NECRAT Picture V4.0

The Cedar Street Tower.
(Formerly known as the "WBZ" tower.)
Cedar St. in Needham.
ASRN: 1003433
1,192 feet to the base of the antenna.
1,296 feet to the top of the Master UHF antenna

RFS PEP-70L 385.3m
WBZ-TV RF20 - 4.1 - Boston Primary
WCVB-TV RF33 - 5.1 - Boston Primary
WGBX-TV RF32 - "44.1" - Boston Primary
WBTS-CD RF32 - 15.1 Nashua Channel Shared w/ WGBX
WSBK-TV RF21 - 38.1 - Boston Primary
WUTF-TV RF19 - 27.1 - Worcester Primary

DIE TFU-18JSC/VP-R C170 370.1m
WNEU - RF29 - 60.1 - Merrimack Primary

Shively 6016-1/4-DA.1 353.7m
WBUR-FM 90.9 Boston

Dielectric TFU-24WB CT160 329.6m
WFXT Aux
WCVB-TV Aux
WUTF-TV Aux

ERI 1183-4CP 273m
WKLB-FM 102.5 Waltham

Former TV antennas
Harris TAD24UDA 386.8m
WBZ-TV RF30 - 4.1 Boston 825kW (2020 Removed)
WCVB-TV RF 20 - 5.1 Boston 625kW (2020 Removed)
WGBX-TV RF43 - 44.1 Boston 600kW (2020 Removed)
WSBK-TV RF39 - 38.1 Boston 135kW (2020 Removed)

Harris TAD24UDA 370m
WGBH-TV RF19 - 2.1 Boston 700kW (2020 Removed)
WGBX-TV 44 1000kW (Analog), WSBK-TV 38 200kW (Analog)

Dielectric TCP-0-4-2-R 353m
WBZ-TV 04 60.3kW, WCVB-TV 05 61.7kW

Harris TAD-3LB-3/9 331m
WGBH-TV 02 72.4kW

In 2020, the tower crew, ITI, completed the transition of antennas to the post repack
configuration. Here are pictures of the post repack installations.

A nice shot of the tower looking up from the guy wire path.

A closeup of the new RFS primary antenna.

A new closeup shot of the "WB" standby antenna.

Looking up at the top mount UHF master, the new tower section with WNEU-TV
and WBUR-FM's antenna.

A wider shot of the above.

WNEU's antenna , a closeup shot.

Another closeup shot!

The main building where all the transmitters are located.

A look at the new primary combiner.

Another view of the primary combiner and monitoring system.

Here are pictures of the old Harris antenna being removed and the new antenna in staging at the bottom.
Various phases during the construction.

The RFS antenna prior to assembly.

Assembled, but the tower section isn't yet...

Preparing to take down the old Harris antenna

And down she comes!!

She's on her way down!

Coming down!

A closeup look at the antenna. The top radome may or may not have ended up in my garage.

A look at the bottom connection point.

And the top LED Beacon.

Older pictures below...

In 2019, the new WNEU installation was setup for interim operation, and completed.
The second phase of the repack will begin in October 2019. Here are some
updated pictures.

I found a really good view of the tower from the East!

A closeup of the weary older Harris antenna.

The TFU-24WB-CT160 interim antenna. Currently being used by WUTF as their post repack interim main.

The top half, semi closeup

Another view.

Another view of the WBUR-FM antenna.

WNEU's interim, soon to be primary main.

Both the "WB" antenna and the WNEU antenna.

In December 2018, I took some clearer pictures of the tower, pre-repack

A long shot.

A nice clear shot of the stacked UHF antennas.

The upper half

And lower half.

The new "WB" side mount antenna

The "taper section".

Older pictures below.

A 2018 shot of the tower.

The new Dielectric "WB" (Wide Band) antenna. This is going to be used as an interim antenna for WFXT and an aux for WCVB.

Another view.

A closeup of the new WBUR-FM antenna.

The top mount stack

A closeup of the WYDN antenna.

A closer shot of the entire taper tower section.

Looking up at the UHF combiners. The one farther is the upper, and the one closer is the lower.

Looking at the input section. "20 (WCVB), 30 (WBZ) and 43 (WGBX)" all come in here.

A long look at the combiners.

The combiner control system. "Ch 44" is really Ch 39.

A wider look at the combiner page.

Looking at the top antenna
systems (as seen from
the WCVB roof).

A wider view from the above location.

WBZ-TV's backup tower for the old analog 4.

Looking at the new DTV transmitter building.

Looking up at the two DTV combiners.

Looking up the tower from the access road.

Looking at the top antennas. The very top stick is a stacked UHF antenna.
The upper half has WGBX-DT (43), WBZ-DT (30), WCVB-DT (20), & WSBK-DT (39)
(A Harris/Dielectric TAD24UDA-5/60)
The lower half has WGBX-TV (44), WGBH-DT (19).
(A Harris/Dielectric TAD24UDA-5/60)
The four bay panel below had WBZ-TV (04), WCVB-TV (05) on it.
(A Harris/Dielectric TCP-0-4-2-R) prior to the analog shut-off in 2009.

Looking at the top two antenna systems. The top one is described above

The bottom three bay antenna is WGBH-TV (02) analog, since shut down.
A Harris/Dielectric TAD-3LB-3/9

A look at the WBZ-TV 4 Former analog standby antenna.

A look at the WCVB-DT standby antenna (Picture courtesy Rick Zach)

Another view of the top mount panel antennas.

Another view of the WBZ-WCVB "4-5" analog antenna.

The old standby analog VHF antennas that were used during the construction on the tower.

Another view of the top mount antenna.

WGBH-TV's 2 panel antenna system.

The new top half of the tower with the new WKLB antenna near the bottom.

The new WYDN-DT antenna.

WYDN's antenna closeup.

Here are pictures taken prior to the 1999 tower upgrade in which the master UHF and
beefier top section were added

WBZ-TV	4+	60.3kW	354m
WCVB-TV	5-	61.7kW	353m
WGBX-TV	44Z	1510kW	329m
WGBH-TV	2+	87.1kW	317m
WKLB-FM (WCRB-FM)	102.5	15kW	282m

Here is a closeup shot of the WGBX Panel (3 element), WGBH Panel (5 Batwings), and WCRB's panel antenna

The top mount WBZ-WCVB antenna.

Another view of the UHF side mount.

Look carefully to see a two bay Rototiller antenna near the bottom of the white section on top of the taper. I believe this to be an old 106.7 antenna.

Another shot of the top section

I took this shot during the construction with the top mast removed. A rare shot

Here is a better shot of the standby antennas from the construction. The top panel is WBZ-TV, The next one down is WCVB. The batwings are WGBH-TV, and the
red two bay is WGBX-TV