It's the first thing you'll see to let you know you're getting close to home. But do you know what the tower on Rib Mountain is for? "The tower holds up ours and other stations’ antennas that transmit our signals over the air”, says NewsChannel 7’s Chief Engineer Chad Myers. “Everything gets shipped up to Rib Mountain and then gets out to the airwaves.”

The 500-foot tall tower, which was installed in 1957, is even more prominent and effective because it sits on the 700-foot-tall mountain. "If you go out on the plains, like Nebraska, they build 2000 foot tall towers”, Mysers said. “Where here in Rib Mountain, we only needed a 500 foot tower because the tower gives us our height."

If you're getting your T.V. signals using an antenna in our area, you're receiving it from the Rib Mountain tower. And that means you need to make sure you're ready for the digital transition, required by the F.C.C.

The least expensive way to make sure you're ready is with a digital converter box. If you already have a converter box or digital T.V., and aren't seeing digital channel 7, don't worry. "Our digital signal is not very strong right now”, said Myers. “If people get our current channel 7 now, and they cannot get digital, they probably will get our digital channel after the transition on February 17th.”

While you're making changes to your television set-up, we've made some big changes at Channel 7. Everything from the equipment in our control room to the transmitter that sends our signal up the tower has been upgraded. But what hasn't changed are the tower itself and it's very important role: broadcasting Channel 7 into your homes.

For more information about the switch to all-digital television, visit the DTV link below.