KOLD TV Off the Air

[Scott Greczkowski]

KOLD-TV transmitter down
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.28.2006
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/139827.php

You need more than an antenna to watch Channel 13 today.
KOLD-TV has been off the air since its transmitter in the Tucson Mountains was apparently knocked out by lightning during thunderstorms early Wednesday.
The outage affects viewers who rely on antennas to receive the station's signal, as well as customers of Dish Network and DirecTV, services that relay the on-air signal to their satellites.

Cable customers, who account for 60 percent of the station viewers, are not affected, said Jim Arnold, vice president and general manager of KOLD.
Arnold said he expects engineers to complete repairs to the transmitter some time today.

If that happens, KOLD will re-broadcast this week's episode of "Big Brother" at 2:05 a.m. Saturday.

If the signal is not restored today, that re-broadcast will occur Sunday at 1:35 a.m., Arnold said.

Arnold said no burn marks were found after the transmitter went down, but his engineers assume the transmitter was either struck by lightning or affected by a static charge from a nearby strike.

 

[teachsac]

I wish them luck in restoring their station. Our local CBS tower was hit by lightning last year and they are still having issues crop up a year later.

 

[C1787GJ]

Maybe they could give all those customers a Distant Network Seems like perfect case for one....

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

So the link between this station and E*/D* and between this station and cable are different? I thought they all use fiber links? Hm...

 

[mattb]

So the link between this station and E*/D* and between this station and cable are different? I thought they all use fiber links? Hm...

It's fiber from dish and Direct's Point of Presence (POP) back to the E* and D* uplink locations but its picked up over the air with a regular antenna at that POP. Most cable companies since their local usually run fiber drops to the local tv stations and pull signals that way.

 

[kb7oeb]

I wonder if the digital station is also out.

 

[munsel6]

It might be a blessing if KOLD'S digital transmitter got zapped!!!

In the 2 years since I've had an HD receiver,Dish 811,942,622 there has been so many problems ranging from off air,lip sync,HD programing not in HD but in non HD 4x3, programs starting in non HD 4x3 then 20 minutes or so into a program the signal switches to true HD.

None of the other channels which I receive digitally over the air, which are all the Tucson locals, have had combined the problems that KOLD seems to have.

I gave up calling them over a year ago because I would here the same excuses over and over ranging from, can"t get up the mountain because of snow, lightning must have hit the transmitter, ect, ect.

Again I know digital tv is kind of new but why is KOLD the only one in Tucson anyway that is having these types of proplems.

 

[digiblur]

It might be a blessing if KOLD'S digital transmitter got zapped!!!

In the 2 years since I've had an HD receiver,Dish 811,942,622 there has been so many problems ranging from off air,lip sync,HD programing not in HD but in non HD 4x3, programs starting in non HD 4x3 then 20 minutes or so into a program the signal switches to true HD.

None of the other channels which I receive digitally over the air, which are all the Tucson locals, have had combined the problems that KOLD seems to have.

I gave up calling them over a year ago because I would here the same excuses over and over ranging from, can"t get up the mountain because of snow, lightning must have hit the transmitter, ect, ect.

Again I know digital tv is kind of new but why is KOLD the only one in Tucson anyway that is having these types of proplems.

None of the problems you listed are due to the transmitter.... The transmitter simply retransmits what it receives over the STL.

 

[cablewithaview]

Cable customers, who account for 60 percent of the station viewers, are not affected, said Jim Arnold, vice president and general manager of KOLD.
Arnold said he expects engineers to complete repairs to the transmitter some time today.

nothing like cable having a direct fiber link into the studio's.

 

[cablewithaview]

It's fiber from dish and Direct's Point of Presence (POP) back to the E* and D* uplink locations but its picked up over the air with a regular antenna at that POP. Most cable companies since their local usually run fiber drops to the local tv stations and pull signals that way.

both has had an issue at sometime or another were the television station signal would actually over shot the "POP" (head end) and both would have to run fiber into the station themselves to be able to receive it.