TV RF Channel Changes

[organman95]

Correct. Antenna was nearly 1400 feet above average terrain, too! They were far & away the strongest VHF signal in the Ludington area. Viewers with an outdoor antenna as far south as northern Muskegon County and maybe even far northern Kent County could receive the station regularly. Reception wasn't great north of M-72, however.

And that's where WTOM comes into the mix. I grew up in Cheboygan, and pretty much anywhere in town could receive Ch.4 without an antenna (as the tower is a few miles east of town). Back in the analog days, that is. Probably not possible to receive it without an antenna now, haven't lived there in 11 years.

[makitaman]

WMNN made some changes:

Added Start TV on 26-2
Moved Antenna to 26-10
Went to progressive on all 480 channels (quite rare)

[statmanmi]

Another "maximization" modification in the market has been approved.

Yesterday the FCC granted the Construction Permit to WWTV to up their RF9 power to the requested 51.8Kw level from Mt. Dighton.

Note: No License to Cover yet for the previously granted increase by WGTU.

To use makitaman's previous post's layout, here are the current statuses:

Attention OTA TV Fans

(RF9 increase approved Nov. 2020/DRT by TC completed previously) ... WWTV-9 increase from 45kw to 51.8kw / ch.40 change to ch.25 15kw

(Completed) WMNN-14 increase to 15kw and change to ch.17

(Completed) WCMV-17 increase to 576kw and change to ch.34

(Approved earlier in 2020; not yet completed) WGTU-29 increase to 1 million watts

(Still Pending with the FCC) WFQX-32 increase to 1 million watts

(All three seemingly completed, although License to Cover forms not yet filed for either DRT) WPBN-47 increase to 850kw and change to ch.35 / ch.50 change to ch.18 TC & ch.22 Harrietta 15kw


Also approved for Michigan yesterday was WWMT 3.x CBS Kalamazoo RF8 "maximization" to move their current side-mounted antenna to the top of their existing tower, replacing the abandoned RF3 analog one. I find it entertaining that the two CBS affiliates on this side of the state had their approvals occur on the same day. Among other things, it might help out some of those in Muskegon County that can't reliably receive CBS OTA to soon have both reaching them once the work at each station is completed.

Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi

...

WGTU's modification to 1 million watts ERP was granted earlier this week.

...

The modifications/increases requested by WWTV and WFQX remain open for continued consideration by the FCC. I've noticed that in addition to WGTU's maximization request, others for non-repacked stations have started to trickle through as granted. One of the first was up in Marquette: WZMQ RF19 (with 19.1 as MeTV) has approval now to go from 31 kW ERP to 255 kW.

Cheers! Statmanmi

Attention OTA TV Fans

WWTV-9 increase from 45kw to 51.8kw / ch.40 change to ch.25 15kw
WMNN-14 increase to 15kw and change to ch.17
WCMV-17 increase to 576kw and change to ch.34
WGTU-29 increase to 1 million watts
WFQX-32 increase to 1 million watts
WPBN-47 increase to 850kw and change to ch.35 / ch.50 change to ch.18 TC & ch.22 Harrietta 15kw

Don't know when this will happen and all channels are in actual RF listings don't get me started on PSIP virtual channels.

[Jason Kragt]

The WWMT move - if & when it happens - should help viewers in Kent & Ottawa Counties, too!

It really helped here in Saugatuck. WWMT is now more reliable than WOOD-TV out here.

I also recently received WWTV here--over 100 miles away. CBS got a much needed boost with the recent improvements at those 2 stations.

[Taco]

I'm planning on buying an outdoor antenna in the spring. It's cool that you can get channels OTA that aren't on cable or a dish. I was watching Cord Cutters News this morning and they said Comcast is charging $60/month for a local channels only package. That is just absurd.