Upgrade Brings Better KELO Signal For Pierre

If you use an antenna to get your TV signal in the Pierre area, a new upgrade will now allow you to watch KELO-TV.

For years, those without cable or satellite have not been able to get a KELO signal because of the rolling landscape around Pierre.

"There's been a certain portion of Pierre, that due to the terrain and the river bottom, have never been able to receive a good signal," KELO-TV Chief Engineer Paul Myrick said.

The signal from the tower that sits on the hill north of town couldn't reach the homes in Pierre and Fort Pierre that sat down by the river, so if homeowners didn't have cable or satellite they couldn't tune in.

That has now changed with the recent installation of a new piece of equipment to make sure those viewers with antennas can now watch KELO-TV for free.

"We recently installed a brand new low-power translator at the north end of town that people who already have antennas just need to rescan and it'll produce a beautiful HD signal," Myrick said.

While a majority of viewers in the Pierre area do have cable or satellite, the new improvements will allow them to still watch if those services go off the air.

"Satellites tend to fade out during thunderstorms. Electrical storms can knock out cable systems. The way we're hauling the signal there it should be completely solid," Myrick said. "Even if a local power failure were to happen people with battery powered televisions could still receive it."

The new equipment to improve the signal strength isn't the only improvement that has been made on the Pierre tower; engineers also recently installed a new high definition skycam on the tower to get clearer shots of the city.