LARGO, Fla.—Christian Television Network (CTN) operates 24 television stations throughout the United States. As director of engineering, my responsibilities cover all areas of the technical infrastructure for each station, including all RF facilities and systems.
Preparing for an ATSC 3.0 future is one of our top initiatives group-wide and is keeping us very active on the RF side of the equation. We recently installed three new Dielectric antennas at WCLF-TV in Clearwater, and WFGC-TV in Palm Beach, both in Florida, as well as WHNO-TV in New Orleans as part of our ATSC 3.0 deployments.
Power for NextGen TV
Substantial power increases were approved for all three stations, with WCLF and WHNO (both UHF stations) increasing to 1MW ERP and WFGC, a VHF station, increasing to 65kW ERP. All three stations were also relocated to new tower sites, adding another layer of complexity to already challenging timelines.
WFGC was relocated from UHF Channel 49 to VHF Channel 7 during the spectrum repack, and we added a new Dielectric VHF antenna on our previous tower once we landed on our new frequency. That antenna was optimized for horizontal polarization per our choice, but we later realized that a vertically polarized antenna would provide better coverage in the market.
We ordered a new Dielectric THV Series antenna that was well-timed with our tower relocation. This time we made sure to add a V-Pol element to improve our ATSC 3.0 coverage. Our expanded coverage area also benefits from a much higher tower position, moving from 450 feet to 1150 feet. The difference has been enormous, and we are now maximizing our market coverage from Vero Beach south through into Miami, while also seeing major improvements in building penetration.
Maximized Coverage
Our THV Series antenna is a simple five-layer antenna design that radiates with a peanut-shaped azimuth pattern in alignment with our coverage requirements. Dielectric added a null to the back of the antenna to protect the signal from radiating over the Atlantic Ocean. The special azimuth null design includes specially designed fins that are mounted to the antenna, and these fins ultimately play an important role in shaping the direction of the signal.
WCLF-TV, which covers the Tampa Bay market on UHF Channel 21, has enjoyed the biggest coverage increase since installing our new TFU-26EST-R C220 antenna in late 2023, nearly doubling our ERP. This allows us to reach viewers northeast of Tampa and out toward the Orlando region—areas we couldn’t reach with our previous ERP.
We exclusively use Dielectric antennas across our network, and, as anticipated, the performance of our three new sticks are rock-solid. I swept all the systems at the time they went to air and followed with a second sweep at each site 90 days later. The results were identical, with no discernable difference in performance and no challenges with reflected power.
Our relocation to new tower sites essentially required a complete refresh of the RF infrastructure for each station, and we additionally sourced our filters, transmission line and other RF components where necessary. Dielectric’s ability to manufacture and deliver antennas and RF systems within tight deadlines assured that we had our new systems in time for our tower moves, and allowed us to meet our goal of having all systems up and running by the end of 2023.
Hugh Allegood oversees engineering for all CTN stations as director of engineering and RF systems engineer.
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