Location of Traverse City TV towers.

[Jim Sofonia]

I just cut loose the cable tv service. Was way too expensive for a 100 channels with nothing on. I reactivated my roof antenna but has been many years since used last and the transmitters have moved around and changed channels. Where are the TC translators for NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS located and what new channels? I am on the East side of TC, Holiday Rd. area.

[statmanmi]

Hello mars,

Welcome to cord cutting! I don't live "Up North", but grew up there and have been helping family and friends in the area with getting TV antennas in place. I'll offer these thoughts:

1. Tower locations: In the spirit of "teaching to fish", here's the most up-to-date search page for TV tower locations:

https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php

Notice the "Click here for more detailed instructions." available between the map and the parameter box near the bottom. (This site is better than the long-available "TV Fool" one, as the database at "TV Fool" hasn't been updated for all the FCC Repack changes made in the last 3 years.)

2. Short answer on locations: Since you're in the Holiday Road area, you'll receive all your desired signals from pretty much straight west and east. PBS (CMU Public TV) doesn't have a Traverse City-specific translator, so you'll need to receive from the east on the Kalkaska tower with WGTU (ABC/NBC), WPBN(NBC/ABC/Comet), and WCMV(PBS and related subchannels). All others, including WXII (MyNetworkTV/Cozi...and might still be analog until they add digital later this year) are "up the hill" west of town. One such tower is at the WPBN studio on M-72. Others are on "Hickory Hill", just north of the Traverse City West high school.

3. "New channels": I see from your past comments in threads on this site that you're aware of MeTV and MyNetworkTV/COZI--these are indeed available over the air. The big jackpot will be if the digital WXII (when it comes online) will contain as many subchannels as that operator's flagship WMNN station by Cadillac, as they provide 11 channels now (one of which is MyNetworkTV/COZI).

4. Glad you already have an antenna. Running a "rescan" from each TV/tuner box that you own should find all the channels. Even though most are on different radio wave frequencies than when you last used your aerial, the TVs/tuners will display many channel numbers that are familiar: NBC as 7.1, CBS as, 9.1, although ABC will likely be 7.2 or 29.1, and FOX will be 9.2...I think. Digital TV functionality allowed stations to still market themselves by their analog numbers (as "virtual channel numbers") even though the airwave frequencies have changed.

5. If you're not getting all the broadcasts, even after reorienting your antenna, consider replacing the coax cable (after first checking that all connections are tight) before going out and buying a new aerial. You probably already knew that...but inexperienced folks sometimes only replace the antenna and don't realize that the aged cabling has water in it, a bad end on one, etc.

6. Should you happen to go shopping for a new antenna, and since your signals are basically in two opposite directions, I'd suggest that either the Clearstream 2MAX or Clearstream MAX-V would be good choices. What I don't know of course is how much the hills and/or trees on Holiday Rd. affect your reception, so these might be too little gain. Also be advised that there are DVRs from a few different companies that will accept antenna signals, in case that functionality is missed from the returned cable box(es).

7. One more thought: If you and your household find that you're missing one or two pay channels from cable, and you have stable internet, this site is really neat at figuring out the most economical source:

http://suppose.tv

One selects down the left side what channels are of interest, then the site populates what streaming services fit the bill. In my household, we've switched services many times: AT&T NOW when it was $35, then to philo when we didn't need ESPN (Formula 1 for my son's only live TV watching), and lately switching between vidgo and sling over a few months when ESPN is desired.

Good luck! ~~ Statmanmi

[Jim Sofonia]

Stat,
Thank you for the very detailed response. All the data bases I could find were at least 3 years out of date, your link to Rabbit Ears did the job with the locations and channels I need to work with. My existing antenna with Winegard pre amp is actually 3 UHF corner reflectors of different sizes and brands coupled by a 3 port splitter. I rotated the top antenna to the West and get CBS on ch. 25 quite well, but that messed up the ch's to the East. There is no engineering on the length of the cables. Do you know of the proper procedure for coupling two antennas pointed E/W. Thanks, Jim

[TC Talks]

There's an entire thread about OTA antenna configuration in the engineering form.

[Jim Sofonia]

TC Talks, I looked thru the threads in Engineering (many pages) but didn't find your thread. I'd like to see it if you could post a link. Meantime with the help of Rabbit Ears it turns out most everything is to my West. I disconnected all but the top antenna and with it pointed West is now working well. PBS is working with a small drop occasionally from the East. The new repeater should fix that when available.

[statmanmi]

Hello mars,

The post by TC Talks intrigued me too, so I tried to find a thread about OTA Antenna configuration. I, like you, can't find it. There's a chance it was lost in the "gap" when a few months of posts were lost to a necessary restore a couple of years ago. That's when MW found out that his service provider for this site wasn't accomplishing adequate backups--and has achieved much better recovery plans since.

Other thoughts, as follow-up to my post in this thread and your responses:

* The new repeater should fix that when available. -- I'm unaware of any FCC filing or CMU Public TV announcements that they'll be adding some sort of TV translator to help with the Traverse City "bowl". I think they brought online, or soon will, an FM radio translator--but not TV. Thus, PBS from the east of you (Kalkaska tower) is your only option.

* I disconnected all but the top antenna... -- I hadn't gotten a chance to post back on Thursday or Friday that you should indeed try just a single antenna, instead of all 3. The 3 UHF corner reflector arrangement sounds like it would have fit the bill back in the 2000s when trying to get the first digital TV signals, as they were underpowered and most were temporary arrangements until the DTV Transition in 2009. As you noted in your initial post, lots has changed since then.

* ...most everything is to my West. -- Agreed, and perhaps I buried that thought in my post earlier this week.


* My next suggestion, if you're inclined: Take the other two antennas off the mast (as there's a chance they're causing "multipath" reflections), and remove any splitters along the coax--both the splitter that joined the 3 antennas together, and any in the house that feed beyond one TV. That'll allow you to optimize the pointing of a single antenna...then you can progress to splitting the signal to additional tuners. The easiest way to remove splitters is to replace with F-81 barrel connectors, available at Lowe's: https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-3-GHz-F- ... er/3363004

Then I would try to optimize the single antenna for PBS reception, as my personal hunch is that the signals reaching you from the west are strong enough to work "off the backside" of a UHF corner reflector. I'm further guessing that your location near Holiday Road has the hills to your east, which will indeed make PBS (and other signals from the Kalkaska tower) challenging. There's a slim chance that tilting the antenna slightly up, or facing it northeast or southeast might find a strong enough reflection off the hills that will work for you.

Another valid idea would be to remove from the path the mast-mounted Wingard pre amp and its power injector, as it could be over-amplifying the signals from the west that then "shadows" the PBS and other signals from the east. This would be more likely the stronger the power (in decibels) of the amp. It likely was very necessary prior to 2009, but may not be now with the current digital broadcasts.


Sorry if I'm flooding you with thoughts--I'm an IT analyst by trade, and "am always thinkin'". You may be correct that you'll do best with two antennas, one pointing east and the other west...especially since you own them already (Versus one of the Clearstream purchases I mentioned). If you do try that, seek out both a YouTube video that is very good about showing how one gentleman was succesful with 2 antennas, and also consider sourcing a frequency-specific joiner instead of just a combiner in reverse. The best source for having a joiner made per posts on the AVSForum website is a European manufacturer by name of Jan Janica. Also, once you have the best available reception on a single TV, then add back the fewest output splitter that you need for your additional TVs and other tuner devices (DVR). Any unused outputs induce unnecessary signal lost. If then channels don't tune in, replace the splitter with a "distribution amplifier" (powered splitter). I'll stop typing now...but will keep watching this thread if you raise other thoughts.

Good luck! ~~ Statmanmi

[Benzoid]

Simple for me. I'm on the East side of TC. I point my antenna west for 9&10, Fox, ME, and their other stations and 7&4, 29&8

PBN's translator is at their Studio. WWTV's stuff is on Martin's tower just a bit west and slightly south of that. I get both towers perfectly.

WCMU's stuff is in Kalkaska (or east of it) and comes in good off the back side. You can also get PBN's stuff from that same direction but 9&10's won't come in too good pointed that way.

If you want to get 32 directly, that is south of Cadillac.

hope it helps.

[TC Talks]

Try this

https://mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopi ... na#p591918