WQED’s signal boosted

After a several year battle, WQED-TV is back up to an ERP of 35kW which is good news for those who watch the station over the air. If you receive the station over the air, you may want to rescan your digital antenna just to be sure you get it.

If you think this was due to the station’s budget, (which of course is now cut at the federal level) you’d be wrong. It was actually due to a broadcasting frequency switch made a few years back. WQED has probably amassed the largest collection of DTV frequencies in Pittsburgh since it first had Channel 38 assigned as its first DTV signal. Once the big analog shutdown in 2009, WQED managed to get the same frequency on digital as they had on analog – Channel 13. That went on for a few years before the FCC came along and offered the station money during the channel repack efforts. The amount of money was considerable enough that the station could erase a several million dollar debt that was partially covered by the sale of WQEX (now WINP) years prior. The move seemed logical in order to erase that large debt.

So WQED was given the Channel 4 frequency. (You know the frequency that should have gone to WTAE after the analog shutoff.) I digress. So the transmitter at WQED was switched/replaced to broadcast on Channel 4. But there was a problem. There was a station moved from Channel 44 and put on Channel 4 in Lima, Ohio who later claimed QED was causing interference for their station. Now, you would think Lima, Ohio is far enough away from Pittsburgh that it wouldn’t be an issue. Well maybe not in downtown Lima, but the fringe signal would most likely have been affected on the west side of WQED’s signal and the eastern side of WLMA’s signal. One probably remembers WTAE had to “short space” on Channel 4 and build a tower to serve Pittsburgh from Elizabeth Township – the south pointing “arrow” at the bottom of Allegheny County. Failure to do so would have interfered with Columbus, Ohio TV station WLWC (now WCMH).

After WQED filed a request earlier this year to be able to bring their current signal back to it’s full power. The request was approved by the FCC back in June. The commission determined that both stations can now operate at 35kW and the interference where the two meet would cause minimal issues for both parties.

Now we just hope WQED (and all other pubcasters) will continue to be “TV Worth Watching” after the federal cuts!