Tour the WNCN transmitter site

That’s a very nice transmitter site. Got any more videos planned?

Yes. But finding time to shoot,edit, and post is a little challenging. I have two more in the works right now.

Thanks for the transmitter tour. You have by-far the most DTV information available from any Triangle broadcaster, even WRAL. Your folksy, friendly style makes the “official” government sites look bland. You seem to really have the viewers concerns at heart as you present information.

Could you post a still or drawing of the Auburn candelabra, showing all the antenna positions. Are all the DTV antennas on the east tower? When you “transition back” to channel 17 after the 17th (is that a coincidence of what?), will you take down channel 55 antenna?

I was very happy to watch the Olympics closing ceremonies on NBC 17. I got some pixilation and audio dropouts from the digital cliff. I live next to the Haw River in extreme SW Orange County. I did have 2 repurposed all channel antennas (one pointed towards Auburn and the other towards Greensboro, mixed with a 2-way splitter backwards (impossible with analog). This did work fine, but I seem to loose WRAL-DT and sometimes WNCN-DT as the leaves come out, or there is bad weather. So to watch the Olympics, I took out the splitter and coupled the Auburn antenna directly to my 5=year old Zenith 31” CRT HDTV.

I get WTVD-DT perfectly and WLFL-DT an d WRDC-DT well, but there’s seldom anything worth watching on CW and My Network. From your picture and my location, I think that the west antenna group on the candelabra may be somewhat blocking WRAL-DT in my direction. It looks like I should have a clear shot from the WNCN-DT antenna, but propagation and anomalies or slight nulls in the antennas polar pattern may also be part of the problem.

I have previously tried a Channel Master pre-amp at the antenna or an in house distribution amp to get a little more Auburn gain, but of course UNC-TVs channel 4 and maybe their DTV 59 (soon to be 25) saturate the amp. Perhaps with 4 goes dead on the 17th, I can try it again. I know I need more height, but haven’t felt like getting more masts yet, and haven’t had the time to do the ladder climbing yet. You can’t even find 10’ mast section easily anymore, like you could in the old days. I’ll figure it out somehow. Anybody got an old 50’ Rohn tower laying around.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

Great video of your transmitter facility. I have always had an interest in broadcast transmitters since I was a kid.

I witnessed the construction the WITN tower and part of the installation of the RCA transmitters there in 1979 when I was a teenager.It was great running across this site and I hope you post more.

I was just curious about the old ch 17 tower in Clayton. Do you still use it for anything and what are the future plans for it?

Thanks

Wow! Small world Mitch! I worked at WITN from 1982-1988 and know the site well. Al Manning always kept his site clean and everything was top notch. I guess that’s why I’m a stickler for keeping the floor clean out there. We sold the Clayton tower last year; that’s the antenna from it laying on the ground at the end of the video. It is being re-erected by Pegasus Tower Company in Phoneix, Arizona for Shamrock Communications.

Pretty kewl idea Russ – can’t say I’ve ever seen or had a better transmitter tour!
A question – I worked at WITN in production from 1975-1977. I remember Al Manning and the other “real” engineer, Carol, but I can’t remember Carol’s last name. He was a Navy Vietnam vet and a darn cool guy and it bugs me that I can’t place his name. Do you remember Carol’s name?
Thanks for any help, and happy non-analog broadcasting!
- Chris Cavas