(From KOAM)The Federal Communications Commission has approved KOAM-TV and KFJX-TV (FOX 14) to increase the stations transmitter power and antenna strength.
A construction permit was granted last year by the FCC and new transmitters were purchased and installed in the Fall. The antenna portion of the project began in March. The general contractor, Precision Communications, Grove, OK, has installed a temporary side-mounted antenna that will broadcast the stations signals beginning sometime next week.
KOAM-TV director of engineering William Vickery said “the KOAM power will be increased from 14.8 kilowatts to 98.8 kilowatts and the power for KFJX will be increased from 5.6 kilowatts to 45.1 kilowatts.”
“The tower is being rigged now to withstand the weight of the construction project,” explained Vickery. “The temporary antenna will have decreased power and some Over-The-Air (OTA) households may lose signal, temporarily, during construction.”
Next week the current 153 feet tall digital antenna stack (weighing 20 tons) will be removed from the top of the 1,000 feet tall broadcasting tower and brought to the ground. Then the new antenna stack, weighing 12.5 tons, will be installed. Vickery said he expects the remainder of the project to take two to three weeks to complete, weather permitting.
Viewers can stay informed about the project by checking a dedicated website page at koamnewsnow.com/power. Daily updates are posted on the site and a dedicated camera feeds live video of the project for viewing. In addition, the KOAM News Department will provide updates during newscasts, on the KOAM News Now app and its other digital platforms.
1 comment:
I hope this will be good news for us. We get these channels through the antenna in our TV plus the help of a yardstick antenna KOAM gave us about ten years ago. A few weeks ago, we could not get KOAM to come in at all. (And no one from KOAM responded, then or later, to an email I sent asking what was going on.) So we'll see what happens, and if we can't get them again next week, we will at least know why.
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