WNGH-TV

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WNGH-TV, virtual channel 18 (UHF digital channel 33), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station serving Dalton, Georgia, United States that is licensed to Chatsworth. Owned by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, it is a sister station to National Public Radio (NPR) member WNGH-FM (98.9 MHz). The two stations share transmitter facilities at Fort Mountain State Park east of Chatsworth. WNGH-TV is operated as part of the statewide Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) television network.

Despite its UHF frequency, the height of WNGH's transmitter gives it one of GPB's largest coverage areas. It penetrates for some distance into the core of the Chattanooga, Tennessee area; Chatsworth and Dalton are part of the Chattanooga market. It provides at least secondary coverage as far north as Athens, Tennessee and as far south as metro Atlanta's north-northwestern suburbs, many of which can no longer receive GPB's flagship station, WGTV (channel 8). Two translator stations help bring the signal to the mountainous parts of the service area. Some network program duplication occurs with WTCI-TV (channel 45), the main PBS station for the Chattanooga area.

History

The station made its first broadcast on January 30, 1967 as WCLP, a National Educational Television (NET) and Georgia Educational Television network affiliate. It was Chattanooga's first educational television station, joined by WTCI-TV in 1970. On February 2, 1979, the station branded itself as WCLP-TV. In 2002, WCLP's digital signal started on channel 33.

On April 15, 2008, WCLP-TV changed its call sign to WNGH-TV, which matches GPB's new local FM radio station, WNGH-FM. After purchasing the FM station, its transmitter was moved to the same broadcast tower as the TV station, atop a mountain within Fort Mountain State Park.

Due to equipment failure in 2008, the station's analog signal operated at reduced power (30% of normal, or 1,500 kW) until it switched entirely to digital.

Translators

All of WNGH's broadcast translators have been located near the state's borders regions with Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina—areas where coverage from a full-powered GPB transmitter is insufficient, due to the distance from the main transmitters and the terrain of the north Georgia mountains.

Currently, only W12DK-D is operating, having applied for and been granted a broadcast license to cover its construction permit in December 2009. It is atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the state, which is also anticipated to hold the new 97-watt GPB radio station WBTB FM 90.3.

Former translators

• W04BJ Young Harris, Georgia
• W27AA Draketown, Georgia
• W35AA LaFayette, Georgia
• W50AB Hiawassee, Georgia
• W51AB Flintstone, Georgia
• W65AD Cedartown, Georgia

Digital television

Analog-to-digital conversion

WNGH-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 18, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 18.

External links

• GPB Website
  • GPB stations map – includes WNGH coverage area
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