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WHBF Engineering

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Rock Island, IL
WHBF Engineering

Answers and tips for all your TV viewing questions about WHBF, KLJB and KGCW.

06/17/2024

Power was restored to KGCW at 715pm.

Thank you for your patience.

06/16/2024

KGCW is currently off the air on antenna due to a power outage in the Orion area. We will return to air as soon as power is restored.

05/21/2024

Why can't I receive ch4 on my antenna? (WARNING, this is going to be long winded)

I get this email and calls daily about this, so let's try to explain some of the issues.

First off, most of the new "HD" antennas do not even cover the frequency WHBF broadcasts on. We are a "Low VHF" station broadcasting at 69Mhz. Several "HD" antennas are UHF only, most are VHF/UHF, but the only cover "High VHF".

Low VHF 54-88Mhz
FM Radio 88-108Mhz
Aircraft, Ham Radio and Marine Radio 118-173Mhz
High VHF 174-216Mhz
UHF 470-602Mhz

There should be a frequency range listed on the antenna you are buying, some show it on the box, some have a label on the antenna, some you need to look up on the manufacture website.

54-602Mhz will receive all broadcast channels ( the numbers might show less than 54 and greater than 602 to make it look more impressive, but 54-88, 174-216, and 470-602Mhz are the range for all US based TV broadcasts)

174-602Mhz, will get every station, except WHBF in the QC area.

Before the HD conversion in 2009, we were almost all VHF stations, but we all had to add UHF stations to broadcast both analog and HD, several stations retained their UHF signal and shut down the VHF stations once HD took over, the owners of WHBF at that time decided to retain their VHF station, this is why we are still a Low VHF station, several stations around the country did this, we just happen to be the only one in this market that did so.

Before you ask, no, we can't just switch to UHF, this requires several studies to be done, permission from the FCC, new antenna and new transmitter. Millions of dollars and a few years of government paperwork. This is why we also broadcast WHBF on 26.4

Long story short, if the antenna you are looking at does not list the frequencies covered, it is most likely UHF only, if it lists VHF/UHF, most likely is High VHF/UHF, especially if it includes FM blocking, that means it will block any frequency under 174Mhz.

Antennas that are FM/VHF/UHF are likely to cover Low VHF frequencies but be sure to find the frequency covered on the antenna before you buy it, especially before you climb on the roof or up in the attic to install it and then find out it doesn't work.

Feel free to message us for antenna recommendations. I am happy to share what types we use with you and tips to make sure you can view us.

03/28/2024

While WHBF is now broadcasting on our new auxiliary antenna, you may be asking yourself why you can't receive it but you where before.

The simple explanation would be that while we are at the same power level, this antenna is 400ft lower on the tower that our main antenna is. Higher the antenna, the better the coverage

Most outdoor antennas will not have any issues, but indoor antennas could be affected by this.

Unfortunately we cannot improve on this until the main antenna is built and installed. The auxiliary antenna had to be placed at that height due to other FM and TV antennas already on the tower that would cause interference with all of our systems were we to go higher.

Thank you for your continued patience.

03/14/2024

IT IS ALIVE!!!!! (in my best Dr. Frankenstein voice) WHBF's new antenna and transmitter were tested overnight successfully. We are currently powered down as the tower crew unrigs their lines from the tower (steel cables hitting a live antenna is very bad, cool to see the arc it makes, but very bad) Look for WHBF, Court TV, Grit and Mystery to return to the air at some point late afternoon today.

We would like to thank everyone for their patience during this time, thankfully the weather held for the most part for this work, and the tower crew did an excellent job of getting it done for us.

03/12/2024

The final pieces are coming. Now we just need the weather to cooperate. Anyone want to guess how strong the wind is at 1100ft up if its 20mph on the ground? Even a mild breeze on the ground is a strong wind at that height. Pulling equipment up in any amount of wind can cause serious issues and damage to the equipment, or other equipment on the tower. The crew is working as fast as possible.

How many of you could be at the top of a 1300ft tower that sways over 3ft side to side in the wind?

03/11/2024

We are getting close to coming back online. The line sections have been replaced, (1100ft of line in 20ft sections takes time to remove and replace) the temporary antenna is mounted. Just waiting for a couple pieces that couldn't be measured and built until the antenna was in place. Then we have to perform some tests before we power up.

Thank you for your continued patience.

02/22/2024

Great news, the crew is onsite working on replacing line and we hope the auxiliary antenna will ship out soon.

Thank you for your continued patience as we work through this.

02/14/2024

Thank you for your continued patience as we wait for our antenna to be built. We will update you as soon as we have any news.

Just a reminder that WHBF is available on 26.4 as well.

Court TV, Grit and Mystery will not be available until the antenna is replaced.

02/05/2024

The deep freeze and rapid thaw and rain earlier this month caused a crack in the feed lines of our broadcast antenna on our tower, resulting in the failure of the antenna. We are having an auxiliary antenna built to get back on the air.

In the mean time please tune to 26.4 to watch WHBF.

4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 will not be available until the antenna is replaced. We apologize for the disruption in signal.

10/31/2023

Welcome to the WHBF Engineering page. We are here to help you with any broadcast questions you have. Ask away.

Address

231 18th Street
Rock Island, IL
61201

Website

facebook.com

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