Thanks Trip, I didn't realize that VHF had a lower power restriction. Can you explain why WLUK is allowed 40. KW ERP ?
Is it only because they're 84' shorter than WISC or did they already get a waiver to increase power?
The main reason I don’t want to go with a larger antenna is because of wind damage. I didn’t mean to insult anyone with cheese graders on their roofs.
My cheese grater in my kitchen is offended!
But seriously, I get that you don't want a big antenna on the roof...nobody does, except a handful of us DX geeks who like to pick up stations from Alpha Centauri and beyond.
It is in my opinion (and is worth exactly what you paid for it) that in our modern era with apartments in far suburban and rural areas, and most people not wanting any antennas on their roofs, that the FCC standard of getting signals as "30' high, outside, and away from all objects with no building, tree, weather, or man-made interference" is unrealistic in 2020. I'd like to see that height knocked down to 10', to coincide with attics. (As an aside, when cell phone companies show you maps of their coverage, it assumes an external antenna on the phone, just like it used to be...and with you standing outdoors with no buildings, trees, etc in the way. So if they say you should have coverage but your indoor signal says one bar, or even "no signal"...that's why.)
I would like to see Zone 2 or Zone 3 power rules for VHF in Zone 1. 8 or 10 kilowatts on VHF-HI to cover a major metro area like Chicago and New York is asinine...and 40 kilowatts is decent. I remember that WWTO-DT in Ottawa, IL got a waiver to go 80 kw on Channel 10 at 1350'. You could pick that sucker up 90 miles away with no problem with a good VHF antenna in the Chicago, Rockford, Quad Cities, and Peoria-Bloomington markets, if you pointed the antenna at it. 40 kw at 1600', plus the fact that WISC is on top of the tower and on top of a hill, would do reasonably well. WHBF-TV channel 4 in the Quad Cities only has 22 kw...and they have to have a UHF repeater 10 miles away in downtown Rock Island to get the signal in the city! (By the way, WBBM in Chicago has a 15 kilowatt UHF repeater in Chicago, and it goes out farther than the 8 kw VHF signal for most folks. Just sayin'...)
I understand your frustration, Roadboss. Whatever you thought about WISC's signal moves, delays, and who was responsible, from here on out, it's all on the FCC. And I seriously would drop them an email stating that you believe power levels for VHF stations are too low, because you cannot get them. Even an antenna geek like me with a monster VHF antenna in the attic with 22 dB of gain can't get WBBM 60 miles out except at night, 3 or 4 days a week. But again, to be fair, WBBM has a station it must protect 120 miles away, so they cannot maximize at all except to get it from 8 kw to 10 kw under current rules. And that won't solve anything.