna. Now your message says they are ordering a repair part yet to be received or installed.
Who knows? The red banner was taken directly from their web site today. It hasn't been accurate yet.

Meanwhile, they seem very busy touting exclusive programming available only on various streaming apps, and growing things in their yard.


"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred."

organman95
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by organman95 » Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:06 am

The new/current studio building and old studio building burning down happened before they had all their stuff figured out. If you notice there have been more "issues" in their signal since then.

But that's just my observation from what I see posted online.



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Bull Shannon
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Re: WWTV at low power?

Post by Bull Shannon » Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:39 am

organman95 wrote:
Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:06 am
The new/current studio building and old studio building burning down happened before they had all their stuff figured out. If you notice there have been more "issues" in their signal since then.

But that's just my observation from what I see posted online.
When was there a fire at their current studio?



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