Weather wreaks havoc on local TV

Pat’s Knob, southwest of Plains, decided to put a snafu in local residents receiving Missoula network television signals last week. According to Western Sanders County TV District, a pair of antennas were damaged during inclement weather.

Two trips were made by a two-person maintenance team, via snowmobile, to repair one “bent out of shape” antenna that receives the signal from Blacktail Mountain, south of Kalispell. In addition, a second “transmitter antenna aimed towards the Weeksville tower was completely destroyed,” the District reported.

Like most winter repair trips, there were obstacles to maneuver around. “They were blocked one-half mile from the top by a snowdrift; consequently, they had to hike the rest of the way carrying their tools,” commented district personnel. Upon reaching the lookout, the “receiver and transmitter were blocked by four feet of snow that had to be shoveled in order to enter the building. The lock was also frozen, so a torch was used to thaw it out.”

And that was just the first trip.

On the second attempt, last Saturday, “high winds and snow confronted” the team which resulted in “white-out conditions.”

The TV District would like to announce there will be brief interruptions in service soon. There will be a “reassignment of frequencies between two towers T-Mobile is forcing the Western Sanders County TV District to abandon since they purchased channels 48 and 50 from the FCC.” Personnel added that there will be no difference on the transmission from Clark Fork Mountain; therefore, home TVs will not need to be rescanned.

According to Western Sanders County TV District, this winter has been one for the books when it comes to outages. The initial problem occurred when an underground powerline, located 2000 feet below the Clark Mountain summit, broke. “Northern Lights provided a crew of four to locate the break and then dug it out by hand,” the District stated. “Secondly, the four Spokane stations were interrupted when an unknown person moved a receiving antenna out of alignment.”

For more information on TV reception, or to report an outage call (406) 827-4100.