NE OKC antenna farm

[OKCexpat]

This is for Pete and his wonderful drone camera shots. In another thread here I was yacking about radio nostalgia which lead me to recollections of the huge antenna farm extending from (approx) Wilshire on the south up to (past?) Kilpatrick north.....Broadway extension on the west to I-35 on the east. Shame the KWTV MONSTER is no longer there at Wilshire.....

I'm a total radio/TV nerd (once worked in the biz in OKC). At night, when driving North, there is one bridge on I235 coming from downtown which "reveals a bazillion" of slowly blinking red lights from the dozens of towers in the antenna farm. Similar along I35 looking West.

More than a few times working with out-of-town consultants, they were blown away by that "Farm".....day or night. I don't recall the quantity exactly, but there are a bunch of towers 1500+ feet tall and a bunch of "short" ones. Short being a few hundred to 1000 feet.

They sure look cool at night!!

Too nerdy? lol

[Bunty]

Too nerdy? How greatly so! I love the OKC antenna farm simply because it brings in 56 TV channels for me in Stillwater rock steady with just an indoor flat RCA antenna from Walmart. Just try comparing that to the Tulsa TV stations. Quite unlike the OKC stations, the Tulsa stations are too far from around 75 miles away and can't remotely be had with just an indoor TV antenna. Even OKC channel 46.1 and 46.2 manages to come in rock steady even though they are only at 27 kw. But their 1365' tower helps out a lot. Compare that with KWTV-9 with 748 kw and 1568' tower height.

Also, thanks to the nearness of the OKC antenna farm the OKC FM radio stations come in with a stronger stereo signal in Stillwater than the Tulsa FM stations. KMOD Tulsa comes in with a steady stereo signal but not as noise free as the KCAT, OKC!

I wouldn't be surprised if people in Enid appreciate the OKC tower farm as well!

[OKCexpat]

Dammit...I had a (too long?) reply written, but didn't remember to check that "secret box" at login so I lost it.

@bunty, the Farm was intentionally built on a "high" (by OKC standards) ridge because TV and FM signals are "line of sight". Gaylord (WKY) and Griffin (KWTV) engineers began the concept decades ago and everyone followed. Find a high pile of dirt, erect 1/3 mile tall towers, and get a large diameter of coverage area.

Newest big tower is the one just south of the Kilpatrick at Eastern. The "candelabra"/triangular structure at the top has three antennas, each supporting more than one TV station. All the tall towers also have FM transmission antennas on the side.

I hope Pete can get some of his great pix (FAA probably limits how close he can go)....but especially a night shot from I235 just north of downtown.

Sir Nerd signing out.....roll the Star Spangled Banner audio and the Indian Head test pattern.

[TheTravellers]

Dammit...I had a (too long?) reply written, but didn't remember to check that "secret box" at login so I lost it.
...

The site auto-saves replies/posts every so often (30 seconds, maybe?), and you can click the text that says "restore auto-saved text" that appears on the lower left of the reply box to get it back. I'm always logged in, so I'm not sure if it saves across log-ins/log-outs, but it may.

[OKCexpat]

Thanks, @TheTravellers. I'm a relatively newbie here and still figuring out the quirks (?) of the board.

[scottk]

The original KWTV/OETA tower and KAUT towers have come down in the past ?decade? or so. As mentioned above, I know there are a lot of things on the giant tower just south of the turnpike between Kelly and Eastern, are there any other towers that are slated to come down due to age or consolidation?

Driving back from Tulsa at night it's always cool to see the cluster of tower lights off in the distance on the turnpike to let you know you are getting close to OKC.

I vaguely remember the small Tornado in the late 90's that touched down near KOCO's tower, it did damage to their radar, but I don't think there has ever been a tower loss in the NE Farm due to weather.

Many remember the Moore Tornado that damaged the 3 KOMA/KOKC AM Towers on the south side.

[OKCexpat]

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...o/62210962007/

In 1998, WKY radio's main tower was toppled during a tornado. On Britton Road just a bit East of the Broadway Extension.

I clearly recall watching Gary England's live tower shot when the tower collapsed. I wish I can find a Youtube/whatever of that event.

EDIT found the video clip. Title says it was "WKY-TV", but Gary England correctly identified it as WKY radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKj63mt47kU

[kwhey]

Too nerdy? How greatly so! I love the OKC antenna farm simply because it brings in 56 TV channels for me in Stillwater rock steady with just an indoor flat RCA antenna from Walmart. Just try comparing that to the Tulsa TV stations. Quite unlike the OKC stations, the Tulsa stations are too far from around 75 miles away and can't remotely be had with just an indoor TV antenna. Even OKC channel 46.1 and 46.2 manages to come in rock steady even though they are only at 27 kw. But their 1365' tower helps out a lot. Compare that with KWTV-9 with 748 kw and 1568' tower height.

Also, thanks to the nearness of the OKC antenna farm the OKC FM radio stations come in with a stronger stereo signal in Stillwater than the Tulsa FM stations. KMOD Tulsa comes in with a steady stereo signal but not as noise free as the KCAT, OKC!

I wouldn't be surprised if people in Enid appreciate the OKC tower farm as well!

Do you mind if I ask what antenna you have? I’m in Stillwater as well.

[Laramie]

KOMA (KOKC) 1520 KC (50,000 watts of blasting power)

[Bunty]

Do you mind if I ask what antenna you have? I’m in Stillwater as well.

I use the RCA 65+ flat antenna from Walmart. It gets all the high-powered TV stations from Oklahoma City for a total of 55 channels. It gets the VHF stations 5 and 13 good. To get all 55 channels in steady I had to install the antenna on the wall at ceiling level. Also replaced its thin cable with 10 ft. of RG6 cable. Since Stillwater is in a valley, getting in steady TV signals from OKC by using an indoor antenna may be challenging and frustrating. Reception in low lying neighborhoods along S. Washington St. and W. 12th is probably worst. I don't live near there. If you want to resort to an outdoor antenna the Antenna Direct Clearstream 2v would be good. It's good for attic use as well. I've only gotten interested in over the air TV since last summer after dropping Cable TV and now save $146 a month or $100 a month after getting on Sling.

It's unfortunate that the RCA antenna can't get any low powered Oklahoma City TV stations. So now I can't watch DEFY on channel 56.5 because it got replaced by ION+. DEFY stayed in OKC but now only viewable on a couple of low powered stations.

The cheap $12 ONN Rabbit Ears from Walmart and any cheaper flat antennas from there don't perform as well and should be avoided.

[scottk]

Honest question...how much longer does "FREE" over the air television have, along side AM/FM Radio?

We have an antenna for OTA, and don't pay for a regular cable service, and have a handful of streaming services.

However, more of the live events, sporting events, etc are going exclusively to streaming and we find ourselves watching less and less of over-the-air, or even linear local television. In the event of severe weather, we break out our phones or iPad and just watch the social streams from the TV stations.

At a certain point, the costs to maintain the tower and transmitter, cost of electricity, and other factors, would it just be easier for these stations to stream through an app to your phone, Fire Stick/Roku/Apple TV?

[OKCexpat]

@Laramie those KOMA towers are in Moore, not NE OKC <g>.

@scottk That's an interesting question. It assumes everyone has a cell or internet account with sufficient bandwidth and a high enough data cap to stream live TV. That can be a problem in rural areas. Folks on the coasts make jokes about "Flyover country" but folks in Okla. and nearby states (including my current location) have a rural population with poor or no internet service, and cell service is spotty at best.

[kwhey]

I use the RCA 65+ flat antenna from Walmart. It gets all the high-powered TV stations from Oklahoma City for a total of 55 channels. It gets the VHF stations 5 and 13 good. To get all 55 channels in steady I had to install the antenna on the wall at ceiling level. Also replaced its thin cable with 10 ft. of RG6 cable. Since Stillwater is in a valley, getting in steady TV signals from OKC by using an indoor antenna may be challenging and frustrating. Reception in low lying neighborhoods along S. Washington St. and W. 12th is probably worst. I don't live near there. If you want to resort to an outdoor antenna the Antenna Direct Clearstream 2v would be good. It's good for attic use as well. I've only gotten interested in over the air TV since last summer after dropping Cable TV and now save $146 a month or $100 a month after getting on Sling.

It's unfortunate that the RCA antenna can't get any low powered Oklahoma City TV stations. So now I can't watch DEFY on channel 56.5 because it got replaced by ION+. DEFY stayed in OKC but now only viewable on a couple of low powered stations.

The cheap $12 ONN Rabbit Ears from Walmart and any cheaper flat antennas from there don't perform as well and should be avoided.

Thank you for your help. I’m going to pick one up sometime this week. I live on right off Perkins on the north side of town at the peak of a hill with a clear straight shot south.

[TornadoKegan]

KOMA (KOKC) 1520 KC (50,000 watts of blasting power)

Remember Seeing Those from my Childhood Home through the Gap in the Trees and Houses

[Bunty]

Honest question...how much longer does "FREE" over the air television have, along side AM/FM Radio?

We have an antenna for OTA, and don't pay for a regular cable service, and have a handful of streaming services.

However, more of the live events, sporting events, etc are going exclusively to streaming and we find ourselves watching less and less of over-the-air, or even linear local television. In the event of severe weather, we break out our phones or iPad and just watch the social streams from the TV stations.

At a certain point, the costs to maintain the tower and transmitter, cost of electricity, and other factors, would it just be easier for these stations to stream through an app to your phone, Fire Stick/Roku/Apple TV?

TV stations can broadcast clear up to 1 million watts. Channel 30 does. I'd hate to see how huge that station's electric bill is every month. Even with all that power, reliable reception isn't going to venture much further away than Stillwater with an indoor antenna. It will be interesting to see if OTA will be able to go on for years more to come.

[billokc]

KOMA Tornado damage March 25, 2015.

[scottk]

TV stations can broadcast clear up to 1 million watts. Channel 30 does. I'd hate to see how huge that station's electric bill is every month. Even with all that power, reliable reception isn't going to venture much further away than Stillwater with an indoor antenna. It will be interesting to see if OTA will be able to go on for years more to come.

Most TV's still include over the air tuners...for now. However, will OTA TV go the way of terrestrial radio? Home radios for FM/AM seem to be fading away. There are still plenty out there, but those are essentially radios that are 10+ years old. Can you walk into Walmart or Target and still find a tabletop/nightstand or portable FM/AM radio? Smart speakers seem to have replace this need, but if you don't have power or your internet goes out, they are worthless. In the workplace, your personal computer or a smart speaker once again has replaced FM/AM radios and has opened the door for so many more commercial free or subscription options.

Terrestrial radio's last stand appears to be in the automobile, and it would seem auto makers are looking for ways to "push" the traditional mediums out in favor or their own branded services they could make money from the consumer with subscription services.