What were all those antennae on the World Trade Center used for ??? w/pic (1 Viewer)

[Shawn Sefranek]

I apologize if this question is inappropriate right now, but being a gadget freak like most of us on this forum I was just wondering what kind of wireless communications are down because of the lost systems.
I had the opportunity to visit the “top of the world” observation deck a few months ago and took some amazing photos at that time.
I know there were systems for TV, HDTV, cellular & microwave up there, but I don’t think I have ever seen such an array of antennae.
Again, I’m not overlooking the great loss of life, but just wondering about this.
Shawn S
Link Removed

 

[Brandon S]

Those antennas were mainly the broadcast tv stations for new york. They are without anythin but one normal channel and one public channel unless you have cable

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Moving to After Hours.
------------------
--Jay
"No one can hear when you're screaming in digital."
My Home Theatre Pictures...
"You're no messiah. You're, you're a movie of the week. You're a ... t-shirt, at best."

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I think it was 8 TV stations and 3 FM. How ironic? You put your antennas where everybody can get a signal, and now its gone? Yuck!
Glenn

 

[Andrew V]

Some of them were for High Definition.
------------------
~Andrew~
~Pronto Programmer~
AIM SN: FFU Productions
ICQ #: 21603991
Home Theater Pictures
Equipment List | My Growing DVD Collection

 

[Deane Johnson]

The TV and FM broadcast antennas would be the very large ones, mostly sticking up out of the picture. Some stations are able to share antennas by diplexing the signal onto the same antenna.
The large field of small white colored antennas are undoubetly for two-way communication. It appears that they leased space to a lot of different users.
I suspect it was an engineering nightmare to keep the various signals from interfering with each other.
Deane

 

[Jeff Loughridge]

Radio and Television stations transmitting from WTC 1 are:
TV:
WCBS / 2
WNBC / 4
WNYW / 5
WABC / 7
WWOR / 9
WPIX / 11
WNET / 13
WPXN / 31
WPIX / 33
WNJU / 47
FM:
WKCR / 89.9
WPAT / 93.1
WNYC / 93.9
WKTU / 103.5
Their current status via cut and paste follows:
It's hard to even know where to begin as I write this early Thursday morning. There are a few bits of good news to pass along on New York's broadcast scene: We heard from Clear Channel's John Lyons and Jeff Littlejohn, letting us know that all of Clear Channel/New York's employees are accounted for, including WKTU engineer Joe Maguire, who was at the station's Jersey City studios on Tuesday when the World Trade Center was destroyed. WKTU is, as we suspected, using Clear Channel's new auxiliary facility at Four Times Square until further notice. Also safe is WWOR engineer John Neuhaus, who was not at the WWOR transmitter when the building was hit.
The news, unfortunately, is much more grim for the rest of the engineers who were manning the transmitters on the 109th and 110th floors of One World Trade Center. WCBS-TV (Channel 2) reports two engineers missing; one, we're
told, is former WHDH (Boston) engineer Bob Pattison, the other is Isaias Rivera. An unidentified WNBC (Channel 4) engineer was talking to the station's master control after the attack when the line went dead; he, too, is missing. Broadcasting & Cable reports one WPIX (Channel 11) engineer is also unaccounted for, and we're told WNET (Channel 13) engineer Rod Coppola was on the 110th floor Tuesday morning and also remains missing.
In addition, AllAccess reports former WAXQ (104.3) jock Darian O'Toole, who also worked in San Francisco recently, is among the dead at the World Trade Center.
A status update on the stations that used the World Trade Center tower:
WCBS-TV (2) - remains on the air from its Empire State Building auxiliary transmitter, though we hear that site was off the air for almost half an hour Tuesday afternoon.
WNBC (4) - has been reported back with a low-power signal, though we're not sure from where. WNBC's signal is also being seen at times on Long Island public broadcaster WLIW (Channel 21) and on New Jersey ethnic broadcaster WMBC-TV (Channel 63).
WNYW-TV (Fox 5) - also being seen via WMBC-TV.
WABC-TV (7) - continues to be simulcast on WNYE-TV (Channel 25) and WHSE (Channel 68) from Empire, as well as on the New Jersey Network's transmitters statewide. WABC is the only network affiliate in New York that's providing information on its Web site about where to find its signal;
we find it odd that the others aren't conveying this important information.
WWOR (UPN 9) - on cable and satellite only.
WPIX-TV (WB 11) - has been reported on the air with a weak signal; again, we're not sure from where.WPIX's Web site is letting cable operators know where to find the station's satellite signal, which was restored sometime Tuesday and is being offered in the clear.
WNET (PBS 13) - on cable only; we'd expect that once the initial crisis passes, WNET and new sister station WLIW will find some way to combine their broadcast offerings on WLIW's signal until channel 13 can restore its own signal.
WPXN (Pax 31) - on cable only, relaying NBC's coverage for the most part.
WNJU (Telemundo 47) - apparently on cable only.
WKCR (89.9) - Silent, and staying that way for now, according to the station Web site.
WPAT-FM (93.1) - Still silent, but offering programming in conjunction with sister station WSKQ (97.9) and on the Web. We've heard unconfirmed reports that WPAT-FM is, or will soon be, back via a backup transmitter at Empire.
WNYC-FM (93.9) - Silent and expecting to stay that way for a while, but offering programming over the New York City Board of Education's WNYE-FM (91.5), thanks to an emergency resolution by the board and schools chancellor Harold Levy. WNYC's AM sister at 820 has also been affected by the state of emergency, since the stations' studios at the Municipal
Building have been evacuated since Tuesday. WNYC's programming is originating from NPR's midtown studios for now. (Pacifica's WBAI 99.5 has been running dead carrier for the same reason; its staffers can't reach the station's Wall Street studios.)
WKTU (103.5) - Continuing to use the Clear Channel auxiliary facility at Four Times Square.
One more note: Up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Shop at Home's WSAH (Channel 43) has been running just a sympathy slide since 10:30 Tuesday morning. WSAH chief engineer Ron Barnes, in a posting to the New York Radio Message Board,
is offering the station's facilities to broadcasters in need.
------------------
Jeff Loughridge
Director of Engineering
WPGC/WHFS
Infinity Broadcasting Corp
[email protected]

 

[Craig Robertson]

the white and greenish omni antennas are for vhf, uhf and 800/900 Mhz two way radio. the white rectangular panel antennae on the center "mast" appear to be a quasi-omni configuration for 800/900 comms. in my experience, the height of the building would not be of much value to the cellular industry as the coverage would be too great for any freq reuse. if cellular/pcs was on the building, i would expect them to have been at a much lower level.
the dishes that appear to point level or up are for satellite and the ones that point down are for ground based microwave.
i have heard that most people in the area are getting their news from radio as most of the tv broadcasters were on the WTC.

 

[Michael Reuben]

i have heard that most people in the area are getting their news from radio as most of the tv broadcasters were on the WTC.

Most people in Manhattan are cable subscribers, because we cannot get off-air reception even under normal circumstances (too many obstructions). Cable service has been uninterrupted, AFAIK.
One broadcast channel (I believe it was CBS) managed to find an alternate source for its signal and remained on the air even after the towers collapsed. In the last day or two, ABC has found an alternate location, but their signal remains weak (this from a friend who lives downtown in one of the few areas where off-air reception is possible).
M.

 

[Jeff Loughridge]

That is a beautiful picture, by the way.
"the white rectangular panel antennae on the center "mast" appear to be a quasi-omni configuration for 800/900 comms"
They could be. It's hard to tell. My guess would be those are the radomes for the slotted waveguide of a UHF TV station.
I think the white object on the mast to the right of the main pylon is the radome over one of the stations' doppler radar antennae.
The round white objects just below the top of the picture on the main pylon are part of a panel antenna for the FM stations. It looks like it was a four sided panel (one panel on each "side" of the pole). Since the top of the picture is there, you can't tell how many levels it had.

 

[Peter McM]

I second Jeff--that is a beautiful picture!
I wish there had been an engineer or someone in the shot--so we could get a better sense of scale.
------------------
"For Montagar, forever!"

 

[Shawn Sefranek]

Here is a link to several more photos I took: Link Removed
Shawn S

 

[Derek Miner]

If anyone is interested...
I work at the Network Operations Center for PAX-TV. Currently, the master control of PAX 31 is relaying their programming to our master control via satellite and we are providing the signal to the cable companies in NYC.
The talk around the office was that the transmitter on the WTC was a brand-new digital transmitter.
I hadn't given thought to the fact that there might actually have been engineers at the top of the building manning or tending to any of the transmitters. It's a real shame, since they probably had the least chance of anyone to get out of the building.
= Derek =

 

[Alex Spindler]

We (Sprint) were using some of those for communications as well. I don't work in that section, so I don't know the specifics.
------------------
Bombardment Society - Member

 

[Henry Gale]

Thanks for the link to your photos Shawn.
The New York Times Magazine is going to have a special edition in print on September 23rd.
The cover is quite unusual:
It's also beyond my meager skills to link to....check it out at the NYTimes site.
[Edited last by Jim Armstrong on September 16, 2001 at 11:04 PM]

 

[Jay H]

...and some pictures of the south part of the NYC skyline. I posted a link in the thread on the person trying to buy a flag, but thought I'd post a link here too since I see that others have links started here.
http://www.digitalfridge.com/dfPerIn...ICode=31486590
I can see almost the whole skyline but can't fit it in with my lens so this is of the southern part. The "before" pic was taken around 2 years ago from the same location. The WTC should be easily identified by the tallest southern-most building in the skyline. You can't see the statue of liberty cause it's not tall enough to clear the hills between me and them. I'm about 45 miles WNW of the city.
Jay
------------------
HUGBEES! Link Removed
Rider in the 2001 Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride
Wanna Link Removed