Sutro Tower New Antennas Going Live

[larrykenney]

As many of you are aware, the San Francisco stations transmitting from Sutro Tower have been using temporary combined antennas for their digital signals ever since they went on the air. There was no room on the tower for both the analog antennas and a full array of antennas for digital.

When the analog signals went off the air on June 12, a crew started a major antenna project on the tower. They removed all of the old analog antennas and masts and replaced them with all new masts and all new antennas. The one VHF station on the tower, KGO 7, started using their new antenna on July 21st. They've had to switch to their auxiliary antenna during the daytime while crews were working on the other antennas, but nights and weekends they've been on the new permanent antenna.

Last Saturday the last new antenna was installed on the tower. Starting next Monday, October 12, around 9 AM, all of the UHF stations at Sutro will switch to auxiliary antennas, at reduced power, and the crew will begin connecting the ten stations to their new main antennas.

The tower crew will disconnect the lines from the temporary antennas and connect them to the new main antennas and then begin testing and tuning. During the period of auxiliary antenna operation, each new antenna will be fully tested, lines tuned, and the phasing sections installed to properly match transmission line lengths between the upper and lower TUM antennas.

Based on a best estimate of scheduling, the stations will be operating on the auxiliary antenna until Friday, October 16th. After that, all stations should be fully operational on the new antennas, which are 200 to 250 feet higher than the antennas they have been using, and all stations will finally be able to use their full authorized power. It's going to be interesting to see how much the signals improve!

Note: There could be delays if problems are found with the antennas or if inclement weather causes problems for the tower crew.

(EDIT NOTE: They moved the date for the switch to the new antennas to Wednesday, October 21.)

I have been photographing the changes on Sutro and have put together a special Sutro Tower web site. The main page has information about the tower and some generic photos, but four special pages with hundreds of photos document the removal and replacement of everything atop the tower. You might want to check it out:
http://www.larrykenney.com/sutrotwr.html
Enjoy the show!

Larry Kenney
San Francisco

[pjdyer]

Very fascinating tour. All a far cry from what KRON, KPIX, KGO, and KQED were using when I was a Bay Area resident (1955-57) - Hayward and Novato (Marin Co.). KOVR still had theirs on Mt. Diablo and KTVU didn't exist (and our set didn't tune UHF). At the time I always wondered why Mt. Tamalpais wasn't utilized by broadcasters. My best DX from Novato was KSBW-8 from Salinas. Even with an empty Ch 2 and 3 I never stumbled across any Es in three summer seasons (and I DID, without luck, often try for KCRA-3 from Sacramento).

73, Pat - WA5IYX

[larrykenney]

I moved here in 1979 and most of the stations now on the air here were already established. A few have come on the air in outlying suburbs, but that's it.

With the switch to digital the big change is in number of channels available to view over the air. With most stations now offering sub-channels with a variety of programming, there are now 57 channels available for viewing OTA in the SF Bay Area. Quite a change from just 4, 5, 7, and 9!

Larry
SF

[pjdyer]

KOVR (Stockton) 13 was very watchable; it at one time had some ABC carriage (and that fare was time-shifted from when KGO ran it). KNTV 11 from San Jose was never more than a snowy mess. The only UHF on was KSAN-32. A Mar 1957 Northern California Edition of TV Guide has 12 stations (2 UHF) listed in it. Sort of nice to come to this market and find NBC Ch 4 and CBS Ch 5 (and by 1962 our local educational was also a Ch 9).

73, Pat - WA5IYX

[Flash33]

I apologize for a response to this 6 month old post, but I am new to this site and I'm doing reading of old posts. There was no local cable service, so when I moved to Los Altos in the mid-80's from Boston, I had a Channel Master (don't recall the model) antenna and rotor installed. In the 7 years we were there, truly distant signals never appeared. In addition to the 12 San Francisco/ San Jose local signals, I could always receive KCRA 3 from Sacramento, and KNTV 11 South San Jose (weak signal) and would get some enhanced signals from time to time as well as for KVOR 13 and KXTV 10 and channel 6 PBS from Sacramento. KSBW 8 (I believe those were the call letters) would be a rare find as would Ch 35 (Ind) and Ch 46 (CBS) - I also logged a translator for that CBS affiliate, from memory it was received on 49 or something in the 50's. This was a vastly inferior circumstance for these purposes when compared to my previous experiences living in Coastal Maine, Jacksonville, FL and in the Boston Suburbs.

[pjdyer]

In Hayward we had a 6-el hi-low VHF yagi, fix-aimed w. at SF (that antenna was later used 1957-66 and 71-73 here in TX). A much larger thing was already in place at the Novato rental house (also fix-aimed s.s.e. at SF). I'm not sure if any F2 events reaching (then empty) Ch 2 had occurred there before we left in early Jul 1957. There were likely some that fall (the peak of Cycle 19) to the east coast (and maybe Hawaii/Alaska).

73, Pat - WA5IYX