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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Farnsworth Peak

Farnsworth Peak is a peak located on the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountain range, approximately 3.5 miles (6 km) south east of Lake Point, Utah and 18 miles (29 km) south west of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The mountain is named for Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the first completely electronic television. It is used mainly for radio and television transmission, but could potentially become part of a ski resort owned by nearby Kennecott Land. On the eastern side of the mountain, the land is completely private, and access is restricted. The peak can be reached by hiking from the Tooele side, which is mostly public land. The Bureau of Land Management land extends from Ridge Peak west to the base of the mountain. Public access to this land is available off SR-36 near Lake Point, Utah. Several cattle gates need to be opened and closed, but are access roads to hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding areas.

Radio and television use

A closeup of "Big" Farnsworth, which houses transmitters for KSL-TV among others.
Deep snow covers the transmitter site. The mountain is often only accessible by snow machines, snowmobiles or helicopter.

Farnsworth Peak, in local radio terms, refers to three separate radio transmitter sites. They are known as "Big Farnsworth," "The KSTU Site," and "Little Farnsworth." Each site hosts a number of transmission towers which broadcast radio and television stations. Extensive studies of RF radiation from the site were conducted in 2003 in an effort to aid engineers who work on the mountain.

FM Terrestrial stations with transmitters on Farnsworth Peak

Farnsworth Peak contains a vast majority of Salt Lake FM signals. The following is a complete list of FM stations with transmitters located on (or around) Farnsworth Peak.

CALLSIGN FREQUENCY FORMAT
KUER 90.1 Public radio/news
KRCL 90.9 Public radio
KUUU 92.5 Hip hop
KUBL 93.3 Country
KODJ 94.1 Classic hits
KXRK 96.3 Alternative rock
KZHT 97.1 CHR
KBZN 97.9 Hot adult contemporary
KBEE 98.7 Adult contemporary
KSFI 100.3 Soft adult contemporary
KBER 101.1 Active rock
KHTB 101.9 CHR
KSL-FM 102.7 News/Talk
KRSP 103.5 Classic rock
KSOP-FM 104.3 Country
KUDD 105.1 Top 40/CHR
KNRS 105.9 News/Talk
KAAZ-FM 106.7 Rock
KKLV 107.5 Contemporary Christian

FM amateur (ham) radio repeaters on Farnsworth Peak

Local television networks KSL-TV, KSTU and other sites on Farnsworth Peak have provided space for amateur radio repeater operation. Farnsworth peak serves as a major hub, connecting western and southern Utah to the Utah Intermountain Intertie main hub repeater a top the Snowbird Tram on Hidden Peak.

CALLSIGN FREQUENCY OFFSET TONE SITE
KI7DX 53.15 MHz (-) 1.0 MHz 146.2 Hz KSTU
KF6RAL 145.125 MHz (-) 0.6 MHz D-Star
W7SP 146.62 MHz (-) 0.6 MHz KSL-TV
K7JL 146.94 MHz (-) 0.6 MHz 88.5 Hz KSTU
K7JL 147.12 MHz (+) 0.6 MHz 100.0 Hz KSTU
KF6RAL 448.075 MHz (-) 5.0 MHz D-Star
KI7DX 448.15 MHz (-) 5.0 MHz 127.3 Hz KSTU
K7JL 449.15 MHz (-) 5.0 MHz 100.0 Hz
K7JL 449.5 MHz (-) 5.0 MHz 100.0 Hz
K7OJU 1285. MHz (-) 12.0 MHz 88.5 Hz
KF6RAL 1287. MHz (-) 12.0 MHz D-Star
KF6RAL 1299.25 MHz simplex D-Star

Television stations

Farnsworth Peak is home to several full service television stations. KSL-TV is perhaps the best known transmitter site on the mountain, but the peak houses transmitters for KSTU-TV, the local Fox affiliate, KUCW (The CW), and KUTV (CBS) among others. KTMW, an independent station and KUPX, the local Ion affiliate, now broadcast their digital signals from Little Farnsworth Peak about 0.45 miles to the south. KSL-TV was the first television station to use the mountain for broadcasting. It also is responsible for transmitters on the mountain, having engineers on site for periods of time in case of emergencies. A large number of the television stations located on the peak previously carried their analog signals from the same sites. Farnsworth Peak was one of the first places in the United States to construct a facility specifically for digital television transmission. Specifically, Farnsworth Peak houses transmitters for the following stations:

Call sign Channel (via PSIP) Network
KUTV 2 CBS
KTVX 4 ABC
KSL-TV 5 NBC
KUED 7 PBS
KUEN 9 Independent
KULX-CD 10 Telemundo
KBYU 11 BYU TV
KSTU 13 Fox
KJZZ-TV 14 Independent
KUPX 16 Ion Television
KTMW 20 Telemundo
KBTU-LD 23 MundoMax
KPNZ 24 Estrella TV
KSVN-CD 25 Azteca
KUCW 30 The CW
KSUD-LD 33 Daystar
K39JS-D 39 Azteca (translator of KSVN-CD)
KEJT-CD 50 Telemundo

Lightning incident

On September 13, 2009, lightning struck the tower carrying a majority of the area's digital television signals. The lightning strike took eight stations in total off the air, and damaged the combiner for the tower. According to the engineers on site, the combiner was leaking oil. The lightning strike of the tower also caused a failure of the waveguide switch control system, which caused it to display improperly. A waveguide switch is part of the transmission circuitry. An engineer on site was able to correct that situation within hours, but the combiner would not be working for a few more hours. By the next day, the problem had been fixed and the stations were back on the air and all were in working order.

2020 Salt Lake City Earthquake

On March 18, 2020, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred 3.7 miles (6 km) north-northeast of Magna, Utah, west of Farnsworth Peak. A number of radio and television stations experienced interruptions after power was lost on the mountain, but were able to return to air within seconds. Farnsworth Peak has generators for emergencies.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Coon RM A". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  2. ^ "Farnsworth Peak, Utah". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  3. ^ "A bit about Farnsworth Peak". Utah Amateur Radio Club (UARC). Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  4. ^ Doug Smeath. "Kennecott unveils plan for the Oquirrh foothills". Deseret Morning News. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  5. ^ "Utah Federal Lands" (PDF). Governor.Utah.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-23. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  6. ^ "LITTLE FARNSWORTH PEAK Electromagnetic Energy Measurements, Alpha Property, Ground Level and Rooftops Date: July 29, 2003" (PDF). Utah Communications, Inc. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  7. ^ Radio-Locator Salt Lake City Stations
  8. ^ "Farnsworth Peak Repeater". Utah VHF Society. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  9. ^ "KSTU-TV (Salt Lake City)". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  10. ^ "KUCW TV Query from the FCC". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  11. ^ "KUTV TV Query from the FCC". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  12. ^ "50th Anniversary: Utah News from KSL-TV". Archived from the original on 2010-02-16. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
  13. ^ "Utah Enters the Era of Digital Television". DTV Utah. Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  14. ^ "Lightning strike disrupts transmission of Utah broadcasters". Broadcast Engineering.com. Archived from the original on 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  15. ^ "Salt Lake earthquake". Talking Utah Radio. Retrieved March 19, 2020.

Media related to Farnsworth Peak at Wikimedia Commons