2,000 ft of awesome HD coming to Chicago?
By Kevin C. Tofel 
posted Oct 25th 2005 8:36PM
posted Oct 25th 2005 8:36PM
I think they've got the name all wrong, but the new 2,000 foot tall "Tall Tower" might take out the CN Tower as the tallest. Actually, there is no name yet but the tower is proposed in Chicago and if built, will be designed by architect Cesar Nelli. Personally, I'd call it the "Chicago High-High-Def" tower, but that's just me.
The proposed
Residents are in an uproar over the proposal, but we think they would change their tune if we pulled their cable television source and provided them with OTA tuners. Anyone up for a trip to the Windy City to find out?
Bah, every few years there is another "tall tower" proposed for Chicago. They never get built. Trump is building a tower in Chicago that was supposed to be the biggest in the world, but that was cut down to 90 stories. Seems that nobody wants to live high up after 9/11.
About 4 years ago, the cover of Pop Sci had a Chicago tower design that looked very similar to the "tall tower". It never got built, and I suspect that this one won't either.
The bottom line is that the Sears Tower antennas were recently upgraded for HD. The thing is 110 stories, how much higher do the antennas need to be?
The problem with HD in Chicago is not the height of our antennas, it is that one of the HD stations is in the low VHF band (Ch 3). That's an awful place for television, there is a ton of electrical interference on low VHF. Combine that with the fact that they're broadcasting at the wattage of a lightbulb, and you have a huge reception problem.
The article says that the developer of the tall tower has financing. If that is really true, the biggest hurdle to getting it built has already been overcome. Past "tall tower" proposals have faltered at the financing stage.
It's a great location for a CN Tower style development. Navy Pier is tourist central. The observation deck and restaraunts would do well.