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North Carolina broadcasting landmark brought down

R

RadioDaze

This is on the National TV board...the 2,000-foot analog TV tower of WECT in Wilmington--rendered obsolete with the switch to digital TV in 2008 (for national test-market Wilmington)--was taken down this past Thursday. The tallest structure in North Carolina, the tower had stood since 1969.
CrankyYankee said:
Money raised from the sale of steel from the demolition of the tower near White Lake in Bladen County will go to the charity, which helps families of wounded and killed Special Forces soldiers.
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/09/20/1205507?sac=fo.military
Click to expand...
 
At 1,905 feet (as that article states) it was far from the tallest structure in NC, let alone east of the Mississippi. Just one example - WRAL's antenna is licensed at 2,070 feet.

Sad to see this go, though. I never understood why WECT abandoned this for the tiny stick they use now.
 
WECT was heard on 87.7----in Europe! That was maybe 10 years ago.

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They abandoned it and moved closer to Wilmington because of the digital transition and digital limitations.
In the UHF band their signal wouldn't have gone as far out of Bladen County as it did on channel 6. I think they greatly decreased their power too (to save money, because they are Raycom, and for test purposes, since Wilmington was the first market to completely switch over. [I think they are channel 44 now.]
They could have superserved Elizabethtown and White Lake, I guess, but would have been fringe in Wilmington and probably about the same in Fayetteville.
At least that's the explanation I heard back in 2009, when we completely lost them here in Cumberland County.
 
I'm not sure where they got that 1,905 figure in the story, but the WECT tower is noted in several sources as standing 2,000 feet (609.6 meters) above ground level (not average terrain or sea level). The VHF 6 analog antenna was still in place as the tower fell last Thursday.

WRAL's analog tower stands a few inches shy at 1,999 feet (609.5 meters) above ground while their current antenna on the adjacent digital candleabra (noted in some sources as the "WNCN Tower") is 11 feet lower at 1,988 feet (606.2 meters) above ground.

It is somewhat inaccurate to say that the WECT tower was North Carolina's tallest, as it was tied with the WBTV tower near Dallas, NC (another Raycom station). That tower is still in use by WBTV, though the station is licensed for operation at 1,932 feet (589 meters) above ground level. I don't know if this is side-mounted or if the VHF 3 antenna atop the tower has been removed and replaced with one for UHF 23 (which would be shorter than a VHF antenna).

WECT was tied with six other east-of-the-Mississippi structures for higest man-made structure this side of the river: one each in Georgia and Wisconsin, and two structures each in Alabama, and South Carolina (one of which, the Floyd Dale tower of WPDE-TV/Florence, is probably 50-60 miles away from where the WECT tower stood).

I've wondered why, with the tower's proximity to Fayetteville, that there weren't any interested radio operators looking to upgrade who may have been able to do so from this site. I know the 87.7 audio in the analog days had an amazing coverage.
 
The 87.7 audio signal could be hear up to the VA border north of the Triangle nearly every morning. ;)

On a side note, I think the 7/9 WNCT tower in Grifton, NC is also a member of the 2,000ft club
 
I've noticed that lots of broadcasters tend to "round up" their tower heights, when they're very close to the 2,000-foot mark. The WCTI site near Trenton, for instance, stands 1,929 feet above ground level (588 meters) per the FCC database, while the WITN/WCTI site near Grifton is nearly 1,959 feet above ground level (597 meters), with the WITN antenna the highest and the WNCT antenna at 1,893 feet (577 meters). I'm not sure about the WCTI antenna, but I know the antenna atop the WITN/WNCT tower was replaced during the DTV transition. All told, the difference in coverage between a station at exactly 2,000 feet above the ground and one at 1,929 feet, all else being equal, may buy you an extra mile to the horizon.
 
The WBTV RF23 digital TV antenna is top mounted on their tower, and is a full power 1000kw omnidirectional signal. From Dallas, NC in Gaston Co. I receive that signal at 100% from 75 miles here in GVL, SC. On that same tower are the radio antennas for 107.9 The Link/WLNK, and WNOW 105.3. I get these stations clearly with rabbit ears at my location. The height of these 2000ft towers does help provide a strong broadcast signal. Looks like some broadcaster could have used that old WECT tower.
 
I've received the HD Radio signal more than a few times from WLNK 107.9 here in Durham, NC. I did the math on coverage at different heights and 2,000 feet will get you about a 54.8-mile line of sight, while 1900 feet gets about 53.4. Just for comparison, 1500 feet gets 47.4 and 1700 gets 50.5, though height above average terrain is the best figure for this as a 300-foot above ground level antenna on a 5,000-foot mountain will get better coverage than a 300-foot tower, or for that matter, a 1,000-foot tower in the coastal plains (obstructions withstanding).
 
WJZY and WCNC also have 2000ft TV towers in Dallas, NC near the WBTV location. The WJZY/WMYT tower is operated by Capitol Broadcasting and is also the home of the Channel 96.1 and Kiss 95.1 radio antennas. I believe the WJZY tower is actually the tallest because of the slightly higher terrain.
 
While WCNC and WJZY both fall shy of exactly 2,000 feet, their heights are impressive. WCNC is tallest of the two at 1,969 feet above ground, while the WJZY/WMYT tower is 1,944 feet above ground.
 
It was sad to see the WECT Tower come down. I worked for WECT while it was being built and spent some time at the White Lake site. I wish they could have found some use for it.
 
RadioDaze said:
While WCNC and WJZY both fall shy of exactly 2,000 feet, their heights are impressive. WCNC is tallest of the two at 1,969 feet above ground, while the WJZY/WMYT tower is 1,944 feet above ground.
Click to expand...
Only WBTV has their digital TV antenna top-mounted on top of their tower, which is why they have a very strong omnidirectional signal. WCNC and WJZY still have their DTV antennas side-mounted. But I wish WSOC-TV had built a full power DTV tower in Gaston County like the other TV stations, as their weak Crowders Mtn translator is difficult for me to receive here in Greenville, SC. And ABC from Asheville on RF13-WLOS has a problematic DTV signal as well, despite their height atop Mt. Pisgah. But all the Dallas DTV signals are very strong at my location.
 
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