Wind Turbines and TV Reception: Well, this stinks....

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Yumpteen studies have proven that wind turbines are not cost effective and that's without factoring in the birds killed, the vibrations, and the negative effect clusters of them have on local weather patterns and wind shifts. The life expectancy is less than the payback period. Bad, bad, bad idea.
 
I also get a paywall with my Windows 10 laptop that has Firefox and AdblockPlus. Anyway, I get the point: for you, wind turbines stink.

A couple of Firefox extensions that might help...

As for the wind farm, I'd be interested to know how much of an issue this actually turns out to be. There is an awful lot of negative information out there about wind energy that is of suspicious origin (but still repeated as if it were proven science on certain "news" channels). I would bet far more birds are killed by smacking into vehicle windshields than by flying into a turbine blade. In fact ordinary glass kills many birds every year - we used to have a house with an add-on enclosed patio (what would now be called a three seasons room) that has glass windows all around on three sides, and ever summer several birds would break their necks flying head on into a window (and we didn't even use that glass cleaner that supposedly made glass disappear!). And then there is the biggest killer of smaller birds - domestic house cats! But take a guess why no one is calling to ban cat ownership or clear glass, but making a big deal out of the relatively small number of birds that might get whacked by wind turbine blades, which are relatively easy for birds to see and avoid - the obvious answer is that cats and clear glass do not produce energy that competes with the petroleum industry! And the only reason they aren't saying much about solar energy is because there is really not much they can say other than that the initial cost is significant and that it doesn't produce energy when there's little or no sunlight, but if the astroturf "environmental" organizations that are (secretly or openly) funded by the petroleum industry could attack solar for some "environmental" reason, you can bet they would in the same way that they attack wind energy.

Then there is the fact that a lot of birds fly into jet airplane engines and get killed; IIRC it was a flock of geese that brought down that plane on the Hudson River. But jet aircraft use jet fuel like it was going out of style so those astroturf environmental organizations have not a word to say about that. So this is another case of follow the money.

But I digress... anyway, when it comes to TV reception I have found that unless something is relatively close or high in the sky, it really won't affect reception as much as you might think. Back in the analog days we used to routinely pick up VHF TV stations from 60-70 miles away (and even 90 miles on good days) despite the fact that there were large sand dunes between our location and the stations. UHF may be another story, it was much rarer to pick up UHF stations from that distance. But my gut feeling is that those turbine towers are like fence pickets but spaced a lot further apart, relatively speaking. There should be plenty of room for the TV signals to go around and between the turbine supporting towers and also through the turbine blades. I am not going to say they will have absolutely zero effect but my bet would be that any effects will be negligible. But I may be wrong and will be interested to hear whether there is any actual effect.

Think about it this way, if you were standing on the eastern side of a wind farm that was four or five miles away watching the sun set in the west, would you even notice when the sun got lower in the sky than the wind farm's blades and towers? Maybe you would lose a small amount of light but unless those towers were packed together like trees in a forest it probably wouldn't be that much. And I suspect you will find the same thing is true of your TV signals. If this wind farm were a lot closer (within two or three miles) I suspect the chances of significant impact would be a lot greater.
 
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No, it's not available in my DMA.
If they keep expanding like they have been I suspect it won't be more than two or three years (if that) before it is available to you. Provided, of course, that the lawsuit against them doesn't go anywhere.
 
First, I'm changing the title so people can tell what the discussion is about.

Second, folks, this thread is about how wind turbines impact reception. Posts about the politics of wind turbines (like their funding or cost metrics) are not relevant to that discussion. This is not a political forum, and it will not be allowed to devolve into it. Consider this your warning.

What I can add to the discussion is that there are actually translators for the Scranton stations in Waymart, PA due to impacts from wind turbines. I don't have any articles handy, but that might be a good place to do some research. Of course, the terrain is much rougher in that area, so that may have worsened the situation.

- Trip
 
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Second, folks, this thread is about how wind turbines impact reception. Posts about the politics of wind turbines (like their funding or cost metrics) are not relevant to that discussion. This is not a political forum, and it will not be allowed to devolve into it. Consider this your warning.
Thank you, I don't know why people insist on all the political crap. ALL I care about is tv reception, period, and how or IF this may ruin it for me.
 
I was wondering if the signal polarization via circular polarization might help out instead of horizontal or vertical polarization by overcoming winds mills.

Don't care for politic issues on winds mills, just focus on science and how to solve rf receptions issue. :) :hatsoff
 
I guess politics and logistics of alternate energy is going to be a subject to stay tuned on.
How about our Cali. members test bedding the findings of being in front of and in back of a wind farm for TV and VHF reception?
There is a new wind farm close by here in my county in PA.
OTA reception is very fringy except for the PBS station. Buffalo and Altoona is it. I'll have to ask around to see if anyone with an antenna is having issues.
Antennas are far and few between here because recepton is so spotty.
Like back when the NTSC 'light switch' was flipped for ATSC and HDTV came alive, converter boxes became available for dirt cheap and even for free.
The C-Band discussion where people are getting free dishes to compensate for 5g interference.
Perhaps the OTA market will get compensation in the form of satellite or streaming services where people who once depended on TV with antennas are now disrupted because of a wind farm in the middle of the signal path.
It goes deeper. Ham radio guys are suffering RFI because the neighbor has had PV panels and inverters installed.
What are they to do?
But you know what? Don't fret just yet. Maybe, just maybe those turbines will better reception. I say maybe.
Because years ago I came home up here in the sticks and went to a friends for the Bills game.
Quite a snowy picture. Ricko pops the window open and another guy was watching the tv while Ricko was outside. Yelling back and forth to each other.
HOISTING and TWISTING and old box spring up and down, right and left in a tree until the picture came in the best. It was in front of the Channel Master behemoth pointing towards Buffalo.
If I read it or heard about it I would have never believed it. Not one iota!
But the game finally came in pretty darned clear. Thanks to Serta and a chunk of rope.
 
big.jpg

Up size your aerial...?
 
What I can add to the discussion is that there are actually translators for the Scranton stations in Waymart, PA due to impacts from wind turbines. I don't have any articles handy, but that might be a good place to do some research. Of course, the terrain is much rougher in that area, so that may have worsened the situation.

- Trip

I used to live in Waymart when they were putting up the turbines. I recently became aware of the translator through the TVFool website and been trying to find the location. The topography is as follow: the turbines are lined up on a ridge that runs pretty much NE to SW and the translator is below the ridge to the east. I tried to line up the main transmitter on Penobscot Mountain SE of Wilkes-Barre and there seems to be nonpopulated areas NE of the turbines so I can’t see the need for a low power translator unless..... I think LHTCBroadband picks up the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre stations for distribution on their system somewhere near Forest City and may have had the translator set up for their reception. I don’t think it had anything to do with the wind turbines although I could be wrong.
 

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