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OTA Station Status: Toronto, Hamilton

471K views 2K replies 233 participants last post by  norfyork 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So SunTV is seems to be down. Anyone else having problems? Are they down for maintenance? Or are they actually done and shutdown?
 
#4 ·
I knew of a LP station in downtown Toronto...but wasn't aware of one in western NY state. I do see problems with 15.1 SUN Hamilton when tropo is coming in from Ohio and areas south of Lake Erie. Nothing rolling in this way tonight though....
 
#6 ·
Yup! there was a pirate station in Toronto. Maybe they are on 15 also. That Buffalo 15 analog may be one of those Religion or HSN that provide an LP signal for Time Warner. I believe it was an HSN network broadcast. The Buffalo one is faint and not viewable for me on analog 15, but just enough to wipe out the weak SunTV 15.1 that barely reaches my location.
 
#9 ·
CHCJ rf35 Hamilton -- What is it?

Hello,

I was running a TV Fool report tonight and a strange station appeared.

CHCJ rf35 (virtual 35) from the same transmitter as CHCH and CITS in Hamilton ON.

I searched the internet about it and found a bit of info but I figured maybe some of our Digital Home regulars can fill us in...?

CHCJ-DT Hamilton ON
Licensee (Owner): ?
Service Designation: DT Full Service Digital TV Station
Channel: 35 596 - 602 MHz Granted
File Number: BPFS-20110104AAX
Facility ID Number: 189105
Application ID Number: 1413391

Note that the File Number resembles a date in January 2011.

We're probably going to be losing CKXT so it would be exciting if we could get a new station to replace it. rf 35 is currently CTS HD I believe. I guess they're moving back to rf36 after analog shut-down.

I searched CHCJ and chinese letters results. I wonder if that is a coinsidence or if we might be getting a new Chinese station...
 
#10 ·
I see it in my TV Fool report as well. And like yourself, I couldn't find any information on this station--including on the CRTC website.

My guess is that it's an erroneous entry with TVFool--which likely draws data from Rabbitears.info; which is also showing the same entry with identical parameters.

I follow broadcasting applications daily on the CRTC website, and I haven't seen any new applications for Hamilton (other than the applications by existing stations with regards to the digital transition).
 
#14 ·
My guess is that it's an erroneous entry with TVFool--which likely draws data from Rabbitears.info; which is also showing the same entry with identical parameters.
No, TVFool draws its information from the FCC database, which is the same place RabbitEars does. Go talk to the FCC; I was trying to figure out what was going on with that allotment when I first saw it, and I still have no idea.

- Trip
 
#11 ·
TVFool seem to update their information from this site (that take it from american FCC):


http://www.rabbitears.info/updates.php?source=F&start_row=200

You have 2 entries corresponding to CHCJ-DT, added on 2011-01-05
2011-01-05 Facilities New CHCJ-DT Community City [HAMILTON] Community State [ON] Call Sign [CHCJ-DT] Service [DT]
2011-01-05 Transmitters New CHCJ-DT Status [GRANT] Service Type [DT] Channel [35]
 
#13 ·
Or does CHCH or another station want take over CITS's rf35 transmitter?
 
#15 ·
AFAIK, TVFool now draws its Canadian data from the Industry Canada database (or at least, a older snapshot of one -- it is not up-to-date).

Note that, by treaty, stations must protect allotted parameters across the border, while within their own country, the local regulator gets to decide whether alloted or merely as built-parameters must be protected.
To some extent, that explains some of the differences between FCC data for Canadian stations and Canadian data for Canadian stations.

For example, until recently, Canadian FM stations were protected up to their Class maximum parameters, even if not built out. Now, FM stations are only protected to their as-built parameters. This explains the recent spate of parameter maximization applications for FM stations before the CRTC.
 
#19 ·
I can't control the appearance of the FCC Canadian allotment entries in the RabbitEars database but I do regularly replace FCC data with Canadian database information from your page. All the Toronto and Hamilton stations that will be transitioning should reflect the information in the Canadian database rather than that of the FCC's allotment records. See here: http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?mktid=64

- Trip
 
#17 ·
CHCH has already been approved for their post-transition application for a digital transmitter on channel 11. Therefore, I doubt we'll see an attempt by them to remain on a UHF designation.
 
#23 ·
I have the same problem

Did something happen to CTV in Toronto? Video is fine but there is no audio.

It works on my newer TV but the unit with a digital converter no sound pulling my hair out

My converter is a Digital Stream HD3150 I live only 20 miles from the CN tower

Help Help Help

Mark
 
#26 ·
Also another important piece of info we'd like to see in those kinds of reports is the tuner type, model number, etc. (for example something like "I'm using a Toshiba XX-YYY-ZZZ HDTV" or "It happened on my Magnacrock VO-4CE Converter Box but not on my Sharp 430958 HDTV")

In this case, if CTV's audio is cutting out for some people but not for others it would tend to indicated a PSIP-related data problem at CFTO's end.
 
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