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WMC TV Translators coming to West TN

anotherguyTN

anotherguyTN

I saw online that Gray has bought two LD stations in West TN and will use them as translators for WMC NBC 5 and their subchannels in the Jackson area. WANF-LD 32 is actually closer to Dyersburg and was originally supposed to be WHJK-LD 20 in Jackson, which to my knowledge was never on the air. WDDY-LD 15 is closer to Selmer. I also saw that both stations will show 5 as their PSIP channel number.

Are either of these actually on yet? I'm close enough that I should be able to get 32, but haven't been able to pick it up yet.

From what I could see on RabbitEars.info neither of these stations will actually reach into Jackson. It looks like it would make sense for Gray to buy WNBJ-LD 39 in Jackson and use it as a translator for WMC as well.



 
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Seems like Gray knows what they're doing...there's two translators for WSMV-4: W29FR-D and W15ER-D and they cover the main transmitter's (RF 10) blind spots very well.
 
It never made any sense to me why WMC chose to go back to 5 after the digital transition instead of going to UHF. They would have definitely had better coverage.
 
According to Rabbit Ears and Antennaweb WANF is on now, but I haven't been able to pick them up yet. I've even moved my outdoor antenna to where it should have been aimed directly toward the tower, which is about 15 miles away. Either they aren't actually on yet or their signal is extremely weak. If they are on the only purpose I can see in it is to possibly feed cable systems.
 
Its extremely weak at 1600 watts 78 feet (!!!) up on a tower in Spring Hill. Coverage map doesnt reach Jackson proper

What happened when Gray bought these translators is they had until Jan 10th to get them on the air or risk forfeiture due to being off the air for almost a year. So they make a modification to slap it somewhere on a tower to get the signal on the air. They did the same thing where I am in Minnesota. They bought a translator on 33 and hastily got it up on the TV tower (Gray owns KEYC and KMNF-LD in Mankato) to get it active. The translator (K33MW) broadcasts at 860 watts 25 feet up the KEYC tower (KMNF is up 968 feet and KEYC 1040 feet)

Gray has a construction permit to move WANF NW of Dyersburg at 10kw 365 feet up. (Dyer County is in the Memphis DMA)

The other translator (WDDY) is currently south of Jackson in Bethel Springs. They are going to upgrade it and move it to Kossuth, MS (Alcorn County....still Memphis DMA)
 
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anotherguyTN said:
It never made any sense to me why WMC chose to go back to 5 after the digital transition instead of going to UHF. They would have definitely had better coverage.
Click to expand...
They were on UHF prior to 2009 on 52 but had to vacate it. They decided to reuse the 5 antenna for digital
To avoid the loss of digital service to the Station’s community, the Station intends to bring the Channel 5 DTV post-transition DTV operation online nearly simultaneously with the Station’s shutdown of its analog Channel 5 and pre-transition DTV Channel 52 facilities. The Station has determined, however, that it is not reasonably possible to simultaneously remove the Channel 52 antenna and transmission line at the interim site and install the new Channel 5 equipment if the facilities are to occupy the same position on the same tower.
The Station has determined that it could avoid loss of service and complete construction most efficiently by discontinuing Channel 52 service at the interim site and launching Channel 5 DTV service − using the existing Channel 5 antenna and transmission line − at the existing Channel 5 site.
 
Mr Tony said:
Its extremely weak at 1600 watts 78 feet (!!!) up on a tower in Spring Hill. Coverage map doesnt reach Jackson proper

What happened when Gray bought these translators is they had until Jan 10th to get them on the air or risk forfeiture due to being off the air for almost a year. So they make a modification to slap it somewhere on a tower to get the signal on the air. They did the same thing where I am in Minnesota. They bought a translator on 33 and hastily got it up on the TV tower (Gray owns KEYC and KMNF-LD in Mankato) to get it active. The translator (K33MW) broadcasts at 860 watts 25 feet up the KEYC tower (KMNF is up 968 feet and KEYC 1040 feet)

Gray has a construction permit to move WANF NW of Dyersburg at 10kw 365 feet up. (Dyer County is in the Memphis DMA)

The other translator (WDDY) is currently south of Jackson in Bethel Springs. They are going to upgrade it and move it to Kossuth, MS (Alcorn County....still Memphis DMA)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I had tried to call WMC to find out what was happening but got sent to voice mail with nobody responding each time. I would have thought that I could get it from where I live in Alamo, which is only about 15 miles from the tower with my outdoor antenna, but even that didn't work so they must be extremely weak.

In the 60's and 70's WMC had a translator in Dyersburg on channel 9, but I think they dropped it when the local cable system cane in.

Mr Tony said:
They were on UHF prior to 2009 on 52 but had to vacate it. They decided to reuse the 5 antenna for digital
To avoid the loss of digital service to the Station’s community, the Station intends to bring the Channel 5 DTV post-transition DTV operation online nearly simultaneously with the Station’s shutdown of its analog Channel 5 and pre-transition DTV Channel 52 facilities. The Station has determined, however, that it is not reasonably possible to simultaneously remove the Channel 52 antenna and transmission line at the interim site and install the new Channel 5 equipment if the facilities are to occupy the same position on the same tower.
The Station has determined that it could avoid loss of service and complete construction most efficiently by discontinuing Channel 52 service at the interim site and launching Channel 5 DTV service − using the existing Channel 5 antenna and transmission line − at the existing Channel 5 site.
Click to expand...
I believe I've seen where WMC has applied to move to channel 30, but I don't know what the progress is on that. It might improve the chances of my getting them if that happens. I can get the main Memphis stations as it stands now (3, 10, 24, and 30 and even 40 and 50, all the ones actually on UHF) except for WMC and WHBQ Fox 13 with an outdoor antenna, and I don't think WHBQ is doing anything to improve their signal. I probably need to get a better antenna for VHF, but that's not happening any time soon.
 
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anotherguyTN said:
Thanks for the info. I had tried to call WMC to find out what was happening but got sent to voice mail with nobody responding each time. I would have thought that I could get it from where I live in Alamo, which is only about 15 miles from the tower with my outdoor antenna, but even that didn't work so they must be extremely weak.
Click to expand...
Running a generic rabbitears report for middle of Alamo it says it’s possible. Weak but possible. Do you have a way to manually select RF32 and maybe try and reaim the antenna?


anotherguyTN said:
I believe I've seen where WMC has applied to move to channel 30, but I don't know what the progress is on that.
Click to expand...
Still pending with the FCC

anotherguyTN said:
It might improve the chances of my getting them if that happens.
Click to expand...
Much better than VHF lo. They will be using less power (515kw) than the other UHF stations. Height on tower is about same but 3 broadcasts at 906kw, 10 at 835kw. ABC 30 broadcasts on rf31 at 871kw.
 
Mr Tony said:
Running a generic rabbitears report for middle of Alamo it says it’s possible. Weak but possible. Do you have a way to manually select RF32 and maybe try and reaim the antenna?
Click to expand...
I tried all that and it didn't help. I may need to get a better antenna, but I;m not able to do that for now. Thanks again!
 
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