Transmitter
The KWQC-TV Tower is a 1,381-foot (421 m) high guy-wired aerial mast for the transmission of FM radio and television programs in Bettendorf, west of the Scott Community College campus. (Geographical coordinates: 41°32′49″N 90°28′35″W / 41.54694°N 90.47639°W / 41.54694; -90.47639). It was built in 1982. In addition to the former KWQC analog signal, WHBF-TV and radio stations WOC, and WLLR-FM, both former sister stations of KWQC-TV (as WOC-TV), as well as religious WDLM-FM, and NPR member station WVIK, transmit their signals from this site.
KWQC's digital transmission tower is located in Orion, Illinois. The transmitter for KWQC-DT 56 had been operating at half of its assigned effective radiated power (ERP) since 12:45 PM on December 16, 2008, due to the need to convert one of the Power Amplifier Cabinets from channel 56 to channel 36. At 12:02 AM on Friday June 12, 2009, the digital over-the-air signal on channel 56 was turned off and this lasted for about an hour or so in order to change the transmitter-to-antenna connections from the remaining DT 56 cabinet to the newly converted DT 36 cabinet. KWQC returned to the air an hour later on KWQC-DT 36, and continued to operate at half-power on channel 36 for about a week or so while the other cabinet was converted from channel 56 to channel 36. KWQC estimated that the other power cabinet would be fully converted and that its new digital signal on channel 36 would be operating at its fully licensed ERP of 1 million watts around June 19, 2009, one week after the DTV transition was complete. It is not known when exactly the station returned to full power on digital channel 36. Cable viewers, particularly Mediacom subscribers in the Quad Cities, did not notice any interruption to the KWQC analog or digital/HDTV signals on the cable systems as KWQC's signals have been sent to the cable companies via a direct fiber optic link instead of the older and more traditional method of being picked up by the cable companies' over-the-air antennas ever since well before the 2009 digital TV transition.
Also, KWQC no longer transmits a signal from Bettendorf, as Orion is now its new permanent home for transmission facilities, as of June 12. KWQC's analog transmitter in Bettendorf was broadcasting the Quad City Market's "Nightlight" service around the clock until June 26, 2009, and during the two week 'nightlight period, none of the station's regular programming was broadcast on the analog signal. As of June 26, 2009, the analog signal is now permanently gone. The aforementioned radio stations in the top paragraph of this section, as well as WHBF-TV, are continuing to transmit from Bettendorf. WHBF is the only Quad Cities television station to transmit from Bettendorf, while KWQC and everybody else are transmitting from Orion, with the exception of KGCW. This means many viewers in and around the Quad Cities market need either a rotor or two separate antennas to receive all their local TV stations.
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