KXTV/KOVR tower

The KXTV/KOVR Tower is a 624.5 m (2,049 ft) guyed communication tower in Walnut Grove, California, United States.

KXTV/KOVR tower; note the Doppler weather radar station to the right. Credit: Daniel Schwen

Built in 2015, it is the tallest structure in California, the third-tallest guyed mast in the world (as of 2001), and the seventh tallest structure to have ever existed if the destroyed Warsaw radio mast, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai and the Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo are included.

Omni-directional TV transmitting antennas on the tower carry the over-the-air (OTA) broadcast signals for KXTV-TV channel 10 (virtual and transmit) and KOVR-TV channel 13 (virtual) and 25 (transmit). The geographical coordinates for the site, a low-lying rural area about 23 miles (37 km) south-southwest of Sacramento and 25 miles (40 km) north-northwest of Stockton, are 38°14′23″N 121°30′06″W.

In the neighborhood of KXTV/KOVR Tower are two towers of similar height, the Channel 40 and KVIE-TV Channel 6 Tower and the Channel 3-Hearst-Argyle Tower, forming an impressive antenna "farm" on the east side of the Sacramento River and west of the Interstate 5 freeway, which can be easily seen for miles around in every direction.

The antennas on these towers serve broadcast stations airing programming to TV viewers in the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto DMA (Designated Market Area)[1] in California's Central Valley.

With their significant height and central location in Walnut Grove, they provide line-of-sight (LOS)[2] signal coverage to the adjacent flat valley terrain for over 60 miles (100 kilometers) to the north (Sacramento) and to the south-southeast (Stockton and Modesto). The towers also provide quite good coverage across the valley to the east into the Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains, and to the west to portions of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area (eastern Solano and Contra Costa counties).[3]

The tower is also a magnet for BASE jumpers who have been known to illegally trespass on the property, climb the tower, jump off and parachute to the ground. A BASE jumper was caught and arrested in 2005[4] when his parachute caught one of the numerous guy wires on the tower and was rescued by fire personnel. Security on the site has been upgraded since.