Abandoned TV station TV 64 Victorville, California - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 03:20:34 pm
content: Random YouTube find.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 03:38:32 pm
content: That's kind of sad.....Thanks for sharing that, it was interesting.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 05:05:48 pm
content: Amazing they ever had a TV station there. I guess the town got a bit bigger - but back in the day there was little more to Victorville than some railroad building along the track and homes for the people who manned the station and maintenance workers. There was a good story years ago in an issue of Classic Trains magazine written by a guy who was a young boy during WWII and his Mom got posted to Victorville as the station operator.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 07:13:01 pm
content: Victorville started taking off as a LA bedroom community in the 1970s. It currently has a population of over 100,000 and has several nearby cities of comparable size. If you haven't been in SoCal for a while it is amazing how far the urbanization has spread. Even Edwards AFB seems threatened by urban sprawl, and remote places like the San Fernando Valley and Riverside are now core areas, many, many miles from the edge of development. I'm more glad than ever that I got out a few decades ago.I guess this station didn't survive the digital transition. Either they lost their channel allocation, or just couldn't afford to recapitalize. Lost too much market to cable and satellite. And because they became part of one big megalopolis the need for local news/weather/sports declined as people got what they wanted from the big LA stations.It is interesting to see that someone was still paying the water bill in 2012 (the shrubs around the building are still green) and apparently guarding the premises since the equipment is there. Lots of value even though much is obsolete. Just desks, refrigerators, printers and copiers are attractive to some light fingered types.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 07:20:26 pm
content: I've been to SoCal but just never outside the major urban areas of LA and San Diego. Furthest out I got I guess was when my friend flew me back to LA from San Diego and we landed at El Monte because he didn't want to fly a 172 into the LAX pattern.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 02:36:58 am
content: Victorville is famous for the Roy Rogers Ranch and, previously, the Roy Rogers Dale Evans Museum.

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 03:05:47 am
content: That is pretty neat, noticed someone working at a computer in one of the panning shots. So maybe not abandoned yet, maybe relocating/ed

author: Harb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 03:46:00 am
content: Wow.....Primarily Umatic and 4:3 equipment with a small amount of Betacam and Betacam SP gear for playback........its an old station and it probably just used as an unmanned translator service nowThey obviously weren't traveling to well hence the lack of upgrades even though BetaCam SP was available.....Id say 80-90's was its primeNothing in there is worth much now......maybe an Amateur Radio club could use the gear for ATV .......maybe even to old for them.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 05:15:57 am
content: Quote from: Harb on April 24, 2017, 03:46:00 amMore likely,a "remote Transmission site".Strictly speaking, a "translator" receives RF "off air" on one channel & retransmits it on another channel, without ever bringing the signal down to baseband video & audio.This was never all that common in OZ, although the General Public loved to use the term---not sure about the USA.There are a lot of TV Transmitter sites around Australia, which were "destaffed" in a big hurry, & for years, everything looked like the last shift had just disappeared like the crew of the"Marie Celeste"!Equipment in the process of repair sitting on benches where they were left on the "last day".Chairs in the office in front of paperwork, pens sitting where they were dropped.Seriously eerie!Studios---no!When TVW7 in Perth moved out of the Tuart Hill studios, everything was razed to the ground, & the property sold to a Land Developer.The development is called "Seven Acres".I thought it would be a nice gesture if they kept the big sandstone gate, but apparently, they have the same idea as Billy Connolly."That's a nice gesture!"--------meaning something similar to, but not quiteTo my mind, the most poignant thing was to walk into the unoccupied offices of the NASA Carnarvon tracking station, & see information on the last few shots tracked written upon the glass partitions with a Chinagraph pencil.This was after it was taken over by Radio Australia, who only used part of the building.When the RA station was closed,the building was torn down---after all,it's only history!

author: Harb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 05:33:15 am
content: who knows....... a lot of old TV sites were converted to Translator stations to fill black spots without the expense of new STL's or fibre runs to TX sites.....Just RX on the new owners TX Freq and TX on the known local TV channel.A lot less activity in Oz of course....we tend to have fewer TV channels and owners of such, but in many countries TV is like community radio is here....coming and going depending on local interest.Yes a lot of un-manned sites now.......I am actually in the industry, and admit to hording Semitrailer loads of redundant gear...that was just walked away from.In fact in a recent move I junks over 15 tons of it to the scrapyard, and that was just the tip of the iceberg lol...The last one I clean out I took a ute and ended up hiring 2 trucks and a horse float lolI hate how in Australia we insist on bulldozing anything that is not used anymore.....it happens all the time...OTC station etc etc all gone, and the ground is still vacant.

author: Muxr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 05:42:15 am
content: I would like to digitize those tapes to hopefully uncover some funny bloopers

author: Harb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 05:46:58 am
content: There would be bound to be plenty if they are anything like the tapes I have

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2017, 07:13:32 pm
content: Pretty cool that the equipment is still there and intact. A lot of times some idiot breaks into places like this and just vandalizes stuff. I'd much rather someone steals stuff than just go in and break it for no reason.