Poor Mountain
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| Poor Mountain | |
|---|---|
 Poor Mountain from across Poages Valley in Roanoke, Virginia. |
|
| Elevation | 3,928 feet (1,197 m) [1] |
| Location | Virginia, USA |
| Range | Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains |
| Prominence | 1,448 feet (441 m) [2] |
| Coordinates | 37°10′46″N 80°09′46″W / 37.17956°N 80.162753°WCoordinates: 37°10′46″N 80°09′46″W / 37.17956°N 80.162753°W [1] |
| Topo map | USGS Elliston 37080-B2 |
| Easiest route | Road |
Poor Mountain is a mountain located in Roanoke County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Virginia. At 3,928 feet, Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in the immediate area. The mountain had been under consideration for the placement of a wind farm. However, Invenergy Wind LLC dropped the idea of putting wind turbines on Poor Mountain and neighboring Bent Mountain, as a study concluded that the potential energy would overload the existing electricity transmission lines found in the immediate area.[3]
The mountain's name derives from the poor quality of its soils, due to their base of metamorphosed sandstone, for agricultural purposes. This is in contrast with nearby Bent Mountain, which is well known for its farms and orchards. Poor Mountain has the largest known population, by far, of piratebush (buckleya distichophylla), a plant which draws nutrients from the roots of Eastern Hemlock trees.[4]
Piratebush is found only in limited numbers at a few other locations in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.[5] The Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve has been established to protect this population.
Twelve O'clock Knob is located adjacent to Poor Mountain in Roanoke County directly south of Salem, Virginia. The north slope of the ridgeline formed by Poor Mountain and Twelve O'clock Knob marks the southwestern boundary of the Roanoke Valley. Fort Lewis Mountain is located directly across the valley from Poor Mountain.
[edit] Communications Hub
Poor Mountain is the location of several broadcasting antennas for radio and television stations in the Roanoke, Virginia-Lynchburg, Virginia Designated Market Area (DMA). On the apex of the mountain in what's referred to as an "antenna farm" are the broadcasting antennas on towers for radio stations WVTF-FM 89.1, licensed to the Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.; W22BD 91.9, licensed to Family Radio; and three radio stations licenced to Mel Wheeler, Incorporated, WXLK-FM 92.3; WSLC-FM; and WSLQ-FM. Television stations located in the antenna farm are WBRA-TV Channel 15 and WBRA-DT Channel 3; WDBJ-TV Channel 7 and WDBJ-DT Channel 18; WSLS-TV Channel 10 and WSLS-DT Channel 30; WFXR-TV]] Channel 27 and WFXR-DT Channel 17: WPXR-TV Channel 38 and WPXR-DT, Channel 36; and 960722KI-TV, Channel 60. All of these stations are licensed to Roanoke. Other telecommunication antennas and towers for local, county, state and national public service, are also located on Poor Mountain, and their flashing FAA tower lights can be seen from dozens of miles away, especially at night.
The antenna for the other TV station in the Roanoake DMA, WSET-TV Channel 13 and WSET-DT Channel 34 is located on a tower on Flat Top Mountain near Thaxton, Virginia, halfway between Lynchburg and Roanoke. WSET cannot locate on Poor Mountain, because of broadcast short-space interference it would cause to WLOS-TV, Channel 13 in Asheville, North Carolina.
The Poor Mountain broadcast antenna farm is a good example of radio and TV stations, co-locating their broadcast towers near each other on the highest point near their FCC city of license. The nearest "antenna farm" to Poor Mountain is on Holston Mountain in upper East Tennessee, home to most of the FM and TV stations in the Tri-Cities (Bristol, Virginia-Kingsport, Tennessee-Johnson City, Tennessee) DMA. Although most radio and TV stations are in fierce competition with each other in their broadcast markets, they will often locate their broadcasting antennas very near each other, and in some cases, will even share land or towers with each other, in the interests of space, land availability, and the cost of putting a transmission building on top of a mountain. Other examples of co-located towers on mountain peaks in the United States are on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee; Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee; Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama; Mount Wilson near Los Angeles; Mount Sutro in San Francisco; Lookout Mountain, Colorado near Denver; Cedar Hill between Dallas and Fort Worth; South Mountain Park near Phoenix; Nelson Peak near Salt Lake City; Sandia Crest near Albuquerque, New Mexico; and probably the most famous broadcast antenna farm of all: The World Trade Center Tower One, on which all of the New York City television and FM stations had their antennas. All were lost when Twin Towers One and Two collapsed after a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Those antennas now broadcast from their old home, 200 feet lower, on the Empire State Building.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Poor Mountain, Virginia". Peakbagger.com. http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7694. Retrieved on 2008-12-21.
- ^ "Virginia P1000 Summits". Peaklist.org. http://www.peaklist.org/USlists/VA1000.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-31.
- ^ Company drops bid to put wind farm in region - Roanoke.com
- ^ "Buckleya distichophylla". CPC National Collection Plant Profile. Center for Plant Conservation. http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/ASP/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum=642. Retrieved on 2008-12-31.
- ^ "Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/natural_area_preserves/poormt.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-12-31.
[edit] External links
- "Poor Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1494256. Retrieved on 2008-12-31
- "Poor". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=GX3300. Retrieved on 2008-12-31
