Channel "5" during Boston's great OTA TV outage of 2012

[Dan.Strassberg]

I do not have cable or satellite TV; 100% of my TV reception, on two
receivers here in Arlington Heights near the Lexington line ~0.5 miles
north of Route 2, is from over-the-air signals. I've heard several
people (some on this list, I think) insist that the OTA signal from
Channel "5" (WCVB) has gone dark in the multi-station outage that is
currently affecting several of the OTA signals that emnanate from what
has historically been called the Channel 4 tower in Needham. (Since
the other three FM/TV sites in the Newton-Needham area are in Newton,
it would seem OK to refer to the affected tower as the Needham tower;
FM 128, the Channel "7"/"56" self-supporter, and the Candelabra are
all in Newton.) I can't say that a Channel "5" OTA signal has NEVER
gone dark in this outage, but every time I have checked it out since I
started monitoring which of the Needham stations were dark and which
weren't (early Monday AM, IIRC), "5" has always been there and the
reception has been at least as good as normal.

So does this mean that "5" (and maybe also "2") have an auxiliary site
either on FM 128 or the Candelabra? As far as I can tell, the only
OTA signals that are affected are "4," "38," and "44" (including all
of ""44's" sub-channels). Can somebody explain why some of the Needham
signals appear unaffected?

This AM on Steve LeVeille's show on WBZ (AM), I believe I heard Steve
say, that, as far as he knew, CBS Boston Engineering had still not
figured out what happened. Earlier, I believe I heard a caller to a
different talk show (not sure which) say that the problem was in the
transmission lines in the tower. My guess is either a transmission
line or a combiner. If the culprit was either of those, it sounds as
if the 20 or so percent of Boston area viewers who get their TV OTA
are in for a long wait before service is restored. I'm trying to
adjust to living without the Big Bang Theory reruns on "38"
(7:00-8:00PM M-F). Channel 62-1 has MASH reruns at the same time. I
guess those may have to do.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367