At midnight on Feb. 17, the government mandated deadline for analog spectrum shutoff, WLNY-TV, a Class A low-power television station broadcasting from Ridge, Long Island, will not only make the switch to DTV with a new Jampro DTV antenna, but will also simultaneously move its broadcasts from channel 55 to channel 4. Up until that moment, the station will have been carrying an analog signal for a Spanish language Telemundo network station operating out of Newark, NJ.
Three years ago when the station went from analog channel 55 to its temporary channel 57, it replaced an aging antenna with a new 16-bay Jampro digital antenna on channel 57. WLNY-TV is an independent station owner by WLNY Limited Partnership. It covers all of Long Island and reaches into Connecticut, Westchester County, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.
To get ready for the switchover, the station used a Sikorsky helicopter to remove the transitional antenna from its 600ft tower and install the new 16-bay Jampro model JSM medium-power UHF slot. Prior to ordering the DTV antenna, Richard Mulliner, the station’s director of engineering, traveled to Jampro’s 7000ft full field test range in California, where he was able to design and optimize a circularly polarized pattern to fit the station’s individual requirements for its 1MW transmitter.
The JSM is the medium power version in Jampro’s Prostar Series of UHF slot antennas and is compatible with DTV, NTSC and PAL broadcasting. Made from high-quality marine brass, copper and virgin Teflon, it offers excellent windload characteristics with radome-sealed slots and feed lines that are pressurized for added power capacity. Free space azimuth patterns can be optimized for top, leg, or face mounting on the tower.
For more information, visit www.jampro.com.
